I recently had a day that should have been pure productivity bliss turn surprisingly stressful.
Upon reflection, I realized I had made a common time management error. I thought I would share in case it could help as a useful reminder for you.
Here’s what happened…
Recently, I had a day with fewer coaching calls than usual, and I was so excited to knock a bunch of projects off my list.
Typically, I savor these days and don’t find them stressful at all. But this particular day, I started later than I would prefer because of a lot of morning construction traffic on the way to dropping off my daughter.
I should have just readjusted my daily plan based on the hard fact that I started after my normal start time.
But I didn’t and told myself maybe if I just tried really hard and was super focused that somehow my work would take less time than it usually does.
This strategy didn’t serve me and instead of feeling relaxed during this relatively open day, I felt extremely pressured that morning trying to race to “catch up.”
In the afternoon, I stepped back from the situation and realized where I went wrong.
It wasn’t planning or time boxing that caused this stressful day, but the unrealistic expectation that I could keep to the same plan when I lost time on my commute.
Can you relate? Are there times you hope that you can stick to the same plan even when plans change?
If so, step back, take a deep breath and re-evaluate the situation.
Staying in touch with reality leads to peace because reality always wins.
About Real Life E
Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time management coach and best-selling author who empowers individuals who feel guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished. She helps people struggling with new levels of responsibility after receiving a promotion or becoming a parent, who aren’t meeting expectations at work, or who need better work-life balance to overcome burnout.
Elizabeth was named one of the World’s Top 30 Time Management Professionals by Global Gurus and is a member of Forbes Coaches Council. McGraw Hill published her first book The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success with Less Stress. Harvard Business Review published her second book How to Invest Your Time Like Money. And FaithWords published her third book Divine Time Management. Elizabeth regularly writes time management articles for Harvard Business Review and Fast Company and has appeared on CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox.
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