“It’s only Tuesday and already my week is out of control!”

How many times have you heard it – or more importantly, how many times have you said these words? Life simply seems to be out of control. We have so many responsibilities and so many things to keep us busy.

How do you deal with the responsibilities of life?

Let me give you several practical steps to help you get through your week. Remember that doing just a few of these will make a huge difference. Removing just a small amount of stress will help you to deal with your week’s work.

First, take a good look at what the next week is going to be like. Craig Jarrow reminded me of this important step for having a less hectic week.

Before the week begins, look at your calendar and to-do list. Each of these will help you get a handle on the things that are coming up. This simple task will produce benefits.

It will help you plan out the big projects that you have to complete. Just a small amount of advanced planning will help you get your week off to a great start. I find when I am considering how to handle certain projects the very fact that I’ve thought about it in advance helps me to deal with the problem.

After all, this is what we mean by “sleeping on a problem.”

Second, plan for emergencies. Of all the things that I’ve done recently to help me with time management, planning for emergencies comes right at the top of the list. Emergencies will occur. They always do. It’s better to plan for the emergency than to allow the emergency to steal your time.

Third, tell the people around you about your responsibilities in the coming week. Obviously, this has to be done judiciously. But your wife or husband or children need to know what to expect. We all need a simple heads-up about big projects or out of town trips.

Be sure your boss or supervisor knows what’s important to him/her. Leaders don’t like to be surprised. Make sure you get the information out so that they aren’t surprised.

Finally, do the hard things first. Handling the hard stuff will make everything easier and better.

I hope you have a less hectic week.

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