Wanted to share something I keep re-learning.  

My wife used to come home stressed out from work all the time.  She would always say “There’s not enough hours in the day to get all the work done I need to do”.  This is code for you have more work than you could handle that day/week.  This should not stress people out, but it does all the time.

On occasion I stress out for the same reason.  Too much to do and not enough time.  In my experience this usually leads to a terrible day.

What I ask my wife and myself in these situations is “Are there any babies dying because your work didn’t get done today?”.  The follow up question to that is “Will the world or the company you work for continue to function if you got hit by a bus today?”.  If no babies are dying and the company will continue without you then you’re ok.  Don’t worry about what’s out of your control.  You’ll make it up on the weekend or next week.

I encourage everyone to ask themselves these questions when they feel stressed.  In my case the result is night and day.  Everything slows down, and I become focused and unstressed.  This usually leads to a much more productive day.  Not everything gets done, but I tend to plow through a ton of work in a short period of time.  Isn’t that much more productive?