Stress Management

There are two things all managers have in common-the 24-hour day and the annoying need to sleep. Without the sleeping, 24 hours might be enough. With it, there is no way to get everything done. After years of trying to vanquish demon sleep and the temptation to relax, many researchers tried different approaches, to put it this way: "Slow down or kiss you good-bye."
Struck by this imagery, RICARDO SEMLER gave a way to manage time and cut the work load to less than 24 hours. The first step is to overcome five myths:

• Results are proportional to efforts
• Quantity of work is more important than quality
• The present restructuring requires longer working hours temporarily.
• No one else can do it right
• This problem is urgent

The real difference between "important" and "urgent" is the difference between thoughtfulness and panic. Those are the myths. The second step is to master my eight cures:

• Set an hour to leave the office and obey it blindly.
• Take half a day, maybe even an entire Saturday, to rummage through that mountain of paper in your office and put it in piles.
• In dealing with Pile, always start with the most difficult or the most time-consuming.
• Buy another waste paper basket.
• Ask yourself Sloan's question about every lunch and meeting invitation.
• Give yourself time to think.
• About the telephone, my practical but subversive advice is: Don't return calls.
• Close your door.

(Reference: RICARDO SEMLER guide to stress management)