Volume 1, Issue 4

Times Up!

As many of you may be aware, a Hollywood superhero recently passed away. Christopher Reeve brought the character Superman to life, by flying around at the speed of light saving others from evil villains, without any fear for his own well-being. The only way to stop him was to expose him to the dreaded kryptonite - its toxic rays would render him helpless and unless he somehow escaped, it would eventually kill him.

I have a very dear friend that I jokingly call superwoman. I marvel at the speed at which she juggles all the wants and needs of children, parents, siblings, colleagues, friends and her spouse. She’s exhausted all the time, and I feel exhausted watching her.

She believes that time is her arch enemy – because there isn’t enough of it. From time to time I witness a complete “meltdown” caused by some seemingly innocuous occurrence, but, like a true heroin, she quickly wipes away the tears, covers the bags under her eyes with a fresh coat of concealer, pulls on her tights and cape and gets back to the business of taking care of everyone. She’s a beautiful woman with the tell tale signs of stress written all over her face. Her stress is like kryptonite – slowly rendering her helpless, and she doesn’t realize that she’s been exposed to it.

Our inability to manage our time effectively is becoming a significant contributor to the stress in our lives and, although some people are more vulnerable than others, recognizing the sources and symptoms is a great first step in stress reduction.

Women (and men) like my friend, assume many roles in their lives with a prescribed set of tasks that they tackle with great ardour. They rarely take stock of the number of tasks or their toll, and they almost never think about delegating them to someone else.

Although you may not consider yourself a superhero, if you relate in anyway to my friend, life’s kryptonite could be slowly eating away at you too.

Here’s a little exercise to help you identify and reduce the sources of some of the stress in your life.

Overcoming Self Induced Stress

Make a list of the roles you play and what tasks you perform in those roles
Here’s an example

Roles Tasks Delegate
Mother 1. Cooking
2. Laundry
3. Housework
4. Cleaning
5. Paying Bills
6. Make Kids Breakfast
7. Make Sure Kids Eat
8. Ironing
9. What Else?

1. Decide, which tasks must I perform and which tasks can I delegate.

2. Review the tasks you perform in each role and decide

What must I do?
What should I do, that others could do?
What could I do that others should do for themselves?
What things must be done by others?
What things don’t really need to be done
How to Delegate

When delegating:
1. Be clear about the assignment. Give and get feedback
2. Work with the person to determine the deadline
3. Delegate by degrees. Monitor the progress and coach them along
4. When the job is finished, give feedback and thank the person
5. Avoid redoing the task.

Times Up! Have a wonderfully stress-free month.

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.
Sydney J. Harris