Stress Management Techniques Prioritizing your Work Prioritizing Tasks Reducing Stress
Prioritizing introduces two of the most important techniques of stress management: taking a step back and doing one thing at a time. It doesn’t just help people manage an unwieldy workload, prioritizing can also break some of its most vicious circles.
A hallmark of stress is the feeling of being overwhelmed – too much to do, too little time and two steps back for each one forward. The trouble is that when people start thinking about everything they have to do, they can start thinking about EVERYTHING they have to do. This is when stress can act like a cyclone sweeping up all in its path into a great shapeless mass. Big gets mixed in with small, minor with major and urgent with routine. Sufferers caught in this kind of loop can feel so overwhelmed by the size and awfulness of their to-do list that they lose touch with what’s actually on it.
The act of prioritizing forces someone to think about items individually again so the great mass starts to break up even before things are put in order. Considering tasks separately brings them back down to size. It dispels the power and mystique they had as part of an intimidating whole.
Once the stressful mass is broken up, individual tasks can be laid end-to-end in an orderly queue so they can be picked off one by one. This brings in that second component of stress management - doing one thing at a time. Like viewing tasks individually, focusing on one thing reverses some of the unhelpful patterns stress creates.
When people are stressed, time seems like an enemy. There’s so much to do and plan that it’s hard to keep your mind from jumping to whatever isn’t getting done at the time. The result is that few tasks have your full concentration. A stressed working pattern sometimes moves a couple of inches forward in numerous directions rather than following any one chore to completion. Both of these situations make the stress worse. Lack of concentration risks missing vital information or making mistakes which need even more time to remedy. Taking small steps in multiple directions robs you of the sense of progress that comes from wiping something off the list.
Most relaxation techniques like meditation or yoga use exercises that demand concentration because concentration is relaxing. The same can be said for sports, puzzles or going to the movies. Focusing your mind stops it bouncing around and draining so much energy in the process. Under stressful conditions this can be easier said than done, but prioritizing in a way that lets you do one thing at a time will certainly help.
A classic prioritizing technique is to draw a grid with four squares. Across the top is Important and Not Important. Down the side is Urgent (with an upcoming deadline) and Not Urgent. Things that come into the Urgent and Important box are your top priority. Important but not urgent can be left until the A list is finished. Urgent but not important can be done if there’s time left over, and anything that falls into Not Urgent and Not Important you can scrap. It’s a simple way to separate the wheat from the chaff.
But there’s more than one way to prioritize so have a think about what is stressing you personally. If there’s a particularly awkward or unpleasant chore hanging over your head it’s good to get it out of the way early so it’s not haunting you from the shadows and building dread. If the stress is simply a matter of volume, start with the quickest and easiest things to clear. When it’s hard to get going try working backwards i.e. beginning with the most recent items because they’re fresh in your mind. Complex or difficult tasks are best broken down into smaller chunks that you can prioritize more easily or use a “push where it moves” philosophy.
Prioritizing is a good habit to get into even when the work isn’t stressful. It has a preventative effect which keeps unnecessary clutter getting through in the first place.
It also serves as a type of review or stock-taking which can refresh your view of the work you do and what’s important to you.
