Time Management

The most important coping skill for stress/self-care balance is time management. Time management is defined as a process of prioritizing, scheduling, and execution of responsibilities to personal satisfaction (Seaward, 2021). This can be summed up by deciding what, choosing when, and then following through. Steven Covey says, “the key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule but to schedule your priorities” (2022). Scheduling your priorities first (work, family, self-care) allows you to see where you have open blocks of time to spend on other activities. The ego would have us complete the fun or exciting tasks first, saving the boring, more important stuff for last; we should make the urgent tasks a priority, then reward ourselves with the more fun tasks.

​

In this modern era, where so much of our lives are governed by electronic devices, we must make diligent efforts to minimize the effects of those devices, and steal time back from them. They were designed to make our lives easier, and they have; they have also made our lives busier, happier, and more productive. Or have they? Stephanie Bernaba (2016) claims “technology keeps us from actually living” (Section 3). She describes how people are willing to lose relationships over social media, risk their lives creating a post, ignoring their own surroundings, and generally becoming a lazy society due to the rapid advances in technology that allow us to “never have to move to get our business done” (Section 4). What a frightening concept to the holistic movement! We need exercise to help counteract the stress we accumulate in our bodies, and it appears technology is a speed-bump to this endeavor.

​

Time is our most finite resource; only twenty-four hours in a day. No matter what we do, we cannot insert more time into our lives, and we cannot gain lost time. But, we can learn how to manage the time we have; in the process, we will be able to get more done.

Tips: set healthy boundaries, don’t multitask, tech serves you- not vice versa, sleep well, be assertive, schedule personal time, cultivate networking skills, watch less TV, identify time-robbers, use to do lists, reduce clutter.