Ricardo Semmler's Guide to Stress Management

There are two things all managers have in common - the 24-hour day and the annoying need to sleep. Without the sleeping, 24 hours might be enough. With it, there is no way to get everything done. After years of trying to vanquish demon sleep and the temptation to relax, I tried an approach suggested by my doctor, who put it this way: "Slow down or kiss yourself good-bye"

Struck by this imagery, I learned to manage my time and cut my workload to less than 24 hours. The first step is to overcome the five myths:

1. Results are proportional to efforts. The Brazilian flag expresses this myth in a slightly different form. "Order and Progress" it says. Of course it ought to say "Order or Progress" since the two never go together.

2. Quantity of work is more important than quality. Psychologically this may hold water. The executive who puts in lots of hours can always say, "Well, they didn't promote me, but you can see how unfair that is. Everyone knows I get here at 8am and that my own children can't see me without an appointment."

3. The present restructuring requires longer working hours temporarily. We think of ourselves as corks on a mountain stream headed for Lake Placid. But the lake ahead is Loch Ness. The present temporary emergency is actually permanent. Stop being a cork.

4. No one else can do it right. The truth is, you are replaceable, as everyone will discover within a week of your funeral.

5. This problem is urgent. Come on. The real difference between "important" and "urgent" is the difference between thoughtfulness and panic.

Those are the myths. The second step is to master my eight cures.

1. Set an hour to leave the office and obey it blindly. If you normally go home at 7:00, start leaving at 6:00. If you take work home on weekends give yourself a month or two to put a stop to this pernicious practice.

2. Take half a day, perhaps even an entire Saturday, to rummage through that mountain of paper in your office and put it into three piles.

Pile A: Priority items that require your immediate attention and represent matters of indisputable importance. If you put more than four or five documents in this category and are not currently the president of your country, start over.

Pile B: Items that need your personal attention, but not right away. This pile is very tempting, everything fits. But don't fall into the trap. Load this stuff on your subordinates, using the 70% test to help you do it. Ask yourself: Is there someone on my staff who can do this task at least 70% as well as I can? Yes? Then farm it out. Whether or not your subordinates are overworked should not weigh in your decision. Remember, control of your time is an exercise in selfishness.

Pile C: Items that fall under the dubious rubric "a good idea to look at." One of the most egregious executive fallacies is that you have to read a little of everything in order to stay well-informed. If you limit the number of newspapers, magazines, and internal communications that you read regularly, you'll have more time to do what's important - like think. And remember to keep your reading timely, information is a perishable commodity.

3. In dealing with Pile A, always start with the most difficult or time-consuming. It also helps to have a folder for the things that must be done before you go home that day and to make a list of the things that simply cannot go undone for more than a few days or a week. Everything else is just everything else.

4. Buy another wastepaper basket. I know you already have one. But if you invited me to go through that pile of papers on your desk, I could fill both in a trice. To help you decide what to toss and what to save, ask yourself the question asked by the legendary Alfred P. Sloan Jr.: "What is the worst that can happen if I throw this out?" If you don't tremble, sweat or grow faint when you think of the consequences, toss it.

This second wastebasket is a critical investment, even though you'll never be able to fill both on a regular basis. Keep it anyway. It has symbolic value. It will babysit your in-basket and act like a governess every time you wonder why you bought it.

5. Ask yourself Sloan's question about every lunch and meeting invitation. Don't be timid. And practice these three RSVP's:

"Thanks, but I just can't fit it in."
"I can't go, but I think X can." (If you think someone should.)
"I'm sorry I can't make it, but do let me know what happened."

Transform meetings into telephone calls or quick conversations in the hall. When you hold a meeting in your office, sit on the edge of your desk, or when you want to end the discussion, stand up from behind your desk and say, "OK, then, that's settled." These tricks are rude but almost foolproof.

6. Give yourself time to think. Spend half a day every week away from your office. Take your work home, or try working somewhere else - a conference room in another office, a public library, an airport waiting room - any place you can concentrate, and the farther away from your office the better. The point is, a fresh environment can do wonders for productivity. Just make sure you bring along a healthy dose of discipline, especially if you're working at home.

7. About the telephone, my practical but subversive advice is: Don't return calls. Or rather, return calls only to people you want to talk to. The others will call back. Better yet, they'll write, and you can spend ten seconds with their letter and then give it to the governess.

Two ancillary bits of phone advice: ask your assistants to take detailed messages. Ask them to always say you cannot take the call at the moment. (Depending on who it is, your assistants can always undertake to see if you can't be interrupted.)

8. Close your door. Oh, I know you have an open-door policy, but don't be so literal.

Harvard Business Review, Sep-Oct 89