by Mark Johnson

Created on: March 16, 2009

Stress can be good or bad, and can be caused by a wide variety of factors. Good stress includes the stress we put our bodies through when we exercise. The stress we put ourselves through watching an athletic event can heighten our awareness, sense of involvement, and pure enjoyment of the event. A rush of adrenaline that stress provides is helpful when we have to run away from danger.

Bad stress, the kind that gives us indigestion, headaches, and worse, can be caused by at least as many factors as good stress. Not knowing what others expect of you, feeling that you must do something with which you disagree, and not believing that you can satisfy others' conflicting demands on you are three stressors, and ones that apply to the work environment as well as to home life. Other stress-inducing factors may include feeling that you have too heavy a workload, that you don't have enough time to do your job properly, or that work is affecting your personal life in a bad way (or vice-versa).

Time management is no cure-all (for example, I do not see how time management techniques can deal with work that you disagree with), but it can certainly help with some of the causes of stress, whether at work or at home. For example, rearranging your schedule may help the feeling that you do not have time to do your job or that you are overloaded. Another source of stress than can be eased by time management is not getting enough information to do your job. Now it's time for some concrete suggestions on how to accomplish this.

Some people block off their days for specific activities in order to better manage their time. For example, a lot of people seem to feel that e-mail eats away at their time, so that they always seem to be reading or answering it. Some have told me that they reserve a block of time, either just before lunch or late in the day, or both, to read and respond to e-mails. That way, they do not spend the whole day letting their e-mails interrupt whatever they are doing. Telephone calls can be just as much an interruption, and just as much a time waster as e-mail. Some have told me that they changed their voice mail message to include that they will return phone calls between 4:00 and 4:30, so they do not spend all day with the telephone's constant interruption.

Not getting enough information? You can involve others in setting your schedule and I do not mean letting everyone else make your schedule. By "involve," I mean that others need to provide you the details needed

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