Stress Management Techniques

Set Priorities Divide your time into 3 categories (essential, important, and trivial). Prioritize your time based on the first 2 categories and minimize the third.

Schedule tasks for peak efficiency Know if your are a morning person or a night owl. Schedule as many tasks for the hours that you are the most productive and stick to your schedule

Set Realistic Goals, and write them down Attainable goals tend to encourage people to succeed. Fully commit yourself to achieving your goals by putting them on paper

Budget your Time Each thing that you take on used up time. Make sure that you figure out how much time to allow for each item and then add about 10% to 15% to make sure you are able to succeed

Break Long-time goals into short-term ones Instead of trying to accomplish something all at once break it into small piece to start or keep it going

Visualize the achievement of your goal Take time to visualize yourself accomplishing each task or goal

Keep track of the tasks you put off Figure out why you are procrastinating. Is it because it is difficult or unpleasant? Look for ways to make things more fun and pleasant

Consider doing your least-favorite/most difficult tasks first Once you have the unpleasant things out of the way you can enjoy your time Example - If you don't like Science but you do like English, do your Science work 1st, then go onto your English work

Consolidate tasks when possible Try to accomplish multiple tasks in the same block of time Example - Walk to the store so that you run your errands and get exercise at the same time

Identify quick transitional tasks Keep a list of task that can be accomplished in 5-10 minutes. This way you can accomplish these between other longer tasks

Delegate responsibility Sometimes we just don't have enough time to do everything that we say we'll do. Asking for help is not a cop-out, just good time management. Make sure that you don't delegate things that you know you should do yourself

Say no when necessary If you don't have the time that a task will require tactfully decline the request Example - if you are a member of a club and are asked to organize a can food drive, but you also participate in 3 other organizations and a sports team, you may realize that you just don't have enough time to do a good job

Give yourself a break Allow time for yourself. Set aside a period of time for you where you don't have to worry about the clock.

Stop thinking about what you're going to do, and just do it! Sometimes the best way to get started on something is to just do it Things may not be as bad as you feared and your momentum will keep you going