Time Management skill is the one area where many professionals do not pay enough attention to. In fact poor time management skills lead to stress and overwhelm.

Whenever I ask any professional who is complaining of feeling stressed out, or burnout or even overwhelmed, I usually ask them, “How are you managing your time? Do you have any tools? Do you have any To Do Lists? Do you prioritize?”

Most of the time the answer is No. They’re just so filled up with their mind on the work that they have to do that they don’t actually sit down and try to work it out.

Okay, forget all the time management tools in the world but what about routines?

And then I have them saying to me ‘we don’t have any time for routines’.

But wouldn’t that help? It will.

Transcript:

Hi, I’m Vatsala Shukla Chief Encouragement Officer at Karmic Ally Coaching and today I want to do a short video to explain to you how routines actually help to clear your mind and reduce stress levels.

And I’m going to take a page out of my own book and share with you the story of my late dog Miss Coco and what she taught me about the Power of Routine.

Now when Miss Coco was around, we had a set fixed routine. We had a morning walk during which time she would walk and play a little and I would of course plan the rest of my day.

Then in the afternoons we went for long walks at which time we would do nature walking meditation.

We’d sit in the garden and again it gave me a chance to de-stress from the work that I would have been doing in between her morning walk and eating breakfast and the afternoon walk.

I learned the power of having a fixed routine and times to do those pieces of work. I could chunk time when I would actually do other work and fill up my timetable for the day and I used to be quite productive.

Now when I lost her a year ago, at that time I had not quite understood what she had taught me about routine.

It’s only when she wasn’t there that I realized that my time table was going haywire because I had forgotten how to fix specific times for different tasks and instead everything was on the To Do List.  I’d just keep working on it through my priority, but the routine tasks started to falter. And that did create a lot of stress.

So, what I’d like to tell you is that routines are actually highly underrated.

In my case, the little dog taught me about it but even in the professional world, what happens is most people don’t understand the value of a routine.

In fact, most people who are portrayed in the media as having a good work ethic and who have high standards for their lives and environments are often being teased as being neurotic or obsessive over details that don’t seem to matter.

But, if you pay attention to the people around you, you’d find that the more organized you are, the more you are able to get accomplished in the least amount of time with the least amount of stress. In other words, organization matters.

But, I’ve also noticed that those people who are obsessively organized, they end up making a mistake which is they start sweating over the small details.

They go into the minutest of things thinking that a particular project or task is going to according to plan AND they forget to leave room for error and because of which they may become even more stressed out if things don’t go exactly according to plan.

In fact, they never have a Plan B.

They do not put in any mitigating factors that could prevent the task or work from going according to the way it should.

So, the act of getting organized and following the routine that you set for yourself is actually to reduce the stress in your life and not to cause it!

In other words, you need to always have a plan. You also need to think a little bit outside of that plan to see what can go wrong and what cannot.

Because, you know, when we talk about being organized, it’s actually very simple.  It’s when you are doing the right things or habits within your day that ensure that things get done to the level that you need to do them.

It doesn’t mean that you’re cramming stuff for the sake of it. But you work systematically and you achieve things. And when you cannot do that, you’re going into stress and overwhelm.

But the good news is that there is a middle ground that we can utilize.

For one we have to be realistic in our goals. Secondly as I have been saying a lot in the last few minutes is to leave ourselves enough margin to easily overcome unforeseen bumps in the road. In other words, the roadblock.

If something goes wrong, can you mitigate the impact or can you pivot that?

Now always remember that while it’s important to stay flexible, it is also important to keep up on the habits and routines that you are creating.

In other words, once you create a routine, stick to it until it becomes a habit. Because the more times you do it, it’s going to become a natural part of you. When we build a habit, it is a way actually for our brains to get used to the new activity.

Of course it can be stressful at first, but ultimately it will become autopilot. I mean, do you need to practice the habit of breathing? It’s done on autopilot, isn’t it? Likewise here.

And this would take so much of the stress away from the activity itself because our minds already know what is coming and our bodies are used to the challenge, making it a comfortable part of daily life, even if the activity itself is not a particularly enjoyable one.

Like say, taking out the garbage, or answering emails, making client calls. Once you know you have a routine that you’re going to do things in a specific time and a specific way, it becomes much easier to manage.

And yes, good habits don’t have to be enjoyable for us to begin finding comfort in them.

Even doing unenjoyable things in a routine way can begin to feel satisfying.

And you can always feel a sense of accomplishment in doing them. In other words, when we remove them from the To Do List to the Done List, we are rewarded in our brains for the upkeep of a good habit, and once we get it over with then we don’t have to worry about it anymore.

Or at least not until the next time.

Because the truth is, it causes incredible stress to the body to dread activities that are a constant part of daily life.

And you know, bad habits like procrastination only assist in avoiding our doing things which we know we need to do and do not get rid of the task to be done. And for a bad habit to procrastinate, you can always figure out and justify in your mind why you shouldn’t be doing something but it is not going to really help.

In fact most times it is far healthier to accept that they are inevitabilities and to train ourselves to deal with them promptly and efficiently so that we can move on to doing the things we really, really enjoy.

Now I have a little resource for you.

This is a short report with time management tips that work even if you’re not a Working Mom.

In fact, I was inspired to write it for working moms for Mother’s Day this year and then I realized that this report works for others too.

I’m going to share a link below and I invite you to download it and to use the tips that are given in it.

It’s going to help you settle into good routines that will actually help beat overwhelm.

And my final words are, that you have to accept the things that you have to do and forming habits and routines around them will take the pressure off dread and anticipation.

It will free up your mind for things that really do matter. For example, spending time with your friends and family and getting your personal goals accomplished without having to take away time from other activities because you have to get your work done.

So I suggest that you embrace the power of routines today and download the Working Moms Calm the Chaos report pronto.

This is Vatsala Shukla for Karmic Ally Coaching. Have a great day. We’ll talk again soon.

I was reading an article in the New York Times earlier this morning about resets which I feel is relevant to all of us as we approach the second half of 2021.

Let’s face it, the disruption caused by the pandemic can be reframed and considered an opportunity to set and achieve new goals.

It’s an interesting article and it made me pause to think of how times of disruption and transition have created new opportunities for me.

In fact, establishing Karmic Ally Coaching came out of one such disruption and set me off on a completely different track to being an Auditor or CFO.

Behavioral scientists know this already and you would have experienced it at some level when life has served you a lemon or two.

Remember that quote about making lemonade from life’s lemons?

It could have taken the form of a new job, marriage, divorce, losing a job, death of a loved one and many other forms.

This pandemic has definitely thrown everything up in the air and while the dust settles, it’s time to consider new beginnings and making meaningful changes or doing a fresh start.

The article talks about the “fresh start effect” which is about creating changes around “temporal landmarks”.

In simple English, these are points in time that we naturally associate with new beginnings – start of Summer, New Year’s Day, first day of the week or month.

The best way to capitalize on this fresh start effect is to form new habits.

3 Steps to Creating New Habits

We all have times in our lives where we intentionally want to change our behavior for the better and create new habits for ourselves.

This could be getting in the habit of eating healthier and drinking more water. Or it could be moving more and taking the dog for a daily walk or joining a gym.

Or it could be work related, or spiritual, or… There are so many areas in our lives that could be improved and made easier if we created new habits.

Yet getting into the habit of doing something is often easier said than done. It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to acquire bad habits, but getting into a “good” habit becomes challenging.

I mean, have you ever seen an article or blog post of how to get into a bad habit in x steps, y days or confidence coaching for developing bad habits?

Neither have I.

To be rid of a habit that isn’t serving a purpose, you need to ask yourself if there is a secondary gain involved – like avoiding facing the real issue.

Sometimes the underlying Payoff Factor can be a strong deterrent to positive action.

That being said, let’s looks at a three step process that makes it easy to follow until we’ve internalized the new behavior and made it a true habit – something we do automatically without having to think about, like brushing our teeth.

Decide What You Want To Do

When we do our prayers in Hinduism or even when applying the Law of Attraction to manifest our desires or even in setting a SMART goal, we have to first decide upon what we wish to achieve through our efforts.

Similarly, the first step in changing a habit or adopting a new one is to decide what you want that new habit to be.

Be as specific as possible. Don’t just tell yourself you want to cut down on social media time. Instead say something like “I will log onto Facebook (or any other platform where you lurk around too long) for only 30 minutes a day”.

Deciding what your new habit will be and committing to when and how you’re going to do it, is half the battle.

Remind Yourself To Get It Done

The next few days should be smooth sailing. You’re motivated and excited to get this done. Sticking to your new habit isn’t an issue.

But a few days in you’ll notice that it’s easy to slip back into old habits.

Maybe you’ve finished your work early and have time to spare. Or you’re bored and need some amusement. Or maybe you’ve joined one of those 5 day challenges and are keen to participate and win a prize.

This is when it’s important to have a daily reminder.

Set an alert on your phone for your designated Facebook time with an alarm when the 30 minutes are over or add the new habit to your daily to-do list at a particular time for a while.

Make It Part Of Your Routine Until It Becomes A Habit

Which brings us to the last step. It takes some time before a new behavior becomes a true habit. Until then, a routine will work to your best advantage.

Even before the new behavior becomes automatic, a routine will help you get it done without having to spend a lot of willpower or relying on daily reminders.

Make that social media time part of your downtime routine or fix a specific time after dinner when you want to relax and entertain yourself or socialize with friends, especially during lockdown when going out is not an option.

If you can master the 3 steps of deciding to create the new habit, being conscious of it and practice the routine until it’s second nature, then you’ll be well on your way to forming a new good habit.

What you do require is willingness to change and understand how you handle change. This quiz will help you in preparing your mindset for change.

Beware of the inverse relationship between Habits and Willpower

Hopefully I’ve inspired you to start taking action to imbibe the new habit but it’s only fair that I point out one area that can become a roadblock – your Willpower.

It’s hard to keep up willpower for any length of time. Yes, we can stick to a low-fat 1,000 calorie diet and go hungry for a week or two, but eventually our willpower fades. And yes, we can do exercise we hate for a while… until we run out of willpower.

What about sustaining the habit of not wasting time on social media or giving up the habit of smoking?

We’ve seen it time and again even with intentions set using the temporal location.

For example, we start the year with New Year Resolutions and then after going strong our resolve weakens and we quit. Maybe that’s why there’s a Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day on January 17th (read more about it here).

But getting up to take the kids to school every morning, brushing our teeth or going to work every day don’t seem to require much willpower.

That’s because they have become habits. They are so ingrained in what we do and who we are that we do them without even considering skipping a day or a week.

We don’t have to make a conscious decision each day to shower or drive to work. It’s just what we do – a habit.

When you start to think about it, there is an inverse relationship between habits and will power. When you first want to build a new habit, it takes a lot of will power to get it done day in and day out.

As you start to establish that habit, it becomes easier and easier to do until you don’t even have to think about it anymore.

Just being aware of this process helps us stick it out. We know we don’t always have to make such a big effort to go work out or skip the donut for breakfast.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. We know eventually it will become habit to go out for a run first thing in the morning and grab some fruit or fix some eggs for breakfast.

While we’re in that transition from willpower to habit, we can use tools to make it easier.

Use a to-do list or set a reminder to help stay on track.

Find an accountability partner so the two of you can motivate each other and help bolster that willpower when it starts to fade after the first enthusiasm wears off.

Do what you can to help your willpower along until you have made the new behavior a true habit. After that it’ll be easy and automatic and you’ve created a new lifelong habit – even during an ongoing pandemic.

And in doing so, you might just find that elusive willpower to give up the bad habits or those that no longer serve you in the new world that is emerging.

What are the new habits you want to keep, and what parts of your pre-pandemic life do you want to change? Are you game to create change in your life for the better?

PS. If you’re looking to make changes to your pre-pandemic life and need a fresh pair of eyes on your situation, I invite you to book a complimentary Change Catalyst Session with me.

Please follow the instructions while booking the call so we make the most of our 30 minutes together.

To press the button or not to press the button…… that is the question.

Nope, I haven’t gotten my Hamlet wrong. Yet I certainly had a Hamlet moment discovering a secondary gain to a habit which I am now changing.

The other day I did something quite out of character for me both as a person as well as a businessperson. I’m glad I did because I found out something new about myself which a lot of business owners who maintain an online presence and email list have also experienced.

Experiencing a secondary gain moment

Here’s what happened.

I was launching a new course on Emotional Intelligence and inviting participants for the beta run first. So, I was out promoting this course to friends, colleagues and my email subscribers.

Like any good business owner and professional, I invest in courses whenever I feel I need to develop a particular skill or gain new knowledge to pass on to my clients.

And I’ve invested and completed some really good courses on creating courses. But the promotion and marketing part was a toughie because of the way I am.

Each of these courses talked about sending emails. This included cart closing emails for people who leave things for the last minute. That felt weird for me, and I refrained.

This time I decided I really should step out of my comfort zone, and I did. The second email wasn’t so bad – I’ve done that before.

It was the 3^rd email that got me in Hamlet mode.

I hummed and I hawed. Even found an excuse to take my pet friend Miss Coco for an extra walk while I waited for the course enrollment deadline.

Walking The Furry One actually helped because I got a chance to think about my resistance to sending the 3^rd email. It was all drafted and just needed a gentle press on the Send Button.

I asked myself in all honesty, what do I get to not feel, not do, not experience by staying stuck?

Some good answers came up as well as some counter answers from my Intuition whom I’ll call The Voice.

I was concerned I would have tons of folk unsubscribe if they saw 3 emails because my subscribers weren’t used to it. The thought they wouldn’t enroll had not crossed my mind.

The Voice inside me told me that given the open rates (mine are actually better than industry standard) if someone missed the first or the second email, they would still see the 3^rd one.

The Voice reminded me of opens and clicks that I’ve gotten whenever I’ve sent a reminder. The fact that the Biggies in the business coaching industry send emails out right till the last minute.

I’ve got those emails in my Inbox. Thanks to time differences, I often wake up to find 5, yes 5 emails telling me about how a cart is closing for these thousand-dollar programs with all the bonuses I can get with 1 click of a button and payment details.

The Voice finally told me if someone unsubscribes, bless them and let them go.

Actually, nobody unsubscribed!

Later that morning, there was a post in one of the Facebook Groups where the owner was talking about doing things that stretched us.

I mentioned getting out of my comfort zone to send that 3^rd email and received encouragement. It seems I’m not the only one who finds this challenging.

I understand why I was experiencing resistance and I’ll share more about it later in this post but first, I have a question for you.

How many times have you had a habit or behavior which you knew was bad for your health, self-esteem or general well-being and you have taken active steps to break it only to fall off the wagon?

Changing ourselves can be tricky sometimes.

Handling change is not easy for everyone.

The truth about Secondary Gains

Just when we think we have successfully adopted a new, more empowering habit or behavior, the old one creeps back in.

This could quite possibly be due to the existence of a sub-conscious underlying reason, which can be called a Secondary Gain or a Pay-Off.

This underlying reason is why we continue with a certain habit or behavior even though we are consciously aware that the activity is not beneficial to us.

These habits and behaviors could include smoking, excessive shopping on your credit card, blaming others for your problems, being non-assertive or a yes person.

They all have an underlying Pay-Off Factor.

A smoker who finds it difficult to quit or manages to for a while and then goes back to the habit may make the excuse that stressful situations cause the lapse in the effort to quit the habit.  Perhaps we feel more part of a peer group or accepted by others. The excuses are numerous.

Whether it is low self-esteem, lack of confidence or motivation, continual negative thinking, peer pressure – they will all have an underlying payoff factor – which may or may not be positive.

Empowering habits or behavior are only possible when one gets to the root of the limiting belief or fear.

For example, an individual who stays on in a job despite growing job dissatisfaction may believe that this is important to provide for his family.

In truth he may actually be scared of stepping out of his comfort zone and challenging himself.

Supposing he doesn’t get another job or a lower paying one?

What if he follows his desire to go into business and it fails?

We can often restrict ourselves without even realizing it.

Recognizing this limiting belief or fear, the individual could consider baby steps towards stepping out of his comfort zone.

He could ask for more challenging work or seek avenues for further learning and development in his organization. Thus, contributing to both his and the organization’s success in the long run.

He may also begin to explore and research a new career or even a business if he is so inclined.

What if there is a positive underlying factor for the individual?

For example, a person who has self-assertion issues might keep failing in his quest to become self-assertive.

He may have learnt early in life that to maintain the peace he needed to draw away attention from himself. Perhaps, it was beneficial to keep quiet when there is conflict.

This might have served the purpose of keeping away the fear of being unpopular or even being bullied. In adult life, this habit or behavior might not serve the person.

Instead, the person might do well to understand what benefit they were getting from this behavior.

See if there is a positive behavior to replace the undermining one and yet give the same results. Such as asserting neutrality in conflicts where the person is a third party. Or learning to express oneself while willing to listen to the other’s point of view openly and objectively.

By doing this, one will have made a good start at gaining a higher order of change. The more changes one makes that still satisfy the Secondary Gain, the easier it will be to change habits and behaviours.

A deeper analysis and final words on Secondary Gains

Returning to my story, a deeper analysis post pressing the button led to an amazing realization.

During my corporate world days, I had worked in the Audit and Assurance Industry. We were taught not to openly ask for the business. In those days, the governing body did not allow us to advertise explicitly.

Even when the firms did advertise, there were caveats in the advertisement. We were encouraged to invite inquiries but not blatantly say we wanted the business.

When it came to follow ups, there were those that one could do. Like following up for invoice payments. Or extra information required to complete an audit or project. And those that we could not.

I realized I was looking at that 3^rd email as being unprofessional. My secondary gain was not breaking the rules of follow up. But these rules were now redundant for me!

I’ve already started practicing new habits for launches. This includes reaching out to my network like I did this time. I’m keeping up the practice of informing my list that I will remind them again. And if someone unsubscribes, so be it.

In fact, one subscriber was kind enough to write and tell me that the course was not of interest to her.

Hey, I got some engagement from a subscriber who felt she needed to let me know why she wasn’t signing up.

What about you?

Have you ever found a habit, good or bad that you wouldn’t let go off because there was a secondary gain involved?

PS: If you need more help in letting go of those awful limiting fears, then the 3 step process outlined in this post will definitely help.

Did you know Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) accounts for the greatest median number of days of missed work among the major industrial injuries and occupational diseases?

Or that every year between 3-6% of the American workforce suffer from CTS?

One doesn’t really realize how painful Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be until experienced. It’s an awful pain, tingling and numbness of the hand and fingers due to nerve impingement in the wrist.

The first time I ever heard of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome was in 1997 when a fellow student studying French at the Alliance Francaise in Tunis told me that she ended up changing her career from a computer data entry desk job to becoming a boutique manager thanks to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Surgery did not work in her case, but she seemed happy with her new life and career. I did not think it important enough to research the subject.

A decade later, the word Carpal Tunnel Syndrome came up again.

This time the IT and Administration Officer at an audit client had to take sick leave thanks to the same condition when his hand went numb. He could not pick up a pen leave alone a coffee mug.

It would still be a few years later when I would wake up in the morning with an indescribable pain in my right-hand middle finger lasting for what seemed to be forever.

The first time this happened; I thought I had slept on the hand and pinched a nerve. When the daily morning episodes started with a burning pain in the wrist as well, a visit to the doctor was in order.

A specialist referral diagnosed it as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The technician who did the test told me that the syndrome was starting in the left hand as well and was gleeful that surgery was in order.

I took my prescription from the specialist who suggested I return in a fortnight to discuss possible treatment. 

Fortunately, a relative who is a Sports physician advised me to rest the wrist, review my lifestyle to find the cause and take preventive measures. Surgery was supposed to be the last option which luckily was ruled out by some timely action on my part. 

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: 

Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve, which runs from the forearm into the palm of the hand, becomes pressed or squeezed at the wrist.

The median nerve controls sensations to the palm side of the thumb and fingers (although not the little finger), as well as impulses to some small muscles in the hand that allow the fingers and thumb to move.

Although painful sensations may indicate other conditions, carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common and widely known of the entrapment neuropathies in which the body’s peripheral nerves are compressed or traumatized.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is often the result of a combination of factors that increase pressure on the median nerve and tendons in the carpal tunnel, rather than a problem with the nerve itself.

Contributing factors include trauma or injury to the wrist that cause swelling, such as sprain or fracture; over activity of the pituitary gland; hypothyroidism; rheumatoid arthritis; mechanical problems in the wrist joint; work stress; repeated use of vibrating hand tools; fluid retention during pregnancy or menopause; or the development of a cyst or tumor in the canal.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is also associated with pregnancy and diseases such as diabetes, thyroid disease, or rheumatoid arthritis. In some cases, no cause can be identified.

The risk of developing this syndrome is not exclusive to a single industry or a job or to just data entry personnel.

I got lucky that I took timely steps to tackle this problem.

When I posted an update about this problem on Facebook, 3 of my school friends wrote back to say they had experienced the same problem. They had to have surgery for relief. All 3 friends were in different vocations with 1 common factor. They used their hands while working long hours.

In all 3 cases, it came down to using a computer for long hours of the day without taking breaks until the wakeup call rang with excruciating pain. The stress caused by the pain and inability to use the hand with forced rest were also part of the fallout.

If you are experiencing any of the symptoms, do listen to your hand and review your work and lifestyle. I would suggest a visit to the doctor as well to rule out the causes and contributing factors.

Check the additional resources at the bottom of this post to learn more about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

 5 easy habits that prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Disclaimer: If you think you might be suffering from this infliction or are showing signs of it, please consult a specialist immediately. The guidance in this post is not a substitute for medical advice.

Prevention is always better than a cure.

Here are 5 easy habits you can adopt to prevent being inflicted with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome if you are using the computer for long hours:

• Check your posture – keep your back straight and ensure that you are not putting too much pressure on your wrists, particularly if you use the computer predominantly during the day.

• Warm up your hands before you begin typing. Try finger push-ups, hand massages and even opening your hands wide and stretching your fingers.

• Take short breaks which can range from a few seconds to a few minutes to relieve pressure on the blood vessels and ensure good circulation.

• Exercise your wrists at regular intervals. Here is a great set of exercises that can be done while standing or even sitting. Extend both arms in front of the body. Then move the backs of the palms and the fingers towards your body. Hold for 10 seconds and then relax the wrists. Then while still holding your arms in front of you keep your wrists straight and curl your fingers into a fist. Squeeze and hold for 10 seconds. The next step is to bend the wrists downwards and hold for 10 seconds. Relax, straighten the wrists and bring your arms back down. You may repeat this exercise about 8 to 10 times.

• Drink lots of water. This helps to flush out the toxins in the body and keeps your muscles supple.

If you already have or suspect that you have this problem, proper medical advice is imperative.

In my case, I learned the hard way to take breaks and rest my hands. Once in a blue moon I wake up with a pain in the middle finger of my right hand and know it is because I lapsed with the breaks and exercises. 

I also exercise my hands and fingers with a Smiley Ball.

I acknowledge and accept responsibility for the health of my wrist and hands and do what is needed to avoid going back to the specialist. Prevention is better than a cure. In this case, one’s health is literally in one’s hands.

Have you ever experienced carpal tunnel syndrome? What remedies would you add to my preventive checklist?

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Management -Useful Resources 

Stress Management with Chakra Balancing Exercises by Karmic Ally Coaching 

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Page 

Wrist Pain – Mayo Clinic 

Do you have control over your workspace stress?

Statistics courtesy U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Remedy: A Step-by-Step Plan to Heal Weakness, Numbness, and Tingling Without Surgical Intervention; Undo Past Harm and Experience Long-Lasting Relief

Smiley Balls

Get yourself one today (click the image below to find it!)

Picture Credit: Listen To The Hand… by Bobbi Jones Jones

This post was written in 2012 and has been updated in 2025 for new information.

Written By: Vatsala Shukla