And, what is your answer? Are you in charge of your agenda and planning, or are you sometimes unable to see the forest for the trees and are you sometimes 'lived' by your agenda and tasks? Stress is one of the biggest problems on the Dutch labor market. The level of stress is even increasing considerably in the Netherlands, it turned out research from Loyalis. This experience is largely due to the perception of loss of control. The loss of control over your agenda, over your tasks, which increases feelings of stress. And yet, to a large extent, this phenomenon is relatively easy to solve. Time management is one of the most crucial ways to lower your perception of stress and regain control of your schedule. And the best part...anyone can learn it!

Learning from athletes

Many people said it was a shame. Sven Kramer, who, as a seeded skater, decided not to participate in the 1.500 meters at the Olympic Games. He was portrayed as a wimp and called arrogant. However, we can learn a lot from top athletes in the field of time management. Like no other, they are able to determine their priorities and fully focus on the most important task(s). Even if hard decisions have to be made.

Time management tips from practice

At Kenneth Smit we have been giving for years Time management workouts. There we gained a lot of experience with many practical ways to better control your agenda and limit your stress. We would like to share some of them with you, perhaps you can use them immediately during your work.

1. Dare to say “no”.

In the workplace you are often dependent on your colleagues. No matter how harsh it sounds, your colleagues are by far the biggest cause of stress and therefore the most important 'disruptor' for good time management. People who naturally do not like to say no and are very helpful are particularly affected by this. They carry out countless jobs in a day at the request of colleagues and thus completely lose control over their own work. So, no matter how annoying it is, dare to say no! You will find that this is generally accepted. So don't let people walk all over you too easily and take back control of your working day.

2. Don't check your email all the time

The internet has brought us a lot. On the other hand, it is also one of the main distractors. How often do you check your email in a day? You probably check almost every notification of a new email. Recognizable….? I personally am in favor of the '2 hour rule', where you only check your email once every 2 hours on busy days, so that you can pay attention to your priorities.

3. Set priorities

Daring to say no and not checking your email too often are two important components time management. The third basic component is determining priorities! Before you know it, your to-do list will contain 50 or more tasks. However, one is more important than the other. At the start of your working day (or better yet, the day before) determine the top 5 priorities that really need to be completed. There are plenty of ways to keep your to-do list organized. Some people use Excel, others Notepad or TextEdit, and others use specialty tools like Basecamp or Google Task. Everyone has their own preference, having an overview can be achieved in many ways.

Are you ready to take back control of your agenda? We are very curious about your time management experiences! Let us know in a comment.