“Where did this week go?”

That common phrase can be interpreted in two different ways:

• It was a great week. I had so much fun/got so much done that it flew by.
• I don’t feel that I accomplished anything I had planned, and it is already the end of the week.

It is not hard to figure out which one creates stress. If we buy into the concept that “time is money,” and our week has not produced what we expected of ourselves, then there can be disappointment, frustration, or guilt feelings at lack of progress. Yet in actuality, the person in the second bullet may have been busy nonstop, pulled in all directions, and performed many activities. The basic difference in end-of-week scenarios often relates to questions of prioritizing and procrastinating.

Scenario One:

• You know where you are headed each morning
• You focus on one type of work at a time. This actually helps you get the task done more quickly.
• You find ways to limit interruptions when you need to concentrate.
• Even if the task is difficult, you tackle it instead of putting it off.

Scenario Two:

• You spend the first part of the morning figuring out what is due now and cannot be avoided any longer.
• You allow multiple interruptions throughout the day to distract you.
• You try to tackle the difficult stuff later in the day when it is harder to concentrate and can take much longer to produce good work.

When we constantly equate time and money, we may not allow ourselves the luxury of focusing on one thing at a time. We feel we need to be multitasking to cram in as much as possible when the opposite is true. People who try to do two or more things at once are slower than those who concentrate on one type of activity and then move on to another. They are also less stressed.

At the end of this week, ask yourself, “Where did this week go?” See if you have a positive feeling about what you have accomplished after all of your hard work. If it is not providing that result, try some changes in your daily routine–changes that may produce more work in less time, with less stress. That is where time equals money. It has to be the effective and efficient use of time, not just the look and feel of being “busy.”