Manage Stress and Time Management by Dropping the Ball

There is a lot going on right now, which means it may seem especially difficult to manage your time properly. Feeling overwhelmed can lead to stress, and in these uncertain times (understatement), it’s easy to feel like you’re drowning in uncompleted tasks.

Tiffany Dufu, author of Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less and a recent guest of the The Upgrade, suggests using that “overwhelmed” feeling to help you determine what tasks are most important for you to complete. We often consider “dropping the ball” to be a sign of failure, but Dufu says that it’s just a normal way of sifting out what tasks aren’t worth stressing over.

[referenced id=”936454″ url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2020/08/how-to-get-real-about-time-management-with-ceo-tiffany-dufu/” thumb=”https://www.gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/08/04/cwdpazp5xwmypaflf3ut-300×169.png” title=”How to Get Real About Time Management, With CEO Tiffany Dufu” excerpt=”This week, we’re learning how to improve on our time management skills with help from Tiffany Dufu, Founder and CEO of The Cru. And spoiler alert: effective time management is not about time-blocking, to-do lists, or the Pomodoro Technique. Instead, it’s more about how to get clear about your priorities,…”]

According to Dufu, if you feel like there’s too much on your plate, first talk to someone who has your best interests at heart. They can offer an outside perspective on what should be a priority. She also says to use your calendar as your to-do list: If you can see that there is literally not enough time in the day, you should maybe drop a couple of those balls. Then think about what you want people to remember you by. By taking these steps (and the other advice in the video below), you can spend your time on more important tasks.