Too Much on Your Plate #StressPsychology #TimeManagement Fo | Alter Ego
Too Much on Your Plate
#StressPsychology #TimeManagement
For many of us, managing competing demands is one of the constant pressures of modern life. With so many expectations to worry about, how can we use our best judgement when making decisions?
Stress can fluster us – and when we’re flustered, we don’t always make the best decisions. This can affect how we organize and manage all the tasks we’re facing. The first step to prioritizing is to attempt to look at our tasks less emotionally and more objectively.
We can better handle competing goals by the way we interpret the tasks involved. A 2016 British-Australian study gave participants two projects to complete: one that was already in “good” shape and one that was in “bad” shape, or less likely to be completed successfully. The experimenters offered a small reward of 10 cents for finishing both tasks and half that amount for finishing just one. Because the “bad” project was designed to have only a 20% chance of success - as opposed to 80% for the “good” one - prioritizing the “bad” project meant that the participants would probably be unable to finish either and get no money at all.
However, the researchers also presented the situation in one of two ways: some of the participants were told they would make money by completing the projects, and others were told they’d lose money by failing to complete them.
The results? Subjects who were told they would make money if successful played it safe and earned more. Subjects who’d been given the “avoid a loss” scenario tended to prioritize the low-chance-of-success goal, and often ended up failing both tasks.
Getting some distance
Here are some strategies that according to an Israeli-American study helped people clarify their thinking under pressure:
Imagine temporal distance. What would someone 10 years from now think was the priority?
Imagine physical distance. What would be the priority if this was happening on the other side of the world?
Imagine social distance. What would you consider the priority if this was happening to a stranger?
Imagine as a hypothetical. What would be the priority if this wasn’t a real situation, but an imaginary one?
