PRDV005: Time and Stress Management

Watch this lecture which explains the importance of maximizing the return on time spent. We should aim to acquire assets and qualities beyond financial gains, such as knowledge, skills, reputation, goodwill, and relationships. Accomplishing this requires being present "in the moment". An imbalance between our personal and work lives can damage our currency, such as our relationships and good health.

This article explores strategies for "staying on top of things". Suggestions include arriving early to work, planning your day ahead of time, dealing with the tasks at hand, addressing feeling overworked, and taking a problem-solving approach to identifying and relieving stress. Incorporating these tips into your daily activities will likely improve your productivity!

This resource provides worksheets to help you prioritize and organize your tasks. Notice that the worksheets are time and goal-oriented. Your planning should include time to rejuvenate and strive for a balance of self-care and productivity. Take the Time Management Inventory to identify growth areas and improve how you manage that precious commodity: time.

Watch this video for a definition of time management and tips to organize time, starting with a to-do list or checklist method. These powerful yet simple time management tools can help you become more productive.

Watch this video on steps college students can take to better manage their time. It explains how to create a calendar to manage activities and responsibilities and discusses the importance of studying. The narrator cites the golden rule of studying – you should study at least two hours outside of class for every hour of scheduled class time. Time management allows busy students to balance work, class, and social activities!

This article emphasizes the challenges creative people face in corralling their thoughts and ideas into productive activities. The chapters explain how to use to-do lists and prioritize commitments. McGuiness suggests several tools for keeping track of daily activities. Complete the questions at the end of each chapter to help assess your planning abilities.

What is project management? It is more than a one-off attempt to complete a task. Watch this video to learn time management tips to complete ongoing projects on time and within budget. Pay attention to the final tip: the project is not finished until you can apply an analysis of things learned to future projects.

Just when you think project management is not in your future, help has arrived! Read this article on how a work breakdown structure (WBS) technique helps you reduce a project into manageable components. You can use this approach for personal projects or more complicated work-related tasks. Test your understanding of this concept by doing the exercises at the end of the article.

This video explains how managers can conquer the challenge of time management. The speaker describes five ways to gain more time by incorporating input and assistance from your team. He emphasizes the need to prioritize tasks, delegate appropriately, and know when to ask for help. Managers should analyze the purpose of any meeting. They should cancel meetings that lack a clear purpose!

Read these chapters to learn how to manage your time in any business, industry, or field. The concepts will help you complete work and business-related tasks more efficiently, giving you more time to devote to other priority activities. Complete the questions at the end of each chapter to help assess your planning abilities.

While most agree goal setting improves performance, the mere presence of a goal does not automatically generate motivation. In this chapter, we learn how goals that are specific, measurable, aggressive, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) tend to produce results. Be sure to note how to avoid the downsides of goal setting.

This video defines SMART goals as specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely. Using a hypothetical trip to the moon, the narrator describes how each component of a SMART goal might look. Then he analyzes each aspect of the breakdown to see if the goal meets the SMART goal criteria. He also presents some more realistic goals related to personal physical fitness. Are these examples comparable? Maybe it is simply a matter of degree? After all, we have landed on the moon!

In this lecture, Savinda Ranathunga explains why he celebrates the first of January every day. You must refuse to let time control you and concentrate on your dreams for the future. When you take inventory of your daily progress toward interim goals, you break your larger dreams into smaller, achievable targets. This allows you to celebrate your success every day.

Watch this short video, which offers a logical framework you can use daily to identify your work tasks and prioritize them for completion, especially if you feel overwhelmed.

Watch this brief video which presents a simple framework for categorizing and organizing your tasks regarding people, priorities, and projects. Do you think this three Ps method could work for you?

Watch this video which offers a simple framework for organizing your priorities to determine the urgency of tasks. Spend some time organizing your tasks according to the ABCD task framework. Some people call it the Eisenhower Matrix.

This reading describes Stephen Covey's (1932–2012) description of a fourth-generation in the field of time management. He focuses on preserving and enhancing relationships and accomplishing results. This unit goes beyond time management with powerful tools to help you decide how to act. Decision-making forces us to choose between two or more courses of action. Pay attention to the stages of effective decision-making accompanied by good judgment and clear thinking. The problem-solving steps will help you achieve your goals.

Are you an eleventh-hour person? Do you wait to study for an important exam until the night before the test date? Does the advice, "never put off until tomorrow what you can do today," make you uneasy? You may not consider yourself a procrastinator, but do you feel anxious when you receive deadlines? This resource explains why we procrastinate and challenges some common myths about why we put things off.

Watch this video on the five-minute rule, which the narrator uses to build motivation and complete challenging or complex tasks. He celebrates each win by setting clear, realistic, and specific goals to accomplish in a five-minute time frame. He embarks on the next step of his assignment with extra motivation and momentum.

This short video introduces the Pomodoro method, a time management technique Francesco Cirillo created in the 1980s to break projects into smaller, more manageable chunks to make them seem easier to complete. This technique uses a 25-minute work interval followed by a five-minute break. After you have completed four Pomodoros, you get a 15-minute break, and so on. Experiment with the Pomodoro technique and the timing of breaks to see what works best for you.

Watch this short video that identifies the top workplace distractions and how to avoid them. What are your top distractions?

Our brilliance is dimmed by distractions that distract our attention from our intended goals. You probably do not live on a deserted island. Friends, family, and coworkers often seem to need our attention at the most inopportune times. We need to recognize the source of these tugs in our focus to address their impact on productivity. Watch this video to develop powerful ways to identify distractions and change your behavior to meet your goals.

We can only confidently rely on our decision-making or critical thinking abilities if we commit 100 percent of our attention to a task. Multitasking causes us to fall behind on our own time-bound goals, and we suffer the harmful effects of others who try to multitask, such as distracted drivers and walkers.

This video describes why multitasking can be bad for our brains and how we are usually more productive when we focus on one thing rather than try to multitask.

Watch this video which describes the difference between multitasking and working in parallel and offers a framework for commitment. The presenter says multitasking is a misnomer: we should use the paradigm of working in parallel when discussing task management. Do you agree? Can you explain the difference between multitasking and parallel working? What are some examples of times when you were multitasking when you should have been working in parallel? Can you identify how your work may have suffered from a lack of focus?

The videos have shown that shifting your focus from one activity to another wastes time. But how can you avoid giving in to interruptions and distractions, especially in a busy workplace? What is the best way to stay on track to complete your goals according to your plan? Watch this video for steps to enhance your productivity rather than allow multitasking to diminish it.

Now that you have a prioritized to-do list you are ready to tackle, other less difficult or more enjoyable activities seem to conspire to sidetrack you. Watch this video for tips on maintaining productive concentration during workday tasks and projects. The narrator explains that giving yourself a simple "breathing break" can rejuvenate and restore your focus.

Watch this video on how the brain processes real and perceived threats. Jaime Tartar notes that the human brain and nervous system are wired to defend us from threats to our survival. However, more complicated life stressors and hassles force us to decide about our relationships, work, and ambitions.

We must consider our knowledge, skills, and experience to respond to individual stressors. Answers may lie in psychotherapy, social support, good sleep habits, and other strategies. However, he warns that our actions to reduce or avoid stress may have complications or negative side effects, such as time and energy spent or drug dependence. Tartar reminds us that we control our stress response. We can ignore the signs at our peril or act on them to improve our lives.

What is stress? Peter Gerlach makes a distinction between our false and true selves. Watch this video for an overview of recognizing the true (core) causes of our stress. When we identify the core causes of stress, we can better understand the mental and physiological stressors. Can you name all of the stressors in your life? It might be helpful to examine the three real causes of stress cited in the video.

This video discusses the signs of high-functioning post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. It suggests ways to get help for this common ailment if you are experiencing negative emotions due to past traumas that keep you from leading a healthy and productive life.

Watch this video to learn about a framework for identifying, reacting to, and responding to stress. Ameer Rosic offers practical tips for reframing stressors so we can respond positively and positively. Take a moment to identify some stressors in your life and write down how you normally respond to them. Would you benefit from a different response?

Watch this video, which offers three main strategies for managing stress in the workplace. The speaker focuses on building resilience and emotional agility. The online seminar is interactive so be sure to have a pen and paper ready to do the exercises.

Read this text, which describes individual and organizational approaches to managing stress. Individuals benefit from a workflow that offers challenge, meaningfulness, competence, and choice.

The reading describes ways corporations can reduce unhealthy stress by providing job design and management practices that include clear expectations, autonomy, fair work environments, and other opportunities for job enrichment.

Unresolved workplace conflicts can sap energy, decrease motivation, and create a toxic work environment. In this video, Jess Coles stresses the need to proactively tackle negative conflict by ascertaining the source of unproductive disputes and changing the people or processes that interfere with effective team collaboration.

Watch this video to learn how to manage stress by organizing and prioritizing tasks (as we return to the time management skills discussed in Unit 1). Some tasks may be easier or more enjoyable than others, but having a realistic "conversation" with ourselves may prompt us to admit they are not must-do items. Take time for yourself amid the compound stressors we face daily. Remember to reserve time in your schedule for family and friends!

Do you find yourself staying awake at night reviewing the things that may have gone better during the day or wracking your brain for solutions to current and potential problems? Watch this video which recommends creating a shutdown process to help you sleep peacefully and devise creative problem-solving ideas.

Watch this video to learn how to deal with multiple high-pressure situations. Tips include learning to control your breathing, change your posture, and plan responses to various leadership and social situations. These coping mechanisms are easy to follow and can help us reduce pressure and stress.

Watch this video which discusses how our minds and bodies benefit from exercise. Changes in muscle growth, heart rate, hormonal, and brain chemistry can help us increase our endurance and improve our mental outlook.