Happier people live longer, make better decisions, make more money, are more creative and are generally more successful in relationships both in work and at home.
One way to increase your level of happiness is to decrease your level of stress. And one way to reduce feelings of stress is to be in control of your life. Every now and again, most people feel they are being pulled in different directions with no time for themselves. A demanding employer, getting to grips with fast moving technology, the needs of a partner, children or elderly relatives can all leave you feeling like you’re at the beck and call of others.
Under these circumstances even simple tasks can seem overwhelming. As you take longer to do things you’ll feel like there’s not enough time to complete what needs to be done, which continues the damaging cycle of stress.
So that you can assess your work-life balance, start to feel that time is on your side and become more productive we have developed our Effective Time Management Course. It’s an incredibly practical course which means that it takes a realistic view and gives you the strategies you need in a way that you can learn quickly and easily.
We help you to look at stress and its causes – and how to identify the stressful areas that are personal to you. Then you will learn how to analyse how you use your time by preparing a Time Diary. Hopefully, when you have done this you will be able to see where you are wasting time, or not using it effectively, and think about how to plan changes to free up time for the things you need to do and want to do – rather than frittering it away.
There are a range of practical time management techniques that we recommend and we make suggestions for how to stop yourself from putting off things you need to do. If you’re like me, you often find yourself procrastinating when you have jobs to do that you are reluctant to start or people to contact that you don’t really get on with.
The importance of being able to prioritise your jobs is explained and how to delegate (both at home and at work) rather than feeling that you have to do everything yourself.
Living and working in a tidy, uncluttered environment can really help you to work better and lower your stress levels so we look at how to de-clutter your home, your office and your life.
Finally, we teach you how to be kind to yourself by making ‘Me Time’ and learning to say ‘No’ – politely but firmly – if you feel people around you are expecting too much of you.
I commissioned this course and then edited it, and was amazed by just how much I learned as I was doing that editing job. It really made me sit back and think and I’ve continued to use many of the tips I picked up ever since.
Author: Diana Nadin
