We like to achieve. We like to succeed. And we live in a country where competition
not only creates new and better businesses, but it also creates more stressed
individuals.
Truth is, sometimes we set the bar
too high and suffer because of it.
How can we continue to improve
ourselves and our organizations without shaving years off our lives? Simply put: be realistic.
We all have to-do lists a mile
long. Expecting to complete every task
quickly just isn’t realistic. Whether
it’s something seemingly as simple as writing a product description or
decidedly more involved like planning next year’s budget, everything always
takes longer than you anticipate it will.
Making your plans and setting your goals more realistically will
increase your job satisfaction and morale now, and it will make you a more
accurate and efficient planner in the future.
Try this: keep track of your
time. Literally. Starting tomorrow, record the time when you
start and when you stop working on a project.
At the end of the day, tally your results and identify how far into the
project you got and how much more work you have to go. Do this every day for one week and then
evaluate your results.
See any surprises? You may find out where all your time goes, or
you may discover just how much more time some tasks take than you
realized. In any case, you should have a
better handle on your time management strengths and weaknesses, and you should
be able to use the findings to set more realistic schedules and timelines.
Just be sure to add a few days to
all of your estimates: new tasks and new priorities constantly interrupt your
day and wreak havoc on your plans.
Anticipating the inevitable and planning ahead for delays will help take
some of the stress out of your week, and that’s the whole point.
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