Time Wasters

Here’s a list of Time wasters:Indecision.Inefficiency.Unanticipated interruptions that do not pay

off.Procrastination.Unrealistic time estimates.Unnecesary errors.Crisis Management.

Poor organization.Ineffective meetings.Micro Management.Doing urgent rather than important

things.Poor planning and lack of contingency

plans. Failure to delegate or delegating without

authority.Lack of priorities, standards, policies or

procedures.

Procrastination:The esence of procrastination is very well

reflected in this quote by Bernard Meltzer: “Hard work is often the easy work you did not do at the proper time”.

What is Procrastination?A basic definition of procrastination is

putting off the things you should be doing now.

Yet, what makes a big difference for your success is your ability to recognize procrastination reasons and expressions in their different forms, and to promptly take them under control, before this bad habit steals your opportunities, damages your career and pride, or destroys your relationships. So why don’t you do it now?

Causes of Procrastination:Here are a few of the most common situations to consider in your anti-procrastination efforts. It can be as simple as:

Waiting fot the right mood.Waiting for the right time.Look at the way you organize your work. You may find other reasons for procrastination like:

Lack of clear goals.

Underestimating the difficulty of the tasks.

Underestimating the time required to complete the tasks.

Unclear standards for the task outcomes.

Feeling that the tasks are imposed on you from outside.

Too ambiguous tasks.

And there are also many connections with:

Underdeveloped decision making skills.

Fear of failure or fear of success.

Perfectionism.

How to stop procrastinating steps:Examine the amount of time

procrastinating: You may be shocked by the time wasted in front of the tv.

Examine the effect: What lies ahead? Chances are, you will benefit from facing the task head on.

Set reasonable goals: Allow time to complete things. Set time aside for the unexpected.

Create a new habit: You may not want to do your work right now, but you can still be thinking about how to do it more quickly and efficiently.

Scan through your work. Give yourself a time limit.

Approach each task in small intervals: A half hour or an hour may be a reasonable amount of time to concentrate before taking a break. Divide a task over a week, a month or several hours.

Just get started: Going from doing nothing to doing something is often the hardest part.

Reward yourself along the way: Reward yourself with a movie, a break or some kind of treat as you progress.

Stayed focused: Say “no” to picking up the guitar, a dvd or texting your friends. Build confidence in your ability to make choices.

Don’t expect perfection: No one is perfect. It is better to try your best than to do nothing at all.

Introduction to Stress Management

Continously growing pace of the modern life puts more demands on our stress management skills. You may already be in a situation when you feel pressured to accomplish more and more every year with less resources and shorter deadlines. Or you may feel overwhelmed by the challeges in maintaining balance between your work and family life.

Whichever sources your stress is coming from, if you just let it build up for too long, you will eventually pay the price and face sad consequences. And unless you improve your stress management abilities, this may happen much sooner than you expected.

How much can poor stress management cost you? Stress has been linked to a major portion of health problems, from premature aging to heart attacks. Even when stress does not causes the illness directly, it can accelerate development of existing conditions or make you more vulnerable to health problems, as well as to threats from your home or office environment. And even if you don’t count physical health damage and premature death, overwhelming stress may also waste a significant portion of your life. Just by keeping you in a state of fatigue, unhappiness, and depression.

Stress management goes hand in hand with time management: A good time management is a critical element of effective stress management. Time management is probably the number one tool for managing stress at its sources. If you get organized, plan ahead, stop procrastinating, clarify your priorities, and delegate effectively you are much less likely to be overwhelmed by the pre-deadline stress. Even without advanced relaxation techniques. And you are more likely to get ahead in balancing your work and family life.

And it is certainly not good time management if you become disabled, miserable, or die prematurely from the effects of excessive stress.

Are you at risk of Burnout Syndrome?Burnout is a problem that many people either face or come

very close to at some point of their life or career. If your job or some other commitment keeps you completely drained physically or emotionally, and if this situation goes on for years, months, or maybe just weeks, you may finally reach the breaking point and fall a victim of burnout syndrome.

Burning out is not just stress, it’s much more than that. There are people who may experience high stress at their job time after time.

But job stress does not necessarily mean that they are at risk of job burnout.

Certain categories of people and professions are particularly susceptible to job burnout. Most often these are people who are highly committed and motivated, who have high standards and idealistic dedication to their jobs.

This condition more commonly occurs for such professions as entrepreneurs, managers (in business, education, health care, and many other fields), teachers and social workers, athletes.

Burnout is a chronic condition that happens when your body or mind can no longer cope with overwhelmingly high demands.

You are trapped in a state of emotional exhaustion, and it is hard to get out of this state. You stop caring about what you do, even though you may feel guilty about that fact. Even if you still continue working, it seems to be hard to make progress. You hardly accomplish anything significant, just go through the motions.

There are many different situations that could lead to burning out. Common burnout causes are:

An overwhelming workload. Could be due to insufficient time management skills, especially lack of planning, prioritizing, or delegation skills.

Hard work with no clear goals. You work hard and hard, but no matter how long you keep at it, you cannot see any progress. But how could you see that you have got closer if you don’t know your destination?

Powerlessness to change something important to you. Something that you are very emotionally attached to, but at the same time beyond your control.

Forcing yourself to make the impossible happen. For example, solving problems without having the necessary resources.

A conflict between your personal values and the values of the company you’re working for. You don’t believe or disagree with what you’re doing, but you feel the circumstances force you to keep doing it anyway.

Hitting the invisible ceiling. No matter how good or competent you become, there is hardly any chance of recognition or promotional opportunities.

For all those burnout causes what is important is not as much the external factors that fall on you, but how you interpret them, what you say to yourself, and what actions you take in response.

Finally, it is important to understand the risks of burnout in your personal or job situations. Once you are its victim, it may not be easy to get things back on track. That condition does not go away in a day. You may not be able to recover by yourself, and you may need to have drastic changes in your attitudes and life style. You are much better off preventing it now than putting your life back together later.