Stress is a killer. It can negatively impact your career, your personal life and even your health. So, how can automating aspects of our day-to-day life help reduce our stress levels?
What is automation?
Automation is creating or applying technology that allows a process to be completed automatically – or with minimal human input.
Automation enables us to eliminate predictable or repetitive tasks that have previously been performed manually, saving a considerable amount of time throughout the day.
Great, but how does it reduce stress?
There are a variety of ways automation reduces your stress, a lot of it relates to personal circumstance and context, but ultimately it comes down to having one less thing to worry about and freeing up more time in the day to focus on what matters to you.
To begin, why not write down some of the things that stress you out, both work and life? You’ll be surprised what you can automate out of your mind for good.
To-do lists
If your mind currently looks like a giant to-do list, then stop spinning plates! Forget to remember and move them to a third party tool. Whether this is a task management platform, a simple to-do list app or even as simple as writing them down! Having a list of the tasks you want to complete will mean you’re less likely to forget it and increase the likelihood of completion.
Events
Got a busy schedule coming up? Stop trying to micromanage your time, use a calendar app such as Google Calendar to set reminders for important upcoming dates! Automation software even allows you to set up recurring reminders for regular events, to ensure you never miss a beat.
Managing payments
Whether you work in accounts, or you’re merely managing your bills – it can be tough to stay on top.
If you need to request payments from your clients, automate it! Automation tools allow you to chase your customers at particular intervals automatically, and they even generate your invoices and statements for you. Stop wasting time producing documentation when a machine can do it for you – spend more time doing what you love instead!
If you are struggling to keep on top of your regular payments, ensure you set up auto-payments and direct debits where you can.
Marketing and social media
Spending vast portions of your day manually posting to your business’ page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others?
Why not use centralised social media automation services such as Hootsuite or SocialPilot to manage all your content in one place?
Planning your content for the days ahead means you can also schedule your posts too, dramatically reducing admin time and giving you more time to prepare interesting content for your business.
Managing email and messaging services
As discussed in our article; the five secrets to email management, consider implementing automation methods, such as filters, autoresponders and templates.
You can even do this for SMS! On the latest episode of our Productivity Podcast, SwiftCase Developer, Phil, discusses how he sends a templated response to let his family know he is on his way home – saving time instead of sending the same message every day.
Ready to automate your workflows?
SwiftCase helps operations teams streamline their processes with powerful workflow automation, case management, and AI-powered communication tools.