
74 brilliant stress management
OATS
OATS stands for:
Outcomes
Activities
Time
Schedule
It sets out, in sequence, the four steps in planning how to use
your time effectively. Some people will ask: ‘When should I get my
OATS?’ Well, if you ever have trouble sleeping at night because
the things you need to do tomorrow are buzzing around in your
head, then you should get your OATS before you go to bed.
Otherwise, it is equally effective to do it in the morning, before
you start your day’s activities.
The next four sections of this chapter describe each of the
steps in turn. Then we will turn to three of the commonest
stress-inducing time management ...