Stressed Out? First Step- Manage Your Time

Do you ever walk into your office, sit down at your desk, and look at a pile of never ending files and tasks that need completed and feel like there is no end in sight? Just the thought of that stresses me out and it’s not even my desk that is piled high with all the work. By being unorganized, not prioritizing lists, and not delegating tasks to others you will never dig yourself out of that deep pile of work. So the very first step to trying to create organization out of the madness is to manage your time! 

Start out by creating a list that details each task that needs completed and what the time frame is to complete the task. Once this is completed, you can go down your list and begin to prioritize the list based off of the time frame of when each task needs to be completed and you can begin to make mental or physical notes about who you could delegate some of the tasks to or who you could get involved in the tasks to lessen the work load for you. 

Keep a notepad next to your keyboard so that as things pop up during the day you remember to add these things to your list. Once each task is completed, you can check it off your list and make a note of approximately how long this task took you to complete. By making a note about the length of time each task took you, you can begin to count up the hours in the day and see where you are really spending all your time. 

Is your list of things really that long to do? Or are you being easily distracted by other things around you and this is making your list grow longer and longer? DO NOT stress out about a never ending to do list. The first step is to manage your time effectively and chip away at the list one task at a time. By prioritizing the list and managing the time each task takes to perform and the expected completion date you will notice that pile of work slowly, but surely, start to dwindle.