Your Time Management Strategy Could Be Making You Stressed and Anxious

Your Time Management Strategy Could Be Making You Sick

Do you ever feel stressed and anxious because you haven’t completed or achieved the things you set out to do that day?

Can’t understand why your to-do list is still three pages long and you’ve been rushed off your feet all day?

Well, it’s all a matter of unrealistic expectations and a lack of a clearly defined focus. Keep reading and we’ll help you banish your old Time Management Strategy BS for ever.

Time is a Constant – We Cannot Speed it Up or Slow it Down (Thankfully)

Time is a constant and trying to control or manage it is as futile as when King Canute tried to stop the tide in an attempt to demonstrate his supreme power.

We too need to understand what we can, and what we can’t control in our lives otherwise we will always be left feeling powerless, stressed and anxious.

Here’s a tip about Time Management that will make you happier in life, give you empowerment beyond your wildest dreams and leave you less stressed and anxious…

Do Not Try To Manage Time, Manage Your Activities

Yes, nine words that can revolutionise your whole life. Too simple? Well try this:

1. Decide upon your most important job or task.

In 1941, Management Consultant Dr. Joseph Juran developed his “Vital few and trivial many” law of Time Management after being introduced to the works of Vifredo Pareto and the ‘Pareto Principle’.

His ground-breaking theory suggested that 20% of tasks should be prioritised as they needed 80% of our time to complete, and in contrast the remaining 80% of less important tasks only require 20% of our time.

This is the essence of an “activity focussed strategy” instead of a futile, “time focussed strategy”.

2. Exclude all other jobs and tasks (or distractions if possible).

Do not try to multi-task, this will be counterproductive and dissipate your focus away from your primary objective which leads to sub-conscious stress and anxiety. My own observations also lead me to concluded that once one diversion or multi-task has been added, others begin to be added at will. Therefore giving rise to exponential conscious or sub-conscious stresses and anxieties.

3. Work on this single job or task until completed.

Part of ‘working’ in this context also includes being “mindfully engaged” or “in the zone” with this job or task. It has been shown that the human brain can only perform at its optimum for a sustained period of 90 – 120 minutes after which time performance or creativity wanes exponentially.

So, to combat this performance deterioration, make sure you take as many recharging breaks as necessary. And, unlike the old Time Management Systems which leave you feeling guilty because you’re constantly chasing the clock, this method allows you to take breaks guilt-free because the creative juices are still flowing and subconsciously thinking and find solutions or inspiration for your primary task.

So whether you are eating, shopping, taking a bath or reading a magazine, you will feel that gentle release of guilt-free, constant positive, feel-good energy within you because you are not stressed or anxious.

Using this method, you have controlled or managed the only things which you do have power over – your mindset and your actions.

Try this for five days, it will seem weird at first, but then you’ll realise that time is not your enemy it is just ‘time’. In doing less you can actually achieve more and be happier and less stressed in the process.

As the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh reportedly cited: “Don’t just do something – sit there.”

Don’t get mentally caught up trying to catch up. And if you still think that time is escaping you, or you’re just not doing enough try this:

Become a Time Accountant

Remember – time is a fixed commodity. We cannot reduce it; we cannot increase it. Therefore become a time accountant for a week and each day make a note of all your daily activities including durations. And, I do mean all – sleeping, eating, chatting, working, travelling, going to the gym, toilet breaks and everything else as well.

At the end of the day add up all of the hours from these activities.

Do this time accountancy for a full seven days and draw your own conclusions. See if you feel better, worse or totally indifferent.

Also don’t forget to account for the time spent watching television, Netflix or YouTube and you’d do well to remember the Groucho Marx quote/joke; “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns it on, I go into the other room and read a book.”

Let us know how you get on with this method by emailing us at gambole here.

And Finally a Poem about Time by Harvey Scott

I saw the old thief, Father Time,

Come hirpling down the road;

He had a sack upon his back,

Lost minutes were his load.

He opened it and showed it to me

Not minutes, but a host

Of years, decades, a century

Or more of minutes lost.

“I want to buy a year,” I said

“And I shall pay you well”.

“If this earth’s mould were finest gold,

To you I would not sell,

For I have minutes stolen from Kings,

From Milton, Shakespeare, Bach,

How could you buy such precious things,

Your common gold is trash.”

He tied his sack and said “Farewell,

Young man, I’ve got my fee.”

For while I tried to make him sell,

He stole an hour from me!