Time and Stress Management – Lesson 1: Reflecting on Your Current Habits

Do you find yourself feeling stressed lately, lacking time to pursue what you love, or feeling overwhelmed by everyday tasks? If so, this lesson series is perfect for you! The aim of these series is to help you develop better time and stress management skills. You will complete a total of 6 lessons, each designed to help you break free from your current habits or lack thereof and become someone who can effortlessly take on challenges. In Lesson 2, you will familiarize yourself with various models of time management to choose from. In Lesson 3, you will explore and evaluate different strategies, tools, and resources for time and stress management. In Lesson 4, you will set SMART goals tailored to your personal needs. In Lesson 5, you will practice and refine selected strategies through challenges, and in Lesson 6, you will reflect on your progress and design a plan for long-term habits. But before you dive in, there are still some steps you should take to determine where and how to begin.

First, let’s explore the benefits of developing better time and stress management skills. These skills offer not only personal advantages but also positively impact your academic performance. By reducing anxiety and burnout, they contribute to improved overall health and promote emotional resilience. You’ll experience a greater sense of control, which can further enhance your confidence and motivation in your daily activities.

Academically, effective time and stress management lead to increased productivity and efficiency, allowing you to accomplish more in less time with less effort. Additionally, lower stress levels help you think more clearly and make better decisions, thereby improving your decision-making skills.

To learn more about the additional benefits, click on this link.

Now that we’ve outlined the benefits, and if you believe this is something you’d like to achieve, it’s time to figure out where to begin. The goal of this lesson is to critically reflect on your current time and stress management habits and identify your values and priorities related to work-life balance.

We’ll start with a short exercise to help you determine where improvement is needed. For this, you’ll need a piece of paper (or a tablet), and you’ll begin by drawing a large circle. Next, think about a typical day in your life and divide the circle into segments representing different daily activities; such as work, commuting, sleep, exercise, personal time, social media, and anything else that occupies your time. Your task is to divide the circle like a pie chart, representing how you spend your time over a 24-hour period. For example, if you typically sleep for 8 hours, one-third of your chart should be dedicated to sleep.

Once you’ve completed your drawing, reflect on the following questions to gain insight into areas you might want to improve:

• What do you spend the most time on?
• Are there any surprises or areas where you spend more or less time than you thought?
• How satisfied are you with how you manage your time?
• Did you notice any habits that are inefficient?
• Are there any areas where you want to spend more/less time on?
• What strategies can you implement to manage your time better?

Now that you have a clearer understanding and visual overview of your typical day, it’s time to dig a bit deeper before moving on to the next lessons. This reflection will help you identify the specific areas where improvement is most needed, allowing you to make meaningful changes and live your life more fully. Below are some questions to guide your reflection:

• What are your top priorities right now?
• What are your stress triggers?
• What are your biggest challenges with time management?
• What are your biggest time-wasting habits, and how do you try to avoid them?
• What techniques or methods have you used (or tried) to manage time better?
• How do you decide which tasks are more important or urgent?
• How do you handle unexpected interruptions or changes to your schedule?
• What’s one time management skill you wish you were better at?
• How do you balance productivity with downtime or self-care?
• How do you review and improve your time management practices over time?

You can revisit these questions after completing the final lesson. By answering at least some of them in writing now, you’ll be able to compare your responses later and clearly see the progress you’ve made throughout the course. Now that you’ve identified your current skill set and evaluated your current habits, it’s time to move on to the next lesson.