'There is too much to do and simply not enough time to get it done!' 'Time just seems to slip away from me every day' 'I don't know where the time goes'   Sound familiar?   Does work overload 'stress you out?' It shouldn't have to.   When you are working, you get interruptions.  Right? The phone rings, an email (or ten) arrives, you are paged, a colleague asks a question, and so on.  Unless you work in the emergency care ward of a hospital, why do you give your attention to every distraction?   One of the reasons people get themselves stressed when trying to fit so many things into a day and deal with their distractions is because they are 'pleasers'.   You may have a lot to do and not enough time - but hey, that's life!  That's the very nature of business.  The problem is when you try to be all things to all people and end up reducing your working capacity, and time, to focus on your priorities.   You may say 'Yes, but helping other people is part of my work and business'.  Sure, and if you continue to always be available to help people on demand, answer questions whenever they ask, and be available to listen to their problems then you will become a 'doormat'...and very stressed!   Many people give up their time to help others because they want to be liked.  The problem is they are doing it at the expense of their own work effectiveness.   A football or soccer game has to be played on a marked out field so the players know what is 'in' and what is 'out'.  You also must mark your boundaries as to what you are prepared to give your time to and what you are not prepared to give your time to.   Becoming resilient to pressure is finding the right balance (and not necessarily an equal balance) between toughening up and letting go.  In this context, you need to know what your boundaries are.   You may need to toughen up your boundaries and develop your own work priorities first before being prepared to help others.  Also, you may need to let go of wanting to please and be liked by others when they call on you for help if it significantly impedes on your work productivity.   Before you call me up and say 'I must speak to people, answer calls and respond to emails - even if it is inconvenient!', just read this...   Of course you block out the world when you work (although that would be nice from time to time).  Instead, think about WHY you are responding to that person/email/call.   Whenever you take time away from what you are doing you are de-prioritising your work beneath someone or something else.  If their priority is greater, then attend to it.  If not, then realise that you are probably losing time and experiencing stress (creating it) because you want to please other people and feel liked. Action Steps:   1. Take action on your distractions because they are important - not just because you want to be liked.  I'm not suggesting that you should only look out for your own needs and ignore the needs of others.  On the contrary - love people and be of service to them - but make sure that you are high on your list. 2. I have been reading the 'Top Time Tips' e-Newsletter, published by International Practical Productivity Specialist, Robyn Pearce.   http://www.gettingagripontime.com   As a mother of 6, successful business owner, author and professional speaker, there is probably very little about time management that Robyn doesn't know.  She has been kind enough to share some of her time management tips to help you get more done in less time: a. Daily planning and 'to do' lists! I'd like to share a really useful tip to help with the 'back to work' blues that assail most of us after returning from holidays. It came, as so many of my best snippets do, from a participant at a speech.  Martin, a senior manager from Dunedin, New Zealand, had the following tip to share. (We'd been talking about daily planning and 'to do' lists).   'Robyn, you've given us some great advice about writing a list of all the things to do for the day, identifying just the top five, and working on them. The action of writing down definitely takes away some of the stress, but sometimes, especially if there's pressing deadlines and you can feel a panic attack coming on, the list of 'absolute must do' still seems too long.   'If you also quickly jot down, beside each item, an estimate of how long it will take, it has several benefits: I. Clears the mind clutter II. Focuses your attention on what's really important III. Helps you be more realistic about what you really can do, instead of pushing ahead     blindly, maybe on things that you've got no chance to achieve IV. Probably the most important - helps you realise that, almost always, the issue is what's in     your head, rather than what's on the list.   Our mind plays funny tricks! It's amazing     how quickly you get through the work once you push the anxiety away, and there's almost     always enough time.'   b. A simple secret to start meetings on time 'Ever frustrated by late-starting meetings? Many medium-to-large companies seem bedevilled by a culture of late meetings. One reason is that they don't allow enough time between the finish of one and the start of the next.   'Next time you accept a meeting, even if it's in the same room, immediately block out 10-15 minutes before and after. You'll then have a margin in case the previous meeting runs over; you'll have time to go to the bathroom, answer an urgent phone call, or gather your thoughts before the next talkfest.   'If you use a paper diary it will prompt you not to over-commit.  If your company uses an intranet to search for availabilities and to invite people to meetings, they'll not be able to book you back-to-back.'   Michael Licenblat B.Sc.(Psych) is a Resilience Expert who helps people in business bounce back fast from pressure, stress and burnout in their work and life. He is a professional speaker, coach and author of three books.   To download your free special report on the ‘Seven ways to prevent yourself becoming Over-Worked, Stressed-Out, and Run-Down’, visit: http://www.BounceBackFast.com Please Note: You are welcome to use my articles in your ezine, newsletter, journal, publication, etc., on the condition that you do not change the content or the article, and that you include my contact name and website details (as written in the table/box above).