Preplanning, organization key to less stress

Recently a reader submitted the following question: “Dear Dr. LeCrone, I feel overwhelmed at the end of the day and believed that much of my problem results from my inefficiency and poor use of time. I often finish the day feeling that I have accomplished nothing and this is beginning to result in my feeling depressed. Can you help me with some simple suggestions that will get me back on the right track?”

“Dear Reader, following are some simple but tried and true methods that may assist you.

• Planning should begin the day before. Make a list of all you hope to accomplish tomorrow. One of the best secretaries I have ever known made it a daily task to list all the work completed for that day and to list all the work to be done the next day before she ever left the office. It was a way, she said, to let her mind rest, to leave mentally refreshed because she had taken inventory.

• Keep a log. Find out exactly how you spend your day. Even 15 to 30 minutes saved every day amounts to hours every week. If you are a homemaker, you may be spending more time than you realize on routine cleaning tasks. If you are an executive you may find that your day is filled with wasted time on interruptions, routine tasks that could be delegated. Keeping a log will help you in learning to say “no” to requests that will not help obtain your goals for the day.

• Get organized. Manually, or by computer, keep a file of upcoming events.

• Do solicit and utilize the help of co-workers. Don’t duplicate work that can be shared. Make a commitment to your fellow workers and expect one from them.

• Know your daily rhythm. If you are a morning person, then tackle the hardest job first thing in the morning. If you are an evening person, use the morning for less demanding tasks and wait until you are mentally alert and ready to demand the best of yourself.

• Search for ways to speed up or break through the minutiae of daily life. Try a computer for storing information, solving mathematical problems, for analyzing statistics, reports. Learn to use a dictaphone because you can talk and think faster than you can move a pencil. Have someone else transcribe your correspondence, or delay the information until you have time to do it yourself. Learn to expedite.

• Above all, leave your work behind when the allotted time is up. You need to disassociate yourself from the work day and devote the remaining hours to y our family or friends, to your hobby, to recreation. You will achieve more and be better balanced, all of which will lead toward less stress and better mental and physical health.

Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D. Copyright 2001