Stop and prioritize your life before school starts

The beginning of school is just around the corner. Many of us find this a good time to look closely at how we spend our time.

During the summer it becomes easy to change our routines. We let the children stay up a little later, we prepare meals with a less rigid routine, we take off from work early to engage in a favorite recreational activity and enjoy the long daylight hours. Generally summer is less urgent and more relaxed.

If you wish to reassess the way you are spending your time, you may want to look at some leading time wasters that researchers have found interfere with efficient use of time.

• Not surprising to many of you, the telephone with its disruptions and interruptions is one of the most frequent sources of time mismanagement. For those managing a household an answering machine can screen calls and minimizes the disruption of home tasks.

• Lack of priorities and the inability or unwillingness to set deadlines often is a source of time mismanagement. An often-used technique is to write down how we spend our time. We can thus increase our awareness of ineffective use of time. Making a “to-do” list sets priorities and goals. Sticking to the list can increase effective time management. If a trip to a store across town is needed to pick up items, calling ahead to see if those items are available saves time and energy.

• Setting aside free time for recreation and rest can help make better use of scheduled work time. Having all our time scheduled as work time can produce feelings of fatigue and burnout.

• Perhaps one of the biggest time wasters is the inability to say no. Trying to please everyone, overcommitment, and overscheduling can lead to feelings of frustration and psychological distress.

• The tendency to consider too many things as crises often leads to poor time management. Learning to tell the difference between “real” problems and problems that can wait is a necessity for all of us.

Take charge of your time and reduce the stress in the life of your family before the hectic pace of school activities begin.

Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D. Copyright 2002