At this point in time in my life I have got to the realisation that, even though I did work very hard all my life, I am not where I wanted to be and I am not happy either.
During the past years, I have been through a real test in my life. I have found out that the harder I worked, the more stressed out I got. Add to this a supervisor that was determined to ruin my life, I got another stress factor other than stress generated from work itself. Not only I was not able to produce in my work, I was unhappy. The situation affected me emotionally, getting into cycles of depression, and my general health was also affected.
Looking back at the situation I have realised that working very hard is not the way (I am not implying you being sloppy in any way). I decided to follow the saying; when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Well I am in Sweden, and I have to do what Swedes do; work – life balance.
I decided that in order for me to be able to keep myself motivated, I have to keep my eye on my goals in the same time I have to enjoy life. I needed to manage my time more efficiently both in my job (getting more done in less time), and in my own time (getting more joy more often).
I have been exposed to the time management matrix for Stephen Covey long more than 10 years ago. I revisited the matrix and applied it more diligently to every task at work and at my personal life.
This is my strategy that I have been following for over a year now, and it is working fine for me:
- Before starting any task or activity, I would ask myself how would it affect my career and life. If it has no effect, this means it is of no importance, I simply pass.
- I stopped multitasking. I focus only on the most important thing now and do it to the best of my ability before moving to the next task.
- If I feel exhausted or unable to think, I do not force myself into finishing my task. I simply step back and take a “mind clearing break”. I go for a short walk by the lake, get exposed to the sun, and so on.
- I try not to feel the pressure of time limitation and adopt the idea that time is elastic and that there is lots of time to be used. It is a matter of choice as to how I decide to spend my time. So, I am coming from a place of abundance rather than a place of scarcity.
- I try to spend most of my time in the second quadrant, planning and executing what is important but not urgent. Minimize activities falling in the fourth quadrant (not urgent and not important).
Feel Good 