Eight out of Ten Fast Ways to Rapidly Reduce Your Stress

In today’s fast-paced society, more than just professionals and those of us with management jobs fall victim to the pain and suffering of life’s stresses. Today’s never-ending rat race can cause us to develop such fast-moving, impulsive, stress-filled lives that we often fail to achieve the success that would normally be ours under different circumstances.

It’s really hard to focus on reaching your greatest potential in life when you’re constantly stressed from putting out little fires. Over the past 30 years we’ve all become hyper-focused on success at any cost, which greatly increases our stress levels. Fortunately, learning a few life skills management tools can significantly reduce your stress and make you much more likely to reach satisfaction and success in life.

1. Get control of your future. Most of us avoid planning for the future, whether it’s just a week ahead or 20 years in advance. For some reason, admitting that we need to plan ahead can be stressful and anxiety provoking—it’s almost as if we think that if we have to plan, we’re not in control of our lives.

When we fail to plan, we essentially plan to fail. Then, when things start to fall apart in our lives, we feel overwhelmed, threatened, get anxious, and struggle to do things to decrease our mounting anxiety and stress. Unfortunately, we’re often not mentally and emotionally prepared to handle both the everyday facets of living and all the unexpected, unprepared, unplanned things that fall apart. When we panic, our adrenaline systems go into full throttle and cause even more stress and anxiety.
A wise man once said, “If you don’t know where you’re headed, then it really doesn’t matter how you get there!” Just having a road map by which to chart your course will decrease your daily stress tremendously.

2. Learn to say “no” gracefully. This is really a toughie as saying “no” tends to make you feel guilty (it’s almost as if you’ll cause disappointment or even personal harm if you don’t say “yes”), but if you learn to say “no” gracefully, then you won’t feel guilty, and less guilt means less stress. Next time, try this: “Sorry, but I had better decline your offer.” “I really won’t have the time to dedicate the effort you need to make your (event) a success.”

3. Set aside time every day to think about and solve your problems. It may only be 30 minutes at the end of the day, but quiet thinking is essential to problem solving and to your ability to cope with stress. Quiet surroundings allow you to get in touch with your higher executive brain functions, consider your life, and analyze problems. Find a sanctuary to ponder and explore your “self.” Each of us needs a place where we feel safe and secure enough to be by ourselves and think through all the things in life that are really important to us. You’ll be surprised how easily solutions pop into your head when you’re able to dedicate all your mental abilities to the task.

4. Control technological demands on your life, and don’t let technology dictate your time schedule. Do you feel compelled to answer e-mail as soon as possible? You’re not alone—most of us get anxious or feel guilty if we don’t answer those e-mails right away. You must be the master of any technology, or you become its slave. Would you visit the post office ten times a day to get your mail? No? So, what is the worst that could happen if you don’t check your e-mail five times tomorrow?

5. Learn to accept mistakes. Some of us live in fear of making a mistake, whether big or little. It’s not just the fear of failure that ties up our brainpower and concentration abilities; it’s also knowing that we will mentally punish ourselves if we do make a mistake. Once you learn that it’s okay to make little mistakes, you’ll learn to deal with big mistakes without beating yourself to death. After all, if you never fall down while learning to walk, you’ll never learn how to pick yourself up. We all learn from our mistakes and would fail to mature as adults if we were never allowed to make them. Some behavioral scientists think that we should be teaching our kids to make mistakes at an early age so that they can learn what we have missed. A mistake is an opportunity to do better.

6. Be positive with yourself. Accept praise gracefully and honestly, and deal with criticism the same way. Most of us tend to downplay our strengths and overexaggerate our weaknesses. Doing so causes a mental conflict with our self-esteem and decreases our ability to concentrate on what is really important in life. How often do you reject or downplay a genuine compliment given to you by a friend, only to later beat yourself to death over a small, insignificant failure? You, too, can be a success in life, no matter who you are, but if you think you’re not worthy of success, then you’re probably right.

7. Ask for help when you need it. You are not admitting defeat or inadequate if you ask others for help. Asking for help is truly just as human and natural as any other basic survival trait. How often have you offered to help someone that you know needs help? How good did it make you feel when you were able to help? Does that mean you don’t want someone else to feel good when they help you? When you wait until you’re overwhelmed and struggling to keep your head above water, asking for help can be very damaging to your ego and self-esteem. It’s far better to ask for help earlier rather than later.

8. Learn to have fun. Most of us are under the erroneous belief that we are obligated to make sure others have fun before we’re allowed to enjoy ourselves. That’s emotional garbage! If you want to be successful in life, you have to experience emotional, mental, and physical recreation on a regular basis. You can’t do a good job for yourself or for others if you can’t learn to have fun without all the guilt of not including everybody else. Recreation is a condensed “Old World” word meaning to “re-create”—go out and “re-create” yourself. Watch your stress levels drop and your focus toward success become clearer.

** This article is one of 101 great articles that were published in 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life. To get complete details on “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life”, visit http://www.selfgrowth.com/greatways.html