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Here’s how to manage stress effectively

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Life today is pretty stressful. You don’t need me to tell you that. Many of the most serious health complaints people face today – like high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, anxiety and depression – are oftentimes stress related.

An effective way of dealing with stress is to practice the “4 A’s” of stress management.

These stand for:

  • Avoid
  • Alter
  • Adapt
  • Accept

 

Let’s go through these one at a time.

Avoid unnecessary stress. Sometimes this is simple, sometimes not, but you can often avoid unnecessary stress just by learning to say “no” in certain situations, or avoiding people who stress you out. While it’s not healthy to avoid a stressful situation that needs addressing, you may be surprised by the number of stressful things that you can eliminate from your life.

Alter the situation. When you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. This may involve changing the way you communicate and operate in your daily life. This might mean having to compromise when doing something and accepting that you’re not going to get exactly what you want from the situation, or being more assertive and communicating your concerns to (or about) others in an open and respectful way.

Adapt to the stressor. If you can’t change or eliminate the source of stress, then change yourself. By changing your expectations and attitude, you can better adapt to stressful situations and regain your sense of control. If a person is stressing you out, try to avoid them as much as possible.

Accept the things you can’t change. Finally, you just have to accept that many things in life are simply beyond our control. Serious illness, bad weather, a recession or pandemic etc. are things we have to learn to live with – and that’s just the way life is. If your own poor choices have placed you in a stressful situation that you can’t get out of, learn from your mistakes and move on.


PS. There’s still time to grab a copy of my chaos to calm Course. Here’s the link:

 

 

Time to get SMART

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A good way to bring calmness out of chaos is to set goals. I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times before, but it’s true. After all, if you don’t know what you want, how will you know when you’ve got it?

When you set goals, you should make sure they are SMART goals. This term was first proposed by George T. Doran in the November 1981 issue of Management Review.

The acronym stands for…

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-Bound

Let’s go through these one at a time.

Specific: You should have a good idea of what the goal is. Know what you want to achieve.

Measurable: Have a way of tracking your progress. This can give you an incentive to stay on track as well as a way to stay motivated.

Achievable: Can you accomplish this goal? Is it realistic? If the answer is “no”, don’t waste your time. Move on to something else instead.

Relevant: Does your goal fit in to the bigger picture? Is it in line with other objectives or will it be a distraction? Your goal should be in alignment with other objectives.

Time-bound: Providing a deadline for completing a goal sets it in focus and helps to avoid procrastination. Make sure the deadline is realistic, however.

You can set SMART goals for a specific project, for a business in general, or for your life and what you want to make of it – either in the long or short term.

When deciding on how to achieve your goals, it’s a good idea to start with the result you want, and then work backwards to now. That way, you can define each step you need to take, and will know what is necessary to get the desired outcome before you even start to work towards it.

 

PS. Your copy of my Course to going from chaos to calm is waiting for you here: 

 

Is your life out of balance?

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Your workflow gets interrupted and you end up accomplishing less, or your relaxation gets disturbed and your thoughts turn to work instead of something more enjoyable.

If you work from home, have a dedicated area to work from. Turn your spare bedroom into a dedicated home office. That way, when your work time is through, you can just close the door and leave work behind just like you would if you were commuting.

If you don’t have the space to do that, then have a dedicated area that you work from. This can be a corner of your bedroom or even a closet you can shut the doors on at the end of the working day. Avoid areas other people use (like your kitchen), as it’s best to have somewhere that just you use for work. Set regular working hours and stick to them. It’s also a good idea to have separate “home”and “work” phone numbers. That way, when a client tries to call you at 10pm to discuss a project, the call can go straight through to voicemail.

If you work for an employer, don’t do work on your own time. If the company wants you to run an errand on your way home, tell them you expect to be paid for the time. Don’t answer work e-mails on your own time, and set a different ringtone on your cellphone for your boss’s number.

PS. There are lot more tips in my chaos to calm Course. Grab your copy here: 

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