Your Top 5 time hijackers at the office

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? We can’t talk enough about stress and how it affects our bodies.

National Bestselling Author Dr. Gabor Matè has written a book called “When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress." In this book, he writes about the body’s ability to completely shut down without any warning.

After either a traumatic experience or chronic stress, the body can stop functioning properly, causing diseases such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome and multiple sclerosis.

We’ve heard this warning before. However, we still tend to ignore some of the day-to-day stressors that are contributing to our overall "unwellness" (or sickness).

One of the biggest culprits of our stress is time and the lack of it. Once you’ve identified what is actually distracting you — or “hijacking” your time — on a regular basis then you can start to tweak your lifestyle to offer you MORE TIME and LESS STRESS.

Top 5 Time Hijackers at work:

1. Reduce your Email Inbox: If you Inbox has more than 10 items on a regular basis, then you have too many. It’s time to start Deleting, Deferring, and Delegating.
2. Interruptions: “You teach people how to treat you,” said Tony Gaskins. If you are continuously being interrupted by your colleagues (or family members) and unable to accomplish important tasks, then it’s time to make a change.
3. Social Media: Turn off your notifications. Unless you are hired to update and stay connected via social media, then you should not allow yourself to be “time hijacked” by any form of social media throughout the day.
4. Desk Hygiene: Save time looking for stuff. If you have an unorganized desk or workspace, consider how much time you waste looking for “stuff” and get organized.
5. Sick and Tired: Make wellness a priority. If you are feeling unwell, then you are probably experiencing "presenteeism" and not being very productive at work. Take the necessary steps to manage your overall health.

I urge you to take a look at your lifestyle and determine what stressors you experience on a regular basis and work towards reducing them or removing them all together. Tackle one time hijacker at a time and enjoy the benefits of more time and less stress. There is no higher cost of stress than that of your health and happiness.

Lisa Lounsbury is the Founder of New Day Wellness. Find out more at NewDayWellness.ca.