by Maya Mah
http://www.managemytimenow.com
©
2009
While there are a lot of different types of stress,
bad time management is undoubtedly one of the biggest causes of stress. Do you
ever feel stressed out because you haven't completed a task that is due very soon
or because you haven't spent enough time with your family or enough time working
on your goals?
Here are some tips to get rid of that stress
through good time management practices
1. Get help
One
of the biggest reasons why many people fail to accomplish all they want to accomplish
is because they don't let others help them. "Nobody can do it better than
me" or "I need to do this myself" will cause a lot of stress because
let's face it, you only have 24 hours in your day and only 2 hands. Try to delegate
tasks that can be done just as well or even better by someone else. This will
free up your time to work on the important goals and you will feel better when
you get the important tasks done and move towards your goals.
2.
Make a list of accomplishments everyday
Very few people
bring good focus into their days with a to-do list but even fewer people bring
relaxation and confidence through an accomplishment list. An accomplishment list
helps you feel better about yourself, shows you how you're getting closer to your
goals and is a great anchor to use when you're starting out with time management.
You
see a lot of people give up too soon when they don't see results. One of the easiest
ways to make sure you don't give up is by keeping track of your results.
Just
make a list of all the things you've done to get closer towards your goals every
night. It will show you how you're taking good care of your time and how you are
moving closer to your goals. It is important to keep this tracking because once
you see how you're making progress, you'll gain confidence to move towards your
goals and take even more action.
Once you're confident,
self doubt disappears and once you see how you're making progress, worry will
disappear too, allowing you to remain stress free and focus on the important thing
- your goals.
3. Practice the 80/20 rule and focus on what
is truly important
When you have a bit more than you can
handle on your to-do list, apply the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule simply suggests
that 20% of what you do brings in 80% of the desired results. An example of this
principle applied to sales is 20% of your customers bring you 80% of your revenue.
One
of the quickest ways to reduce stress is to find the 20% of the tasks that are
most important and do them. You can let the 80% of the tasks that aren't bringing
you the desired results just slide away. This will help you create more time to
relax and help you reduce the stress caused by overwork and overwhelm.
