Recently an ECE community member posted a query about how to better manager their time. She shared that she was a new preschool owner/Director/Teacher and what she found to be the most challenging is managing her time. Like this individual, I think everyone today has the same challenge. If you look at the pace at which our society runs, it at times can be breath taking.

I have been teaching stress management, yoga and meditation classes for more than twenty-five years and one of the things I have observed is that people are more hectic, anxious and stressed than ever. Even doctors are seeing higher stress levels and more people with stress related illnesses.

A common thread among all of us is there does not seem to be enough time to get things done. In today’s economy and fast passed times, how do we reduce our stress levels with better time management?

The first thing to recognize is that we cannot manage time. It will pass no matter what we do. What we truly manage is how we do our tasks in the time we have and more importantly our mental state about the tasks. The most efficient way to do everything is to keep a relaxed state of mind, focus on the meaningful things, and do them with minimal effort.

Over the years of practicing yoga and meditation, I have observed that when the mind is relaxed, everything flows. Athletes often refer to this mental state as the zone. Your ability to be efficient and effective is based on your ability to relax and have the mind stay in the moment.

So what has this have to do with time management?

Well most of our ineffectiveness when it comes to doing tasks and time management has to do with our mental state and the mental stress about the task.  

Over the years, there have been many versions and methods of time management; every thing from day planners to the use of software and PDAs. Yet they don’t address a core issues that lead to the stress over time management. One of the most refreshing and I believe most effective approaches is one offered by productivity guru David Allen. His major insight is that clearing the mind is the key to productivity. From my years of yoga and mediation practice, I would have to agree.

If our minds are busy keeping track of all the things that need to be done or fretting about it, our stress levels are elevated and we are less efficient at performing the task at hand and in some cases  the stress keeps us from getting tasks done. Our minds tend to over react or under react to a task or to whatever input the mind is receiving. “Anything that causes you to overreact or under react can control us and does” states Allen. Therefore, his key to productivity is to clear the mind and be as flexible as possible.

Allen borrows a simile from the martial arts and Eastern traditions “Mind Like Water”. If you throw a pebble into a still pond, the water responds totally appropriate to the force and mass of the input, then returns to calm. It does not overreact or under react. So, if our minds reacted to the challenges of life in this manner (like water), they would primarily be in a state of stillness, then respond appropriately to input, and return to stillness.

According to Allen, most people give either more or less attention to things than they deserve, simply because they do not operate with a “mind like water”. We don’t get into a productive state when required. Allen claims that lack of time is not our difficulty; the real problem is a lack of clarity and definition about the task at hand and our mental state about it.

In his book “Getting Things Done – The art of Stress Free Productivity”, he offers a very insightful system for time management changing how we approach the challenge of managing the hundreds of things that can make demands on our time.

In future articles, I will summarize some of his productivity and time management methods. However, in the meantime reflect on the simple principle of “Mind Like Water” and how you can appropriately respond to day-to-day challenges. You may be pleasantly surprised how less stressful life can be and how more efficient you can be with your time, when your response are appropriate to the task.

Contributed by Keith Engelhardt

Keith has been teaching Stress Management and Yoga for over 25 years at Dayton Ohio area institutions including Montgomery Co. Career Technology Center, the Dayton Heart Fitness Center and Samaritan North's Well Being Center. He has also taught Yoga to the touring cast of CATS(tm).

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