These days, people are being expected to do more tasks in shorter amounts of time. Unsurprisingly, this tends to make people a lot more stressed. Time management is essential if you want to avoid anxiety and its resulting health problems, so here are some tips to help you cope.
Develop a Schedule
This may seem obvious, but there may be more to it than you realize. For example, try listing your tasks based on importance and urgency, which are not necessarily the same. Why do you need to do each task, and by when? The answers may help you find creative solutions on how to accomplish them.
Try to develop a consistent pattern of when you get things done each day. This will make your schedule easier to stick to and give it a sense of familiarity which will make it less stressful.
Calm Down
We often hear about people with “Type A” personalities, those go-getters who won’t let anything get in their way of success. People often forget that that term originated with doctors describing people with the highest chance of suffering a heart attack.
Take things slow and not too seriously. Allow (or force) yourself to take breaks (schedule them in) and remain calmer when you are working. It will not only help your health, but by reducing your stress it may make the work you do more efficient and methodical than if you were rushing.
Do Not Take on Too Much
If you are already having trouble managing your time, it is probably not a good idea to take on more projects. For that matter, maybe you have too many already. There are only so many hours in the day, and yes, you really do need to sleep through some of them.
Take a look at your schedule; is there anything there that you can cut? Examine your habits and determine if you take on too many unnecessary tasks; if so, get rid of a few and do the remaining jobs at a less stressful pace.
Ask for Help
If there is a task that needs to get done, but which you do not necessarily need to do, then delegate it. Don’t feel that you must accomplish everything yourself; spreading duties around can benefit everybody.
On the flip side, if your time management issues stem from procrastination, arrange for someone to partner with you on your projects. It is a lot harder to put things off if you know you have someone depending on you, and the task itself will be easier and induce less anxiety.
