Gain Back Your Time and Eliminate Stress
Work, meetings, deadlines, appointments, telephone calls, shopping, taking the dogs out etc. - all these are things most people have to accomplish daily. Most of the times, on the waiting list there are other things like: family, friends and even ourselves. Sometimes we discover too late that the points mentioned on the waiting lists are, in fact, the most important and, unfortunately, sometimes, we don't realize this at all, so find ourselves wondering for what reason we are so unhappy.
There are different books and seminars that help us find out what the best option for managing our time is. All these sources are against enemies and they intend to offer you the best solutions to eliminate it for good, or at least to reduce it drastically.
All this people know that time is more than money - time means, first of all, life and, more than that, it means our lives. That is way we have the obligation not to surrender in stressful situations and to go fighting for the joy of living. Let's not forget also that deficient management of time can produce tremendous health problems, both at the physical and mental level.
But there is good news! Time can be domesticated - we can make it, in certain manner, obey us. First step in implementing this process is to identify the elements that robe your time. Normally, they are divided into two groups:
- The external factors (unexpected phone calls, very long phone conversations, unplanned visits, the policy of open doors, not sufficiently trained personnel, frequent meetings, interruptions caused by colleagues, friends and family etc.)
- The internal factors - related strictly to our own persons (priorities and objectives that change, the lack of a daily working plan, lack of self imposed deadlines,
the tendency to take care of too many things at the same time, disorder, lateness in resolving the conflicts, incapacity of saying no, lack of decision, tiredness).
By reading the above enumeration, you probably pictured recalled all the similar situations that you went through. Now, all you have to do is to find a way to defeat and eliminate them, so that you can be the mater of your own time again. Here are three possible ways in which you can do that:
- Get used to write everything down. It is useful, especially if you have a bad memory. Otherwise you might fail to remember to go to important meetings, to make important phone calls, to answer messages you promised you would answer. You can also write down great ideas and inspirations that occur to you in the most unexpected moments.
- Make a list of priorities. It takes you very little time to draw it and you can even do it while you're having your morning coffee. Write down, the things you need to do that day, in the order of their importance and urgency.
- Learn to say no. One big mistake that a lot of us make is that we put other people's problems in front of ours. Nevertheless, by helping them in a bad moment for us, we give rise to frustration, stress and we find ourselves unable to respect previous engagements.
All these advices are also present in Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber's book New art of time against stress and they invite us to meditate that more than a weapon against stress, time management is also a philosophy of life.
About the Author
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