Stress and bad time management are closely related.  After all, at the root of a lot of stress is really one major thing:  Not enough.  Not enough money, not enough time, not enough confidence, not enough...  you name it.

And while we often stress about money, money is something we could earn more of.  Shortfalls are not necessarily a permanent condition unless we make them so.  However, when it comes to time, everyone gets the same amount.  24 hours.  Every day.  Not a minute more. Or less.

Talk about egalitarian.  However, some of us seem to be a lot better than others at making the most of their allotment. Some people get a lot done. Others procrastinate and fritter away what time they have, all the while complaining about not having enough time in the process.

In fact, when people give presentations, I am always a bit amused -- and annoyed -- when the speaker spends a good chunk of whatever time they do have complaining that there isn't enough. How silly is that!

Clearly, though, with time being what it is, there's great room for improvement for most of us in how we handle it.  We can learn to fit more of the things we want to do into it.   We can learn to get the stuff that we have to get done accomplished in less time so we have more time for ourselves.  Once we achieve that goal, our stress will go way down.

How to get there, though?  There are plenty of time management courses and books available.  Unfortunately, they often fall short of their promises.  And if anything, that can make us feel even more stressed -- and possibly like a failure.  Time and how we handle it is a very individual thing.  Whatever the suggestions in the books may be, they have to work with who we are as people.  But how would you know which approach is right?

Two ways:  recommendations by people who know you really well can yield good results.  The trial and error method also works well.  Check some systems out and see what you think. You're bound to learn SOMETHING even if it's not really right for you. And don't beat yourself up if you find some that don't work for you.  Just go on to the next one.

If you do find one that really works for you though, one that allows you to exponentially increase your productivity, you'll know you've got a winner.  So it's worth investigating the options.  Because we all have the exact same amount of time available.  It's what we make of it that makes the difference -- in how much we can get done, and in our peace of mind. And that's how the right approach to time management can lower your stress.