Time and Tasks

If you feel that you do not have enough hours in the day and that you cannot give enough time to those things that are really important to you, then you need to stop and take a long hard look at yourself and your life.   Achieving the correct balance between work and home life and even between social activities is vital if you are to avoid feeling permanently stressed – and tired.

This situation arises because people often have too many competing priorities and have not decided what for them is the correct balance in their life – at that time.     The key is good time management.

Life changes and our priorities change – sometimes we have to give more attention to things that we would prefer not to be doing at that time.   In other words our short-term priorities conflict with our longer term goals.

What we can do is recognise this and plan a route to a changed situation.   Even if we cannot change what we must give most attention to at this time, the mere fact that we re-assess and confirm this (maybe only to ourselves) and then establish a timescale for future change will usually have a positive effect upon our morale.

If this Blog describes your situation, then I would urge you to take say half an hour to sit quietly – if appropriate with your spouse or partner – and address the following questions:

How much time do you spend on different activities?

What do you value most – and how much time do you spend in connection with that?

How much time do you spend on “relaxation” activities, which only feel like you have “passed the time” afterwards, and in retrospect wish you had done something else?   If when watching TV you sit and channel hop, then later you will probably feel that the time has been largely wasted.

Could you simply readjust your schedule to avoid spending time doing things you would not otherwise do?   For example could you avoid traffic jams, or idling time whilst you simply wait for others?

How much time do you unavoidably spend waiting for others, and could you anticipate this, and use that time better?

Could you persuade others to adjust their schedule so that you can more easily align your schedule to avoid “dead” time?

Could you do chores differently, or at a different  time, or with another person, or with some other distraction, so that they  would feel a little more “fresh”?

Are you doing more than is necessary when others are in a position to help – if you have children are they old enough to help you and would they benefit from taking some responsibility?

Can you align tasks better, so that you can do two things at the same time?

Could you be better organised so that you save time – for example if you look round your home, does it look visually well organised or disorganised?

Do you delay starting some tasks because you do not like doing them .  If so can you share that task with someone else, or do it together with another person, or could you do it whilst doing something else?

Do you feel that you have too little time to start and finish tasks, so do not even attempt to start – a classic symptom of procrastination, and one which can be avoided.

Are you in good physical condition?  Getting sufficient exercise, sleep and a well balanced diet will improve your physical condition, which in turn will improve your general feeling of well-being.

Making individually minor changes to our day-to-day routines can significantly improve our situation.   Remember the list of suggestions provided above are only examples of what you might do, but should be sufficient to set you thinking about what would be appropriate for your personal situation.

If this Blog has struck a chord with you, don’t just read and dismiss it.  Commit to making some changes.     A good start is to make an open declaration of intent.
Best Wishes,

Brian Hazell

It is quite amazing how our biological clocks can vary so much.  Some people bounce out of bed each morning and thier day starts as their feet touch the ground.   Others wake so very slowly and need a caffeine fix just to feel even sub-human.   Some people do their best work in the mornings, some in the afternoon and some in the evening, or later.

Some people seem able to thrive on just a few hours sleep and others unable to function barely at all without 8 or 10 hours almost each and every night.

Problems arise when we cannot follow our natural inclinations and instead have something else imposed upon us - whether it is the time we have to start and finish or work - or the timing of individual tasks within our time at work.    Shift working can really mess things up.

When we recognise our own patterns - and then adapt our commitments to fit in with this, then we feel more energised when it is most needed - and we achieve so much more.

The challenge is to strike a balance between the patterns imposed by that expected of you by others, and what your biological clock would prefer - and that may well mean adaptation of both.