TIME AND STRESS MANAGEMENT by :

NURUL SALINA ABDUL : 2006208142

RADEN NURUL AYUNNI SHUMARDIJAYA : 2006208146

Introduction

Time Management

Organizing your time can be very stressful if the time is not divided carefully and in balance of
what you really want. To be able to perform to the fullest of ability, proper time allocation or
management is needed to ensure that the flow of the work is right and will reach the required
deadline or time limit. It is important to note that time management is slightly different for
everyone. The definition of time management may change for an individual based on the role
that individual plays within an organization or workplace.

In general, time management is the ability to produce and follow a schedule, meet
deadlines, prioritize and minimize distractions and unimportant tasks. Time management
includes managing time wisely so that tasks and projects can get done efficiently and
effectively. For a teacher, time management is the thread running through almost all aspects of
teaching — organizing the day, organizing the classroom, deciding how long and how often to
teach various subjects, recording student progress, or keeping time-consuming behavior
problems to a minimum.

Stress Management

Stress played important aspect in managing our daily life. Like time, coping stress can have
positive impact or negative impact, depending on how a person handled his or her stress.
According to Hans Selye (1956), “stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on
how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial, while that of
failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental.” Selye believed that the biochemical effects of
stress would be experienced irrespective of whether the situation was positive or negative.

Stress is now viewed as a "bad thing", with a range of harmful biochemical and long-
term effects. These effects have rarely been observed in positive situations. The most
commonly accepted definition of stress (mainly attributed to Richard S Lazarus) is that stress is
a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal
and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.” In short, it's what we feel when we think
we've lost control of events. Stress in the workplace frequently can be two-way pressures that
come from a combination of both internal and external stressors. Bad level of stress can results
in decreased job satisfaction, reduced production, and increased conflicts, which all lead to
more stress. When a person ignore their stress signals, they are more liable to become ill or
fatigued and to experience injury.

Stress in the Workplace

Maintaining good level of stress can affect time management in the workplace. It is
important that an individual to be able to possess such skill, especially at the workplace. Based
on the definition given, it can be seen that poor time management can caused stress, thus, will
affect the mental health of a person. In this case, even a teacher cannot avoid such problem.
Thus, with all of the things to be done at the school, teachers should be aware that they must
know how to manage time properly in order to decrease the stress effect on their mental health,
especially, in the workplace.

Firstly, it is important for teachers to recognize the source of their problem. In this case,
the primary cause for their poor time is the work stress. From this problem, it can be seen that
as “time available” increases, the “time pressure experienced” decreases. Therefore, measures
should be taken in order to increase the time availability in the working place. As “Things to Do”
increases, “Time Pressure experienced” will decreases. Teachers or any workers should aim for
more time availability, so that they will have fewer things to do which will contribute to a healthy
stress level. Nevertheless, if the problem still occurs where teachers still experience time
pressure, it might be due to other individual as the “contributor” or the ability of the teacher as a
good manager of his or her own time. Therefore, knowing what-to-know is irrelevant in solving
time and stress management if the person him/herself had difficulty in following the solution
provided.

Secondly, in order to maintain a healthy level of pressure, it is important to learn to

recognize your own personal switch, in this case, your ‘stress triggers’. Many things should be
taken into consideration of what made you to be so stressful in the workplace. The environment
where the working took place can also be considered as the cause for stress. For teachers,
most of them were placed in a cramped or cluttered environment, where they have to fulfill
certain criteria, check students work, organizing events, going to courses and many more.
Therefore, these may caused failures in organizing their time and work properly. Therefore, it
advisable that teachers to set priorities and managing time to meet deadlines; to set and
achieve goals; to be able to effectively organize daily actions; make smarter decisions faster;
uncover better options and more importantly, to work in a team.

Thirdly, before deciding that you are not suited to be a teacher or experiencing burn out,
check your life balance. Life balance is important in maintaining good level of stress and time
pressure. There are several aspects that can be taken into consideration of what makes our life
balanced: a sense of security, status, connected to something bigger than oneself, goals and
purpose, the mind body connection, novelty and stimulation, a sense of control, give and
receive attention, feeling understood. A good manager should be able to recognize and allocate
the right portion of time to reach these needs. Therefore, by maintaining a balance life, we
would be able to manage time and stress even better, thus, making us be more independent
and a good role model to the others.

Effects of Poor Time and Stress Management

Personal time management skills are essential skills for effective people. People who
use these techniques routinely are the highest achievers in all walks of life, from business to
sport to public service. If you use these skills well, then you will be able to function exceptionally
well, even under intense pressure.
What is more, as you master these skills, you will find that you take control of your
workload, and say goodbye to the often intense stress of work overload.
At the heart of time management is an important shift in focus: Concentrate on results, not on
being busy .Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little, because
they're not concentrating their effort on the things that matter the most.
You are not good at stress and time management if your home or workplace is full of
clutter, if there are many unfinished tasks that demand your immediate attention, if you are
running around a lot but not reaching anywhere. If you are afflicted with a deep sense of
frustration at not doing enough, then you are not managing your time wisely. You cannot hope
to manage stress unless you get a handle on your time. Time can be your biggest ally, or it can
be your ruthless enemy. We all have same amount of time in a day – 24 hours – but some
people seem to be doing more, having more peace of mind and living a more fulfilled life. How is
it possible? Don’t they feel stressed out? The secret lies in their ability to manage time and
stress.
Now we talk about the effects of stress. There are long term and short term effect of
stress. The long term and short term effects of stress on the body manifest itself irrespective of
the age groups. When the trigger is repetitive, prolonged or unanticipated, then it becomes
pathological. Stress is a normal physiological response of the body to hostile environment. The
effects of stress affect not only man, but also animals. Stress can affect children, adolescents
and adults. Though the stress factor may be different in different age groups, the outcome is
more or less the same. The effects of stress on the body can be categorized into short term and
long term effects irrespective of the age groups. When the trigger is repetitive, prolonged or
unanticipated, then it becomes pathological. The immediate, transient or the short term effects
are the normal physiological responses whereas the delayed, persisting or the long term effects
of stress are the pathological responses.
The short term of effects of stress is happened when a person encounters a threat, his
body gets geared up to handle it by the 'Fight or flight' response. During this response certain
functional adjustments occur in the body. These changes persist till the threat exists. When the
threat no longer exists, the body returns to normal. These immediate, transient effects are the
short term effects of stress. This is a physiological response seen in all persons exposed to
stress. The few functional adjustments which are responsible for the short term effects are such
as Increase in the heart rate to supply more blood quickly. This functional adjustment
responsible for the stress effects on the body, manifest themselves with an array of signs and
symptoms such as chest pain, headache, and etc.
We can take the example of a guy appearing for a competitive exam for a job. When he
has to study a lot, if he is not able to cover all the topics or if he finds the topics very tough, then
preparation for the exams acts as a trigger for stress. The affected person undergoes either
some or all of the above mentioned symptoms with their severity based on his susceptibility.
While the long term effect of stress may cause health problem such as cardiovascular
system damage. Chronic activation of stress hormones can raise your heart rate, cause chest
pain and/or heart palpitations (sensations that your heart is pounding or racing), and increase
your blood pressure and blood lipid (fat) levels. Sustained high levels of cholesterol and other
fatty substances in the blood can lead to atherosclerosis, a disease in which fatty plaques build
up on blood vessel walls, restrict blood flow to the heart and sometimes lead to a heart attack.
 The relationship between stress and heart health can also be a bit more indirect. People
who respond to stress with anger or hostility have an increased risk of developing
cardiovascular disease. Similarly, unhealthy stress coping strategies such as smoking, drinking,
or overeating can also damage the heart and surrounding blood vessels.

Techniques and Tools of Stress Reduction

We have chosen two techniques of stress reduction; imagery and positive thinking. What
is imagery? Sometimes we are not able to change our environment to manage stress – this may
be the case where we do not have the power to change a situation, or where we are about to
give an important performance. Imagery is a useful skill for relaxing in these situations.
You will be aware of how particular environments can be very relaxing, while others can be
intensely stressful. The principle behind the use of imagery in stress reduction is that you can
use your imagination to recreate and enjoy a situation that is very relaxing. The more intensely
you imagine the situation, the more relaxing the experience will be. Imagery is a potent method
of stress reduction. One common use of imagery in relaxation is to imagine a scene, place or
event that you remember as safe, peaceful, restful, beautiful and happy. You can bring all your
senses into the image with, for example, sounds of running water and birds, the smell of cut
grass, the taste of cool white wine, the warmth of the sun, etc. Use the imagined place as a
retreat from stress and pressure.
The second technique is positive thinking. The most commonly accepted definition of
stress is that it occurs when a person believes that "demands exceed the personal and social
resources the individual is able to mobilize". In short, it's when we feel out of control.
When people feel stressed, they have made two main judgments: First, they feel threatened by
the situation, and second, they believe that they're not able to meet the threat. How someone
feels depends on how much the situation stressed can hurt them, and how closely their
resources meet the demands of the situation. Perception is key to this as situations are not
stressful in their own right. Rather it is our interpretation of the situation that drives the level of
stress that we feel.
Thought Awareness is the process by which you observe your thoughts and become
aware of what is going through your head. One approach to it is to observe your "stream of
consciousness" as you think about the thing you're trying to achieve which is stressful. Do not
suppress any thoughts. Instead, just let them run their course while you watch them, and write
them down on your diary. The next step in dealing with negative thinking is to challenge the
negative thoughts that you identified using the Thought Awareness technique. Look at every
thought you wrote down and challenge it rationally. Ask yourself whether the thought is
reasonable. What evidence is there for and against the thought? Would your colleagues and
mentors agree or disagree with it? Finally by now, you should already be feeling more positive.
The final step is to prepare rational, positive thoughts and affirmations to counter any remaining
negativity. It can also be useful to look at the situation and see if there are any useful
opportunities that are offered by it.

Conclusion

Overall, it can be said that the ability to manage your time and stress is interrelated. By being
able to relate your time well, your will be able to decrease the stress especially in the workplace.
Thus, a teacher, who has to deal with lots of things or events at the school, should possess
good time and stress management skills in order to have a balance and healthy lifestyle. By
managing good level of stress and proper time management, teachers would be able to be
more professional in their work, able to be productive in the teaching field, maintain good
relationship with colleagues as well as be a good role model to the students and other people.