MANAGING STRESS: Time Management (PART 1)

MANAGING STRESS: Time Management (PART 1)

One of the most important ways of handling stress is through effective time management. By managing time better, most of us can prevent many of the problems that stress causes by not putting ourselves in stressful situations in the first place. 

The inability to manage time is among the greatest sources of stress and can doom the most talented, motivated, and conscientious of managers, While most everyone would agree that time management and organization are among the most critical elements of personal effectiveness, a person trying to enhance his or her time management is often told to exercise will power, try harder, resist temptation, or seek divine guidance. 

Although well intentioned, this advice offers little in terms of actionable strategies or skills to help an individual undertake the process of development.  Remember, it is the execution of personal effectiveness skills that remains your biggest challenge. So learn the fundamentals of time management, but remember that it is the discipline to apply them that is your ultimate objective. Below, we discuss the four principles that are consistently present in the research and writing of time management experts.

First Be Effective, Then Be Efficient

Managing time with an effectiveness approach means you actually pay attention to your goals and regularly visit what is important to you – and avoid just diligently  working on whatever comes up or is urgent or in front of you.  Doing the right things should come before doing things right. 

Start with Written Goals

 Most people have an intuitive sense that goals are an important organizing mechanism. A set of long-term, lifetime goals can help you discover what you really want to do, help motivate you to do it, and give meaning to the way you spend your time.  It can help you feel in control of your destiny and provide a measuring stick to gauge your success. It can help you choose and decide among many different aspects of your life.

For some reason, however, a surprisingly small percentage of people actually write down and frequently review and update their goals, both long and short term.  This is unfortunate because studies have shown that those with written goals have actually achieved higher levels of life success. There is nothing cosmic or mystical about writing personal goals, and though perhaps not explicitly aware of it, you have probably been thinking about your lifetime goals almost as long as you have been alive.  However, thinking about your goals is quite different from writing them down.  Unwritten goals often remain vague or utopian dreams such as “get a great job” or “become wealthy.”  Writing down goals tends to make them more concrete and specific and helps you probe beneath the surface.  So always start with goals and revisit them regularly. And don’t limit them to financial or career progression goals. What personal, social, or spiritual aspirations do you have? 

Follow the 80/30 Rule

Often referred to as the Pareto’s Law, the 80/20 rule holds that only 20 percent of the work produces 80 percent of the value, 80 percent of sales come from 20 percent of customers, 80 percent of file usage is in 20 percent of the files, and so on. Sometimes that ratio may be a little more, and sometimes a little less, but the rule generally hold true.

In the context of time management, then, if all tasks on a list were arranged in order of value, 80 percent of the value would come from 20 percent of the items, while the remaining 20 percent of the value would come from 80mpercent of the items.  Therefore, it is important to analyze which tasks make up the most important 20 percent and spend the bulk of your time on those.

Use the Time Management Matrix

Expanding on the 80/20 principle, several time management experts have pointed out the usefulness of a “time management matrix,” in which your activities can be categorized in terms of their relative importance and urgency. Important activities are those that are tied to your goals and produce a desired result. They accomplish a valued end or achieve a meaningful purpose.

Time Management Matrix

                                      Urgent                           Not Urgent

Urgent activities are those that demand immediate attention. They are associated with a need expressed by someone else or related to an uncomfortable problem or situation that requires a solution as soon as possible. 

Of course, one of the most difficult decisions you must take is determining what is important and what is urgent.  There are no easy rules, and life’s events and demands do not come with important or urgent tags. In fact, every problem or time demand is likely important to someone. However, if you let others determine what is and is not important, then certainly you will never effectively manage your time.  Perhaps the most important objective is to manage your time in a way that reduces the number of things you do on an urgent basis and allows you to devote your attention to those things of true importance to your life and work.

Just Don’t Do It: Learn to Say No

One of the most powerful words in your time management vocabulary should be the word no. In fact, a good axiom for your time management improvement might well be a reversal of Nike’s popular Just do it! slogan to Just don’t do it!

Of course, that approach is a lot easier to talk about than to actually use when we are confronted with demands or attractive offers from others. Many of us have an inherent desire to please and to accommodate or fear we may miss out on some apparent opportunity. However, as noted above, effective time management is largely learning to devote yourself fully to your most important tasks. That means what you choose not to do can be as important as what you do.  So learn how to say no. The three effective ways to say no are:

1. “I’m sorry. That’s not a priority for me right now.”
2. “I have made so many commitments to others, it would be unfair to them and you if I took on anything more at this point.”
3. “No.”

(Part 2 continues in the next article.)

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