Stress Management: Prioritizing

Hello, everybody!

It’s a well-known fact that life can be stressful, especially when there is pressure to perform multiple tasks within a certain time frame.  All time management experts will say the same thing: “Prioritize.”  ...Sure, that’s helpful, but how?  There are a few tricks I like to employ to limit stress (and keep my sanity!) when there is too much to do and too little time in which to do it, so I’d like to share them.

For the sake of example, here’s my To-Do List:

Wash Dishes

Take Out Trash

Pay Rent

Grocery Shop

Pick up Prescriptions

Read Two Chapters of Pride and Prejudice

If I am truly crunched for time, then I prioritize strictly on the basis of what is most urgent or important.  Out of the example list above, three of those tasks are necessary for a comfortable life: paying rent, picking up medication and buying food.  The next important matter is maintaining a clean, safe living environment, so taking out the trash and washing dishes has to happen next.  If I have time after that, I can start reading.

Another method is to prioritize tasks in order of how long they will take to complete.  If I do that, then the long tasks are over with early, and the shorter ones seem to pass by more quickly.  In this case, I’ll start with my errands outside the house: grocery shopping and going to the pharmacy.  When I get home, I could read and then wash the dishes.  Finally, it will only take a moment to take out the trash and hand in my rent, and before I know it, my To-Do List is done.

Sometimes, time is limited, but I know I will be able to fit in all of the necessary activities.  Then, I try to balance out the things I don’t like to do with the things I do like to do.  That way, each disliked chore gets rewarded with something more agreeable.  Maybe I’ll start by washing dishes.  Then, I’ll take the trash out on my way to the pharmacy.  A little grocery shopping, then rent, and finally I can kick back with my book.

I could say “there is no wrong answer, as long as you complete your To-Do List,” but there is one method of “prioritizing” I usually try to avoid.  I almost never complete all of the tasks I like first, leaving the less pleasant tasks for later.  Some people may still get things done in that order, but I think it’s too tempting to do the fun things and procrastinate the necessary tasks indefinitely.  I may be guilty from time to time of letting the dishes go unwashed for a bit too long because I’m caught up in a good book, and though I enjoy reading at the time, I always wind up wishing I had gotten the housework done first.

So, when prioritizing, I always find it best to consider 1) How important a task is, 2) How long it takes, and 3) How much I like to do it.  When I complete my whole To-Do List, I feel a great sense of accomplishment and it’s easier for me to relax.  I hope this helps!

Deanna "Berry" Cassidy
Central Mass RLC