Time Management and Stress

So you've gotten organized (good for you, I'm not anywhere near that), and so you've got your schedule tacked down to the minute (ditto, with some sympathy), and so you're getting everything done that you have on your to-do list (ok, forget the sympathy, I now hate you). Whether or not you truly are this organized, did you know that stress can make the time that you spend on tasks much longer than usual? I'm talking double, triple, even quadruple time, here.

I did. Yup, last week one of my assignments that should have lasted under an hour took me four. Why? Because I was so stressed out I couldn't focus. Kind of ironic, don't you think? You're so worried that you're not going to get done in time that it takes you four times as long to do something? Yeesh.

So this week's blog is devoted to (drumroll, please) Stress Management. That's right, because without stress management, time management gets less and less do-able.

Other than taking a Yoga class or moving to a deserted island (oh, doesn't that sound nice right now? All warm and Calculus-free...), what can you do to manage your stress? Lots of things! I found a great website especially for students at essortment.com that, surprisingly enough, uses a lot of the same advice for stress management as you usually hear for time management: Goals, Avoiding Procrastination, Priorities... (Sometimes affectionately referred to as the giant GAPP in my life...) But there are some other good tips as well, like making sure you have space to be alone (yup, they read my mind on that deserted island) or keeping a diary (ah, I remember keeping a journal, once, long ago...looooooong ago...).

Another good place for some tips is about.com. It's short, but I especially like their advice because they include tips like "Schedule time to relax" and "Schedule rewards in." Oh, yeah, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Cause if you don't take time out for you, this could happen. (Has no one else seen this movie but me? ...Admittedly, it was long ago...looooooooooooooong ago.........)

Apparently it's a big thing here...

(Time Management attempters beware: This is not an especially helpful post.) :)

So have you heard that there are so many (it's questionable how many) more words in Inuit for snow than in English? Or that in Ireland, they've got a reputed 45 shades of green?

Well, in the English language...

Idler, bludger (yes it's more than just a quiddle ball from Harry Potter...), wastrel, dawdler, a loaf or loafer, a lag or laggard, a trifler, procrastinator, slowpoke, dallier, goof-off, fiddler, slug or sluggard, ne'er-do-well, faineant, good-for-nothing or good-for-naught, goldbrick, ragabrash, layabout, nonstarter, slouch, slacker, etc etc etc....

My favorites were:

Dringle: Somebody who likes to waste time.

Quiddler: One who wastes his energy about trifles. (That's me!)

Boondoggler: A person who spends time on an unnecessary or wasteful project or activity.

Zombie (really!): Not only is it a revived corpse, but someone 'who looks or behaves like an automaton'. (Oh, it's also a tall mixed drink made of various rums, liqueur, and fruit juice. Unambitious and tasty!)

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Also (since I was already on this tangent), did you know that the longest non-medical word in the English language is FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION? It means means "the act of estimating as worthless". (Such as, I found this post floccinaucinihilipilificatious. Floccinaucinihilipilificate. Um, ...floccinaucinahilipilificating? Oh, you know what I mean...)

Are We Really Saving Time...?

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

--Benjamin Franklin US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790)

Are you a fan of Daylight Saving Time? Or do you hate it? Does it really make a difference?

(I wish that it did more than change clocks. Can I have a Daylight Saving Week? Of course, would that mean I just lose a week in the Spring? Danggit, I can't win.)

MSN has an interesting little article about Daylight Saving Time: Time to Fall Back. Basically it gives a little history about DST (it started to conserve fuel in WW1), talks about some places that go without it (did you know that Hawaii does not observe Daylight Saving Time?), and then goes into some potential problems with it, like how it messes with people's sleep schedules, and how it does't save as much energy to be worth all the change. An article on CNN.com also warns that iPhones might not handle DST so well (bad news for those that rely on the iPhone's alarm to wake them up in the morning).

There are some strange benefits to DST, apparently. If you read the article, 'Does Daylight Saving Time Really Conserve Energy?, it states that "Studies show that there are fewer automobile accidents, and that crime rates tend to drop" as an additional perk to 'increased daylight. Whod'a thunk?

And for those of us looking to more efficiently manage our time, even if we 'lose' the hour in spring, we are still 'gaining' that hour now, and isn't now, the present, where we should be focused? As a blog on effectiveedge.com states, "Whether DST is a great practice or not depends on the individual or enterprise...(but) whatever you may think about DST, its boundless complexities, or the potential havoc it may wreak in your world, that extra hour on the first Sunday of November is a gift. It almost makes up for the loss I feel the second Sunday in March when I give it back."

I think I agree. Especially when faced with next week's homework.

~~Don't forget to change your clocks on Sunday, November 7!!!