by Cheryl A. Clausen..
This one simple idea will help you to feel less stressed. Plus you’ll make better use of the time you have. And all it takes is analyzing the whole of any project to break it down into the individual actions you will take or delegate. Let’s be clear about what constitutes a project. A project isn’t necessarily some gigantic undertaking that you’re involved in at work. A project is anything that requires more than one action on your part.

When you don’t break projects down into actions each time you look at the project on your list of things to do or each time you think about it you have to make a decision. You have to decide what your next step should be or you decide to think about it later. So every time you’re faced with the project you doing unnecessary mental work that increases your level of stress.

So rather than having a list of projects you want to develop a list of next actions. When you’re feeling overwhelmed because you have so much to do and not enough time and you’re looking at a list of projects it only makes you feel more confused and frustrated because you’re too frazzled to make a good decision about what you should do next. Contrast that to when you’re in the same situation and you have a list of actions in front of you. When you have a list of actions there are fewer decisions to make. You can look at your list and scan down the list and choose one action you can do now. There are two ways you can approach that choice.

Make that choice based on either the amount of time you have available right now or what’s most important. Each and every day you have odd time lots anywhere from 5-15 minutes that you can either make use of or waste away. These odd time lots are too short to delve into anything too complicated, but they can be just enough time to clean up a few little things like emptying your inbox in your email.

That choice may also be made based on priority. Now as you scan your list of actions you’re looking for the one most important action you can take. This is the action that has the potential to produce the greatest results. As you get in the habit of making choices based on their greatest potential for value you’re developing good time management skills that will help you to get more value from your time and have less stress.

Get more focused by having a list of next actions. Don’t close shop for the day until you’ve had a chance to scan your list actions to choose the 1-3 most important actions you’ll take the next day. Plan when you’ll take those actions. If you get in the habit of doing this when the next day comes you’ll know exactly what you want to do and when and if you’ll hold yourself accountable you’ll get a lot more done with better results and less stress.

Author: Cheryl Clausen can help you get where you want to be. To find Time Management Tips get her free analysis. Improve your Time Management Skills, check this out.

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