Monday, July 30, 2012

In the words of the owner of the brake shop I was at earlier today, “There are some days when everything that can be delayed or go wrong, does.” 

We’ve all experienced days like these.  Sometimes we lose our cool and stress over what ultimately we have no control over—wasted energy that would be better spent on more productive things.  Other times, we manage to hold it all together, going along with the flow, aware that some things are outside our control and that no matter how frustrated we get they’re going to play out as intended.  So why bother getting upset?

Imagine how much self-induced stress could be avoided if we adopted the latter mentality all the time rather than on occasions?  So what determines whether we lose our cool or are able to more readily adapt when life throws us curveballs?

Time management skills play an active role in determining where our stress breaking point lies.  Allowing adequate time to get to/from places and to accomplish what we intend—plus a time buffer—can go a long ways towards lowering our stress levels when things go wrong or take longer than originally planned.  Likewise, being realistic about how much we can get accomplished within a specified time also helps maintain manageable expectations.  For example, aware that one has an appointment to be at in twenty minutes is not the time to decide to squeeze in one more chore that should only take fifteen minutes. 

Attempting to fill one’s to-do list with an unrealistic number of tasks in a compressed time frame isn’t always the best plan of attack.  Sure, you may get lucky and pull it off…if…everything goes exactly as planned.   But really, how often does life play out in the exact tempo and to the same rhythm as we’d hoped/counted on?  I believe that whenever possible, it’s better to leave one’s self a buffer.  Why? Cause frankly, life has an interesting sense of humor and enjoys coupling with Murphy and his little law that says, whatever can go wrong…will.