Our jobs create stress and probably always will: there is more to do than time in which to do it even though we’re working longer hours; our supervisors are stressed and pass down their stress;

industries continue to be in flux as mergers and acquisitions remain
commonplace; and positions are unstable as businesses adjust to
changing market conditions and increased foreign competition.
No surprise that these conditions cause heartburn on a daily basis.
Is our free time a source of stress also?

yes sometime, it does.

Do we have so much to do that the necessity to schedule free time disrupts our enjoyment of leisure activities and saps any rejuvenating qualities they might provide? Definite
possibilities. It’s also possible that more and more of us are just unable to relax. We carry over our multitasking work habits to our personal lives and try to cram more into each free hour. We use
the computer while we’re watching television, talk on the phone
while shopping, check e-mail on vacation.

logging your time

You get to decide what’s a waste of your time. And you get to decide how you’re going to spend that time.
First you need to know how you’re spending your time now. Are
you willing to take a close, honest look at the way you spend your
time (which is to say, the way you live)? If you don’t like what you
find, will you use the results to redirect your efforts and energies?
To do so takes effort and self-awareness. It also takes courage..

The more categories you create, the more precise and helpful
the information, and the more annoying keeping track will be. The
more you decide to put in, the more you’ll get out later. Also the information you collect here is going to serve you well.

Make notes

Make your notes in a way that will tell you what you want
and need to know about yourself at the end of the week.
Be honest, even if it hurts. Folks tend to fudge downward on time
spent playing computer games and upward on time spent exercising,
for example. You want a true picture of your activities in a typical
week. Then you can decide if you want to change anything.
It can be difficult, non impossible.

Fight back the busywork system

How can you recognize if you are involved in work that has little
effect on achieving your or your organization’s goals? What if your
supervisor has assigned you a task or project that you believe to be
of little value? Is it still busywork if it’s a requirement?

Let’s say that the project your manager assigned to you is busywork in your view. Before you create a scene complete with righteous indignation, let’s step back for a minute and look at the situation objectively. You may be in a position to determine the project’s value,
or you may not have all the facts necessary to judge the big picture.
The results of this assignment may be on the critical path of someone
in the organization unknown to you.

So you need to make you’ll at your maximum energy, to fight back the ‘busywork’.

see you soon.

sal