How to Manage Your Time When Everything Is Urgent

Are you constantly living by a calendar, doing two things at once, checking the time, and becoming overly irritated when something disrupts your minute-to-minute schedule? These are signs you are feeling an inordinate amount of time pressure in your average workday. Of course, you’re not alone—as chronic understaffing continues to weigh down teams and hamper productivity, many people are experiencing increased time pressure on a daily basis.

Feeling pressure can cause you to ruminate on it, paralyzing your ability to strategize and execute.

Source: Pexels/Anna Shvets

Imagine this scenario, for instance. On a typical day, working remotely, you have three routine meetings in the morning and a client presentation to give in the afternoon. Today promises to be typical until your computer freezes, making it impossible to log in for your first morning meeting. Dealing with IT to resolve the problem doesn’t make anything feel less stressful.

When you finally get logged on, you see a notification that the meeting has been set back 20 minutes. “This disrupts my entire day!” you think. You hurry to reschedule your second meeting so you have enough time for the first.

As you look at your inbox, you notice an email you overlooked from yesterday, requiring a report be done by 1:00 p.m. instead of 5:00. Trying to mentally reshuffle your new-new schedule, you realize you’re a few minutes early logging into the first meeting. During the wait, you can’t help but obsess over what you could be focusing on instead.

By the time your colleagues log into the meeting, you’re beyond frustrated and impatient. “Let’s finally get to this meeting,” you grumble. Even over webcam, your colleagues look offended. Needless to say, by 9:15 a.m., your day already feels as if it’s ruined.

There were many opportunities to turn your day around in this scenario. But like most of us under time pressure, all you could think about was getting everything done. That usually gets in the way of actually getting anything done. Once that happens, you will feel pressure, even if you do meet all your responsibilities.

The Stop-Breathe-Rewrite-Take Action technique can help next time you feel caught under too much time pressure.

Stop

As soon as you notice a symptom of stress—irritability, tight neck and shoulders, difficulty concentrating—stop!

Make the conscious choice to do one thing at a time. Focus only on the task in front of you. Multi-tasking only divides your attention, doing the same number of things in the same amount of time at a lower level of quality. Instead, choose one task and focus on it fully, even if only for a set amount of time.

Breathe

Engaging in deep breathing and mindfulness while you work can help you relax enough to gain mental clarity on the situation. Downtime in particular is a good opportunity to engage in stress-reduction techniques.

For instance, while waiting for IT to resolve that computer issue, use the time to take five deep breaths and notice one thing you can see, feel, hear, and smell around you. You’ll feel more in control and better equipped to tackle the tasks ahead once you’re able to get back on task.

Rewrite

Time pressure puts us into “overload mode.” Overload mode results in a general negative wash of emotion, like a low-level sense of distress or anxiety. It is marked by low confidence, a low sense of control, and many negative thoughts. Breaking our thought habits and rewriting our internal dialogue is an important step in navigating time stress.

First, notice your automatic thoughts. Be on the lookout for any self-talk that includes the words must, have to, or should. Next, identify any thought distortions, such as black-and-white thinking or jumping to conclusions. Challenge the validity of these thoughts. Finally, engage in positive self-talk and replacement statements.

Through rewriting, we can stop the train of negative thoughts and identify neutral or even positive statements to help us reframe our response to the current situation.

Take action

When taking action under time pressure, it is critical to prioritize without perfectionism.

Remind yourself that it is a waste of time to rehash the past and worry about the future as a result. Mindfully focus on the present. Plan in the present, do not let your thoughts take off on planning activities as a way to alleviate the feeling you “should be doing more.” Putting your thoughts down on paper or in a notetaking app can help you to mentally set them aside by being able to physically set them aside.

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Next, see if rewriting your thoughts helps you separate the emotion from the problem at hand. For example, being caught up in the emotional response of not having enough time for lunch can stifle your ability to identify a concrete solution.

Now, find possible solutions. One general solution to time pressure is to eliminate as many demands on your time as possible. Prioritize and take scheduled breaks:

• Focus on the big picture and list everything that must be completed today.
• Go through your list and be more discerning: mark what you really must do, what you should do, and what you want to do.
• Review the must and should options. Reassess to see if you can eliminate a few things—who is telling you that you “must” or “should” do this, for example. Consider which tasks, or parts of tasks, may be delegated to someone else. Remember, you’re not the only person at work!

In addition to your to-do list, schedule several short breaks throughout your day and stick to the schedule. Complete them as you would any other listed assignment.

As you make your way through the list, make sure you are doing one thing at a time and focusing on it fully. Don’t fall for the myth that multi-tasking is a more efficient approach. Remember that in the long-term it can increase time spent and reduce work quality, all while leaving you feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed.