Four Simple Ways to Reduce Stress and Get More Done
By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker
September 12, 2015
You are working hard, but I suspect you are wasting time and increasing your stress — and more stress is the last thing you need.
Here are four simple practices that will save time and reduce stress, if you apply them consistently.
Schedule Your Morning Hours for Two Things
Jesus was very clear:
As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me (John 15:4).
And we are reminded in Psalm 127:
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain (Psalm 127:1).
If you and I are not spending time with God in prayer and in his Word, our labor will ultimately prove to be in vain.
Work uninterrupted in the morning on your most important and most challenging projects. Our energy is highest and our minds clearest at the beginning of the day. The principle is captured well in Brian Tracy’s book Eat That Frog!:
Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.
Your “frog” is your biggest, most important task — the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it. It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment.
The first rule of frog eating is this: If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first.
This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.
The second rule of frog eating is this: If you have to eat a live frog at all, it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long.
The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning. You must develop the routine of “eating your frog” before you do anything else and without taking too much time to think about it.
The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous. For this reason, you must adamantly refuse to work on tasks in the bottom 80 percent while you still have tasks in the top 20 percent left to be done. Before you begin work, always ask yourself, “Is this task in the top 20 percent of my activities or in the bottom 80 percent?”
Rule: Resist the temptation to clear up small things first.
Process Your Emails at Designated Times and in Bulk
Email is a significant source of distraction and will sidetrack you from your most important work. Manage your email — do not let email manage you.
Do Not Multitask
You cannot multitask effectively, and attempting to do so wastes time. Work on one thing at a time. Research on task switching confirms what most of us have experienced:
- It takes more time to complete tasks when switching between them than when doing them one at a time.
- Switching between tasks produces more errors.
- The more complex the tasks, the greater the time and error penalties.
- Frequent task switching can reduce daily productivity by as much as 40 percent.
Pre-Plan Your Week Before Monday
Take time before the week begins to review your projects, revise priorities, and establish due dates. I typically do this after evening church on Sunday. Planning your week in advance gives you greater control over your work, increases what you accomplish, and reduces stress.
You can increase your effectiveness, accomplish more, save time, and reduce stress by applying these four practices:
- Schedule your morning hours for time with God and your most important projects.
- Process email at designated times and in bulk.
- Refuse to multitask.
- Pre-plan your week before Monday.