Manage Stress by Managing Time

Essential to your well-being in the workplace is a strong sense of where you are, what’s required, where you’re headed—and if where you’re headed is where you want to go. Once you determine these things, you’ll be well on your way to finding and eliminating sources of stress. A key strategy is developing awareness of:

• Your job duties, authority and responsibility and their importance.

• Your own skills, needs and abilities.

• How you currently allocate your time on the job.

You can heighten this awareness by keeping daily and weekly logs of your activities, with detailed analysis of what, who, where and how much time is involved in each. Another technique is reviewing your job description and its real meaning with your supervisor and other work colleagues. Use a self-analysis of your skills, abilities and goals to make sure what you’re working for is what you really want.

SOURCE: Randall S. Schuler. Copyright © December 1979, ACC Communications/Personnel Journal. All rights reserved.