Stress reduction through more balance in everyday work
Time management experts usually advise: Do not plan more than 50% of your (working) time. The other 50% will have you dealing with things you couldn’t have foreseen. The tip is always: plan sufficient buffer times! Once you’ve planned too many slacks, you can still rejoice that you’re moving ahead faster than you thought, doing things that aren’t due until tomorrow or taking time to regenerate and recover.
Here are some questions you can use to test whether your time management is out of balance. These questions are not complete, but they collect typical symptoms of an unbalanced working day.
How stressed are you?
If you answer more than 5 questions with a clear “yes”, it is important for you to plan in more buffers to relieve stress at work or at home.
- I sleep less than 7 hours because my schedule doesn’t allow me more time.
- I drink a lot of coffee because I need the caffeine to have enough energy throughout the day.
- It’s hard for me to say no, so I say yes too often, even if it’s more work for me.
- I don’t have enough time for my own needs because I care so much about other people’s problems.
- I don’t have much time to eat and resort to ready meals and fast food restaurants.
- I can hardly find enough time to exercise.
- It’s a mess at home that weighs me down when I get home, but I can’t find time to put things in order.
- My time is so limited that I neglect social contacts, friends and/or family.
- My love life isn’t what it used to be. I don’t have enough energy for that.
- I regularly miss scheduled appointments because suddenly there are things that have a high priority that I didn’t plan enough time for.
How often was your answer yes?