TDLR;): Time management for yours goal will allow you to work toward it without losing sight of the big picture. Don’t have time to read the 5-minute article? Jump to the end and download the PDF version to read later plus a FREE GIFT!
When you put too much pressure on yourself or you become overwhelmed by duties, demands, and responsibilities, it can lead to a high level of stress. While stress comes in many forms and is caused by many things, when your stress is just from not having enough time for all your responsibilities, it might be time to work on your time management methods. Here are some ways to improve time management for reducing stress and overwhelm in your life.
Choose Your Priorities
If you want to better manage your time, you need to start by choosing your priorities. This is going to help you with various tasks that you need to get done, which will help to relieve some of your stress. Here are some tips for figuring out what is a priority in your life, and what you can put off for later:
Is there a deadline? Think about tasks that have a strict deadline, and get those done first. These should be a priority, since they MUST be done by a certain date and time. The other tasks that are more open-ended should be saved for later and have a lower priority. If you try to do everything at once, you will stress yourself out very quickly.
Look at the big picture. Think about the tasks and what the end result is going to be. Is it more like busy work that you think you should be doing, or will it actually improve your life in some way?
How do you feel when working on the task? If there is something you start working on that immediately causes more stress and frustration, re-think whether this is a priority or not.
Does it affect people in your life? You might also want to think about certain tasks that could affect your family and friends in a positive or negative way. Tasks related to taking your kids to doctor’s appointments and helping your friend with moving might be a priority, but make sure you are still looking for a balance.
Schedule Your Work First
For better time management and reduced stress, schedule in as many of your priority tasks as you can. This prevents the added stress from missing deadlines, not going to appointments, or letting all of this clutter enter your brain.
To manage your time, you can’t do it effectively without having a schedule. It is okay to make changes as other things come up, but at least start with tasks that will be worked on and when, so you have a better idea of how to spend the rest of your time.
Personal Life Should Be Included
Make sure as you are scheduling your time, you are not forgetting about your personal life! No matter what you do or how busy you are, you need to have time for yourself, family, and friends. If you don’t, you will hit burnout very quickly. This is why time management is so helpful – you not only schedule all your work tasks, but you also see where you have time for your personal life and leisure time.
Start Logging Your Time
In addition to scheduling your time, you can work on time management by keeping a detailed log of everything you do and when. This will help you to look back and see how you have been spending your time, including where you go right, and where you might be going wrong.
Maybe you have a month where you feel like you should have gotten more done, and don’t understand where the time went. If you were keeping a log of everything, you could see when maybe you worked late for too many days so your personal life suffered, or you took an extended vacation that dipped into your work responsibilities.
Maybe your breaks are too long, or you simple didn’t manage your time correctly. All of this is going to be really helpful in the future when working on proper time management. It can be different for everyone, so sometimes it just takes a little trial and error to figure out what works best for you and gives you the most balanced life. Don’t just follow someone else’s time management strategies, as they might not work for you.
What did you learn out of this article? I hope these Time Management Tips help you with your Panic Proof S.M.A.R.T Goal planning.
As a thank you for investing the time in your panic proof personal development, I invite you to grab your Panic Proof S.M.A.R.T Goal checklist as a free gift.
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