Time management for stress reduction

Nowadays, people are overloaded with lot of activities and often find difficulties in doing all the things. Most often, lots of works are left for the upcoming days that become a huge burden which often creates stress. Stress makes mind hazy and deters us from doing things effectively and efficiently. So, doing things at the right time in the right way is important for minimizing stress. Here comes the issue of time management as we have to do things at the right time. Managing time for all the works is a kind of science. Those who can manage time effectively and efficiently can achieve success in life, and those who can't are ultimate looser. So, how will we manage time effectively and efficiently? It differs from person to person. Many often say, "I am extremely busy and I'm not having time to finish all the stuffs". It seems that we are not as busy as we are thinking. It's all about the time mismanagement. Yes, there may be an exceptional case if someone is a CEO or the like person! When we experience an extreme load of works and we do not have much time to finish those works, then, we must have to think about our whole activities. We are definitely doing some unnecessary works along with the necessary works. But we may avoid the unnecessary works or delegate them to others. Paring unnecessary works or delegating works may help minimize piled up work burden which will ultimately result in reducing stress. Here, pondering effective delegation is very important. Delegating the works to the right people will definitely yield a good result; delegating works to wrong people will only help us enough to be stressed. Works which can't be delegated must be done with proper planning. It's better to plan the time at the outset of the day and to write the plan in a notebook. It is to be noted that writing the plan in the notebook is important as human mind is multi-dimensional which may help us much to forget the plan. Writing the plan in notebook as well as in cell phone's reminder list is far better. Then, checking the notebook time to time will help us to remind about the works to be done. It will help us to manage our time effectively. And at the end of the day, checking whether the plan is executed or not, will portray the whole picture of the works of the day. If the plan is not executed, keeping that work in the next day's plan will pay off. It is to be noted that plan should not be superficial; rather it should be pragmatic and worth being implemented. It is a sheer truth that a plan will not be executed up to 100 per cent. At the first experience, one can be thought as successful if he is able to execute the plan up to 60%-70%. With the passage of time, he will be able to execute the plan up to 80%-90%. It can be deemed as a benchmark in executing the plan. Inefficient and ineffective management of time increases stress among us, since, with the passage of time piled up work burden increases. One who is under stress cannot do things effectively and efficiently. Stress minimizes productivity of the people. So, addressing stress relating to time can be minimized through effective time management. (The writer is a student of Management Studies in the University of Dhaka, and can be reached at E-mail : mih.mgt@gmail.com)