Game-Changing Tactics to Help you with Stress Management

If you Google Stress Management youwill find 611,000,000+ results, and over 94,700,000+ references to research papers on the topic. I am often asked for tips on managing stress in the workplace – where, oh where do you start…

Periods of stress occur in high pressure situations – when deadlines are looming, there is a lack of resources, staff morale is low, during company takeovers, and the list goes on and on. Individuals feel the effects of stress when they do not feel fulfilled or appreciated in their job, are not being authentic in their professional role, feel disconnected from personal priorities, or are suffering from complete exhaustion and burnout.

Try these eight tactics to help manage your stress:

1. Awareness = Reflection Time What is working? What is not working? What can you implement to improve what is not working? Reflection helps you work out discrepancies between what is important to you and how you spend your time.

2. Energy Management – Mental, Emotional and Physical Working longer and harder will not make your job easier. Getting less sleep, not eating well, and not exercising will not help reduce your stress levels nor improve your job performance or productivity. Here are a few strategies for managing and maximizing your energy:

• Monitor your energy levels and be cognizant of how you are feeling – it will make a huge difference to your productivity, satisfaction on the job and interactions with others.
• Set aside time daily to work on high priority tasks, assign designated times for email and returning calls, and try batching similar tasks for greater productivity.
• Take brief and regular breaks away from your desk.
• Eat well and try to have small meals or snacks every three hours, integrate cardiovascular exercise into your schedule and protect your sleep.
• Express your gratitude for a task well done, remember to smile and don’t take yourself too seriously – it is okay to have a good laugh.

3. Leadership Learning Never Ends Schedule time to learn. It can be as simple as reading for 15 minutes per day on a professional development topic that will assist you in your position. Knowledge and skill improvement through reading, coaching, training or a mastermind is recommended. Utilize and effectively maximize your systems and tools to manage your time, projects and client records.

4. Manage Yourself Know what you are good at (not just what you think you are good at) and which of your strengths are the most valuable – then operate from your places of strength. Performance cannot be improved from focusing on weaknesses. Know your values and stand by them. Understand how you work with others, how you are perceived and what you could do to improve your professional relationships. Know the type of work environment that you thrive in and can make the greatest contribution.

5. Morning, Afternoon and Weekend Planning Routines Try to not look at your phone, email or social media for the first two hours of the day. Set aside time every day to work on your top three priorities and stick to it. At the end of the day, prioritize tasks for the next. Evaluate progress at the end of each week and plan for the next.

6. Move from Complexity to Ease Stop multitasking – it is not effective. Tackle one thing at a time and make sure that what you do has the greatest impact and return on your time investment. Keep it simple – one thing at a time.

7. Resilience – Break Down the Complex Your professional and personal lives are complex, and unexpected challenges do occur. Resilience is built and can be developed. It helps how you assess, react and cope when the unexpected occurs. Think rationally about what needs to be done, be mindful and improvise when needed.

8. Take Charge of Your Schedule – Take Conscious Action Now It is okay to say no, or advise when something does not work for you in your schedule. Do not allow your email, social media, or constant meeting requests to take over your day. Design your week to work for you, focus on your goals and act with intention.

I would love to hear from you on any other Game Changing Stress-Reducing Tactics  you use and that have been a game changer for you. I will be giving away three $15 Starbucks cards – so please do participate for some Java energy. I will be using Google’s Random Number Generator to pull three submissions. Please have in your response by Friday, November 23^rd, 2018. I will announce the winners on Monday, November 26^th, 2018.

Please click on the button below to complete the following two questions:

1. What stress-reducing, game changing tactics do you utilize? How have they made a difference?
2. If you could work on one area in your professional life to reduce stress, what would it be?