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Learn How to Handle Stress

There’s no escaping it. The right kind can motivate and help us accomplish our goals. Too much and it weighs us down. Learning how to effectively deal with stress can literally add time to your life.

Start by changing the way you think. Stress is caused by how we perceive an event. You decide how you will feel.

Take responsibility. Don’t get stuck in the blame game. Working to uncover solutions will help you feel in control and moving forward.

Build a support system. Friends, family, clergymen, all of them can provide ears to listen and shoulders for crying. Sharing your worries and concerns lightens the load and can possibly help you look at things differently.

Get organized. If you are surrounded by clutter and don’t have a plan of action for your day that in itself adds stress, not to mention other tasks or situations with which you may be dealing. Make a to-do list in order of priority. Cross off a task as it is completed. Clean up your mess. Get rid of or trash what you don’t need. File or store items for future use.

Move. You don’t need to hit the gym to get your blood pumping. Dance, go for a walk, play with your children, whatever activity you choose, it will can make you feel better emotionally and physically.

Take a deep breath. Or better yet, make it several. If you are breathing deeply from your diaphragm it releases your stress and negative emotions. In addition, visualization and other relaxation techniques help you not only when you are doing them, but the effects continue throughout your day.

Take the time to have fun. Play, laugh, spend time with friends. Take to heart the saying, “All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy (or Jill a dull girl).”

Learn to say no. Not only say it to others, but to yourself. Know your limits and set reasonable goals.

Keep it positive. Stop that negative self-talk. Surround yourself with positive people. Place positive sayings where you will see them as a reminder to yourself.

Take care of yourself. Get plenty of regular sleep. Eat your fruits and veggies. Drink your water and eat treats in moderation. 

Control Your E-mail and Yourself

Are you managing your e-mail or is it managing you? With e-mail usage only increasing, make a plan for now to efficiently handle the communication onslaught.

Handle your e-mail the same way you would hard-copy items in your real world in-box. Sort through your e-mail and determine whether it should be tossed, filed or if it’s an item for your to-do list.

Follow these tips to use e-mail effectively, both the communications you receive and the ones you send:

1. Use e-mail only when the subject matter needs to be committed to print. Don’t use e-mail for chatting, networking or any of those other tasks that would be best completed in person.
    
2. Print copies of your e-mails for a more permanent record if necessary.
    
3. If you are sending an e-mail that must be error free, print it out and read it and have someone else read it before you hit that send button. It’s hard to proofread on the screen. Treat the e-mail like an old-fashioned paper document for the best results.
    
4. Don’t delete names from your virtual address books. You never know when you might need to reach that person again.
    
5. Never be a part of a chain e-mail. This practice is annoying and unprofessional.
    
6. If you write an e-mail when you’re tired or angry, don’t send it.
    
7. Never participate in rumor mongering about people in an e-mail. Chances are you’ll be sorry.
    
8. Ditto for rumor mongering about companies.
    
9. If you need to meet with someone face to face, don’t send an e-mail to that person instead.
    
10. Keep this order in mind when deciding how to communicate something: meeting first, phone call second, voice mail third and then, finally, the e-mail.
     
11. Use e-mail only when necessary. Remember your e-mail can be hacked into and its contents can be used against you.

— Adapted from the Harvard Business Review’s Working Knowledge newsletter