The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Time management prevents stress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 03, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Time management prevents stress

Special Correspondent

`I found by postponing more difficult tasks till late in the day, I was getting more stressed out than was necessary.'

Bangalore: Bestsellers among the books in any store are those related to effective time management. We have all gone through strict school and college timings when each hour or so was allocated to the study of specific subject, or for the library or practicals.

"Once out of college and into my first job, I felt there was all the time in the world for me... both to work and for leisure. Five years down the line, the leisure part almost disappeared, while the workload kept increasing,'' says N.C. Mathur, an executive in a manufacturing firm.

In several such cases, corporate coaches have found it is possible to pack more work into eight or 10 hours if certain avoidable distractions and interruptions can be minimised. Browsing the e-mail folders on computer, replying to e-mails that need only be read, reading junk mail instead of deleting it right away and generally welcoming everyone into your own work area, are among avoidable time wasters.

"I learnt to tackle the most difficult and often the most boring assignments first thing in the morning, between 9 a.m. and noon, and keep the rest for the afternoon, again prioritising items that needed immediate attention and those that could wait as the coach had suggested. I found by postponing more difficult tasks till late in the day, I was getting more stressed out than was necessary,'' he says.

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