Learn to manage your time more effectively as we waste a lot of time doing unimportant tasks, especially when stressed.
Prioritise your day and do the important jobs first. The unimportant ones can wait, and often they will disappear completely leaving you time to do other things. Also, do not put off the unpleasant tasks – avoidance causes a great deal of stress. Give unpleasant tasks a high priority and do them first.
One way of doing this is to write down ALL the things you need to do.
Then allocate them a category. You can do this by using colour coding – Red Very important, Amber important but can wait a day or so, and Green, needs doing but can be done by the end of the week.
I used to work in the Newspaper Industry where we had 7 titles to publish all to tight deadlines, by creating different deadlines, one for advertisers, one for journalists and one for production we were rarely late for the print slot. This makes you very good at time management. I work closely with students at Oxford University who for the first time have to develop new time management skills, and the Red, Amber, Green is a useful tool.
On a page of A4 paper, divide it into 3 columns. At the top indicate RED, AMBER and GREEN, then from the list you made originally allocate a number of importance, so 1 is the most important, even if it’s the one you really don’t want to think about. Then write down in order the list in each column. Start with RED 1, and work your way through. If you are waiting for someone else to do their bit, then make a note of when the best time to tackle this person and get them to agree to a deadline, so they can pass it back for you to carry on.
If there are lots of tasks work backwards from a deadline to see how many days you’ll need, and if you can delegate any tasks do so, giving that person a deadline. Always remember too that we often vastly under estimate how long something will take to complete, so if this is going to be a regular occurrence keep tabs of the time taken.
When you come to a standstill on one task, note where you are with it and go on to the next one and so on. It may be there might be 4 or 5 things in your Amber list you can tackle in 30 minutes, whilst you’re waiting for someone to send you an email for example.
Call me or text “Assessment” to 07508 658934 or contact me for more information.
Next Article: Stress busting tip #7
Penny Ling is a widely experienced hypnotherapist who has worked with everyone from top executives to stroke victims since 2007. She has been editor of Hypnotherapy Today Magazine and is a supervisor and mentor for members of the AfSFH and NCH.
Read Penny’s inspiring story “How I beat all my phobias”, or find out more how hypnotherapy could help your problem by downloading “How Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can help with life”. Feel free to send Penny a message here.
