Confession time. When it comes to time management for others I totally rock it! I have a schedule for my daughter that I stick to about 98% of the time. As a single mom I have to not only get her up and moving for school but myself as well. We have a routine that we follow every day. At work I am always there when others need help with an issue big or small. I make sure that I set aside time to help my coworkers as needed. But where does this leave me? My time management skills are really not bad but they can and need to improve in many ways.
I realize my internal locus of control reflects how well I do or don’t do in my work and personal life. I do have control of certain aspects of my life such as my work and how it gets done and my personal life as far as making sure homework gets done, baths are taken, dinner is made and reading is done. I feel that I am in control of the outcomes in these areas. I am always asking questions about how I can make things better at work. How can I make the verification manual easier to use? What effect will this have on how quickly verifications are performed? What can I do to make the student’s experience a good one?
At home I want to make sure that my daughter gets the attention she needs to achieve a better understanding of learning. She is the first grade but it is never too early to develop better reading skills, math skills and social skills. It is more than just listening, you have to question it, to look at it from different angles, and come to terms with the best way to understand it. I look at ways to achieve better patience and understanding that I cannot control everything and that if I work on the things that I can change I will be a better person for it.
There are three areas that I am going to start implementing to improve my time management and help reduce stress. The first one is effective time management and the areas within this that I want to focus on are 1) making a list of things to accomplish each day and 2) schedule some personal time. By making a list of things I want to get done each day I will feel that I am making progress. I can check it off my list and feel that I have accomplished something. I take so much of my time to help others and work through their problems that I don’t take any time for myself. This could be as easy as reading a book, painting, baking, or watching a movie I haven’t seen in a while. But I am the only one to make time to do this for myself.
The second one is goal setting. By doing this I can help eliminate some of the stressors I encounter at work and at home. I can make sure I know what my goal is, what I can do to accomplish that goal, making others aware of my goals, and using a reward system to help make sure my goal is attained. This will help me stay motivated to reach my goal.
The third one is physiological resiliency. Taking time out to work on one’s mind as well as one’s body makes a person more well-rounded. When I work out I feel less stressed about things that I can’t control and those that I can. Working out provides an outlet to let things roll off you like water and not build up inside you. I have just purchased Jillian Michaels Body Revolution to get me started with this. I know that by setting this as one of my goals I will feel less stressed, more focused and a lot more relaxed both in my work life and my home life. By practicing meditation I can get my mind to become calm as well.
Making sure I do these things means making an effort on a daily basis to actually do these things and not just say I want to do them. I am going to use a white board for home to achieve those goals for my home life and I have a do list that I can check off at work to accomplish those goals as well. Understanding that there will be set backs from time to time and that I can change things up and adjust them as needed, will keep things in perspective for me.
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