Managing your stress and your time go hand in hand. Stress can often be caused by not having enough time to do the things you want or need to do. This is a common problem shared by many employees and employers alike in the workplace as well as students at school, colleges and universities. By managing your time, stresses can be reduced significantly.

The key to good time management is self-organization. So at the start of each day, make a list of the main tasks you need to achieve. These tasks should be prioritised so that you will always achieve your highest priorities first. Set time limits on various tasks. For example, set aside no more than one hour to reading emails. Finally set a schedule based on the priority of tasks and the amount of time you intend to spend on each one. (Don’t forget to schedule some time for lunch or dinner.) Establishing such a basic routine will go along way towards better managing your time.

Besides the basic time management techniques already discussed there are other things you can do to better manage your time. Firstly, eliminate all non productive time wasting activities. One way to do this is by simply keeping a track of every activity you do and how much time you spend. Soon you will realize that real time wasters like surfing the net or making personal calls actually impact your time. Secondly review your efficiency on the various tasks you do day to day. Can they be improved? Are they taking more time than what they should? For example do you waste time looking for where you last placed something? Perhaps a better filing system can improve your efficiency. Thirdly, utilise the time where you are actually waiting. If you are travelling to and from work/school by public transport, there is plenty of opportunity to complete a task, especially in today’s mobile computing age. Finally it is worth acknowledging that there is only 24 hours in a day. Don’t bust your gut trying to fit in more than what is humanly possible.