Some may not know how important Time Management is for your Mental Health.
Do you ever feel as if there is just not enough time in the day to accomplish everything you need to? That you are feeling extra stressed and tired with the amount of work you need to do? You can be a mother, who is struggling with a newborn, a single parent trying to make ends meet, or a full-time college student trying to get your education and work full time. If you are reading this, and you find yourself struggling to manage your time effectively and don’t feel as if your mental health is where it needs to be, then this is for you!
Time Management is defined as when someone is able to manage their time effectively and efficiently in order to accomplish their goals on a daily.
According to Psychology Today:
“Time Management is not about having all of those things done; it’s about having enough time for what matters most to you. Time management is really “personal management” and it is a skill necessary for achieving a better quality of life. By managing your time in a more efficient way, not only you will get the right things done, but you’ll also have enough time to relax, de-stress and breathe more freely.”
Having good time management has many benefits for your overall well-being. Below is a shortlist to show you what the benefits of Time Management are:
- Increase productivity
- Increase Work Success
- Improves Relationships
- Improves Mood
- Decrease Stress & Depression
- Increase self-awareness
Now, the question is how well do you manage your time? You may think you are doing a great job at managing your time, however, everyone can make more improvements for themselves and their mental health. Take some time to complete this quiz by Mind Tools that can help you identify how well your time management is in order to know exactly where you need to improve upon. After taking this quiz, you can start taking the necessary steps to improve your mental health.
To help you start this journey, Below are a few steps that can help you manage your time better to get yourself in a healthy mental, emotional, and physical place:
- Set Boundaries: We all know there are many tasks needed to complete in a day, whether it will be work-related or family-related. So setting boundaries can be helpful with managing your time. Make sure you set boundaries early on in order to separate your home, work, relationships, and social life. Setting boundaries also comes with saying “No” sometimes. Yes, I know, it can be hard saying “No” especially to the people that you care about, but that’s how you can start developing healthy boundaries.
- Create a to-do list & prioritize: Work on setting time aside to create a to-do list for the week and then prioritize what is urgent and important, so you know how to schedule the week. There is no greater feeling than checking one task off the to-do list.
- Self-Care: Life is overwhelming and stressful, managing time is difficult, but a little self-care once or twice a week, that can help you rejuvenate and feel refreshed to continue to tackle your to-do list and anything else that life throws at you. Remember, the more efficient you are with managing your time, the more at peace you will be regarding your mental health.
Aside from these 3 steps/tips, the actual first step comes from within you. You have to want to manage your time better. You have to want to change to better your mental health. You have to want to change and succeed. Change can be scary, but when you are struggling and feel as if your mental health is not where it should be, take the time to reevaluate how you are managing your time.
Ok, so after reading this, I hope you were able to add some tools in your toolbox regarding time management and mental health.
Start the journey now, I promise you will not be disappointed.