The most important word in the previous paragraph is "perceived". If you are in complete control of your schedule, but see yourself as a slave to your to-do list, you will always feel stressed, and your perceived control is a little more flexible. Therefore, hanging your perspective on things is the best way to stay calm.
What is meant by time control?
Control is defined as the ability to decide whether to get something done or not, without dire consequences. This means you can stop doing something, and it won't be the end of the world. The side effects aren't so unimaginably horrific that you'd take your eyes off it seriously.
Your perceived level of control depends on the limit you place on what are bad consequences and what are not. If you draw that limit too far, you will have to get everything done. Then when you slack off, you will think the consequences are dire, and you will feel compelled to act.
The key to seamless productivity is realizing that you can control your time more than you think. Then when you look at the consequences of your inaction, you will find only a short list of totally unacceptable things. For example, you may not feel good about canceling a commitment or missing a phone call, but it is not the end of the world.
Perceived control and its relation to behavior:
Some evidence opposes the aforementioned suggestion that you are able to control your time more than you think. In other words, if you stop working, you will be able to bear the consequences in the short term, but they will become unacceptable in the long term.
For example, consider eating. You have complete control over this in the short term, and you can skip lunch and save an hour of your time. However, in the long run, you have to eat it. If you avoid eating for a few weeks or more, you will starve to death. Therefore, the consequences in the short term are feeling a little hungry. However, death is the long-term consequence of that, which is totally unacceptable.
That argument is unreliable because in fact, being seamlessly productive is about perceived control, not actually changing your behavior. It's about feeling like you have the ability to stop working, without actually stopping, and the goal isn't to justify laziness, but rather to limit the constraints on your time.
I'm busy, but things are under control:
Saying you are busy has become a common phrase in our world today. Everyone is busy, but when you say that you are in control, it means that you have the power to choose what to do today, and what you do not want to do. This increases your ability to handle stress, while at the same time remaining calm.
How do I take control?
There are some ways that you can enhance your perceived control over your daily program. The key is the attitude, not action, as mentioned above. Build your life in a way that you feel you have more flexibility than you really need.
Below we present some methods that have proven their effectiveness in achieving productivity seamlessly and deliberately:
1. Replace strict deadlines with comfortable ones:
Strict deadlines are the ones the outside world sets for you, while comfortable deadlines are those we set for ourselves. When you tune into your productivity system focused on comfortable deadlines, your control will improve.
2. Pick up your vocabulary carefully:
Your words stir your thoughts, and your thoughts control your mood. If your words revolve around your failure to control your time, this will reflect on your life and become a reality you live. It's okay to tell yourself you're busy, which is probably true. However, avoid talking about all the things you have to get done, and if you're doing this, take a moment and remind yourself that you can let go of it at any time because most of the things you have to get done won't threaten your life if you look more closely.
3. Plan a life based on time control:
This last step is not a quick fix. The ultimate goal of living a comfortable and meaningful life is having total control of time, and knowing that you have almost complete freedom to decide what you want to do.
In Conclusion:
Move from being an employee to freelance or self-employed, save enough money as a backup so you never have to work to earn your next paycheck, and hire a virtual assistant to save time for tasks you don't have to do yourself. If you plan your life well, you can avoid some of your problems by controlling your schedule which most people face every day.
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