How To Eliminate Stress by Eliminating Responsibilities: Use a Time Management Chart

By: Sheri McConnell
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:41:11
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

Know When It Is Time To Eliminate Responsibilities

Feeling stressed lately? Too many to-do's on your to-do list? If you are doing too much for too many people, you must eliminate some of the stress in your life. Start by eliminating the responsibilities that do not directly contribute to the top three goals in your life. Many areas of your life will improve immediately. Lightening your load will benefit you by improving the quality of your health and your relationships. Reevaluate your responsibilities using a time management chart at least twice a year.

Start By Writing Down Your Goals

Before you can begin to eliminate responsibilities, you need to decide what your top three goals are. They do not need to be in order of importance. Mine are: 1) Nurture myself, 2) Spend quality time with my family, and 3) Grow my businesses.

Create Your Time Management Chart

Your chart will consist of three columns: a list of all your current responsibilities, the approximate number of hours each responsibility takes during a given month (estimate), and which of the three goals the responsibility is helping you to accomplish (if any!). You will find that many of your current responsibilities are not helping you to accomplish one of the three goals. These are the easiest to eliminate or to delegate. Learning how to delegate is important because it allows you additional time you need to focus on your three goals. You can delegate a lot: my youngest daughter folds the dish- and face-cloths in our house while her two older sisters handle the rest of the laundry. Here is a partial example of my time management chart. (Note: You can create a table with the correct number of rows and three columns in Microsoft Word under the "table" drop-down menu. Mine appears in a listing format below.)

  • Column One --> Responsibility

    • PTA Board
    • Running my local women's group
    • Taking my children to and from soccer practices and games
    • Spend 1 hour each day exercising
    • Spend 6 to 8 hours, Monday thru Friday, working my businesses
    • Cleaning the house/laundry and grocery shopping.

  • Column Two --> Number of Hours per Month (Respectively)

    • 5
    • 5 - 10
    • 20
    • 30
    • 128 - 160
    • 20 - 30

  • Column Three --> Goal That I Am Accomplishing, If Any (Respectively)

    • Not helping me accomplish one of my 3 goals
    • Not helping me accomplish one of my 3 goals
    • Not helping me accomplish one of my 3 goals
    • #1 – Nurture myself
    • #3 – Grow my businesses
    • Not helping me accomplish one of my three goals.

The Elimination Process

After reviewing my complete chart, I decided to step down from my local women's group responsibilities and from my children's PTA Board. I decided to delegate more household responsibilities. Completing this chart every six months allows you to assign tasks based on the new skill levels of the family. Children develop quickly and can take on more chores as they grow. Doing everything for your children doesn't help them--if anything it hinders them in adulthood. Delegating household chores to them is a win-win for everyone. I also sat down with the other adult in my life (my husband) and convinced him to take on more responsibility. Not an easy task! I know my chart (the complete version) made it much easier for him to see where he could easily pitch in. He chose grocery shopping and driving the children to and from their events. Create your own time management chart and "take back" at least 10-15 hours of your life each month. You will be less stressed and happier. I know I was!

Sheri McConnell is the President of the National Association of Women Writers (http://www.NAWW.org). She helps women writers and entrepreneurs discover, create, and profit from their intellectual knowledge! Free reports for writers available with subscription to NAWW Weekly. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband Seth and their four children. Contact her at naww@onebox.com or her toll free number at 866-821-5829.

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Time Management category

  • Benefits of Time Management - By: Crizza Reyes
    We are all looking for the ways to help us complete the things that we need to do in the possible shortest time so that we can add additional time to have for ourselves.
  • Time Management - Create More Time Every Day - By: Darren Bourke
    Time - the most precious of resources. It can not be increased nor recreated when lost. A finite resource that is delivered in equal installments of 24 hours each day. Given time is a fixed commodity; we must improve at getting more done in less time. So.... what can you do differently tomorrow to manage your time better?
  • Time Saving Myths - By: Sandra Prior
    Research shows that not getting enough sleep leads to an increase in the body's production of the stress hormone cortisol, which over time can leave you feeling irritable, anxious and less productive.
  • Do The Things You Would Do Last ... First - By: Johnny Ong
    Have you ever been overwhelmed by the number of unfinished tasks each work day? Is your social and personal life in danger of being compromised by many urgent tasks? Here's a great tip to put order and greater efficiency into all aspects of your life.
  • 5 Keys to Balance for the Work-at-Home Mom - By: Kim Christopher
    Your family needs your attention. Your business needs your attention. How do you tackle it all while maintaing balance in your work-at-home schedule? Author shares 5 specific ways she's been able to take upon herself the challenge every work-at-home mom faces today!
  • Call in Your Advisors! - By: Kamal Kumar
    Our 'socially accepted' working life in the Western World presently stands at around 50 years. We generally have the ability to seek work at a little before the age of 15 and are expected to graciously retire at around 65 years.
  • "Alternative Notions of Life, a Different Path (3): First, Be Effective." - By: Carl "J.C." Pantejo
    You wonder why, with all the hard work you've done, you don't "have it" by now? In this article, we continue looking at "The Scenario" (introduced in "Alternative Notions of Life, a Different Path (2): Trying too hard?") and explore alternative ways of better handling your situation.
  • 15 Great Things to Do with Your Time in Retirement - By: Cynthia Barnett
    Leading retirement expert offers 15 wiinning ideas on how to make your time matter, both to you and to others, in retirement. This advice from a certified retirement lifestyle coach can help every retiree fill their time in fun and fulfilling ways.
  • Seeing Time: 6 Practical Steps to Manage Time Successfully with ADHD - By: Sarah Jane Keyser
    Imagine.yourself sitting in the middle of the railroad tracks making mud pies. A long loud woo-hoo-oo echoes in the air. You look up to see a huge train engine bearing down on you.people with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, ADHD) experience time as a higgledy-piggledy pile of crossties spread out in all directions. They have no sense of the train arriving until it appears on top of them; they are often late for meetings or forget completely. Learn 6 steps for managing time.
  • Time Management For Home Business Owners - By: Margery Hinman
    Working at home and running a business at home can be a challenging task to say the least. It is very important to develop good time management techniques to guarantee your business success. Many home business owners feel overwhelmed and may tend to procrastinate and then find themselves way overloaded with work. Additionally, it is common for a home business owner not to know when it’s time to stop working, and shift into family mode. When your workplace is also your home place is very easy to end up working nearly 24/7. After awhile of doing this, burnout happens.