Managing Stress #4 Take control of the communication in your life.

Step 4: Take control of the communication in your life.

Start to be selective about which calls you take. Do a little gate keeping. There are calls you can always take, sometimes take and never take. Sort the callers into groups and then apply the rules strictly. Your default position should be that the phone goes to voicemail. Doing this you can choose when to return calls. You get control back.

If you accept calls from people you don’t need to, you will end up wasting a great deal of time. When you waste time, you have less time to do the things that need to be done. This is a simple fact of life. We have voicemail for a reason. Use it.

Do the same with email. Some emails never need to be read, let alone responded to. Your time is precious. Recognize the fact and impose your rules.