24 Hours

September is the month for resuming regular activities and starting new ones. The pressures of time can create stress as we try to cope with way too many things. While a little stress is good for us, too much makes us dysfunctional.

My key to relieving the pressure is to change perspective.

There are only 24 hours in a day - always have been and always will be - at least in our lifetimes. The issue is not time management - it is work management. You cannot do anything about the amount of time available, so you must address the work you are trying to accomplish. Solutions are limited: do less or do it more efficiently.

Working more efficiently is ideal but difficult. Seemingly innumerable electronic tools help shorten the elasped time in executing steps. We can send messages instantly and receive answers instantly. At some point, the efficiency of efficiency needs to be questioned: Are you really accomplishing something with the speed? If not, reduce the use of your electronic tools.

Which is a variation on doing less. The brilliance of the human species is that most of us can think of more things to do than time permits. Selection is imperative. Go beyond setting priorities. Simply setting priorities implies that all things can be accomplished if only we discover the correct order of action. Edit the list. Choose a few items. Reject others. Then act.