Stress can have a devastating effect on your life. Most of us will experience a degree of stress from time to time. Over a very short period of time, it is not very harmful but if you do not take control of it, you may eventually find yourself struggling in your job, struggling in your relationships and suffering some serious health consequences. Like most illnesses, the best way to control stress is to avoid it. By taking the time to organise and design your life in a manner which works, you can keep on top of the demands in your life and avoid stress.
When you design your life to avoid stress, you actually design your life in a manner which will allow you to perform to your highest standard and, get the best possible results. Sadly, there is an old attitude in many workplaces where attempts to avoid stress are seen as attempts to avoid hard work. However, effective work is not about getting more work done, it is about getting the right work done and, by making that the focus of your efforts; you can achieve more success as you experience less stress.
Tips to design your life to avoid stress
By implementing the following tips, you will be able to design your life in a manner which allows you to get the important work done while you avoid stress.
1. Recognise when you are struggling to cope
Sadly, there is an old myth that tells us that there is such a thing as good stress. This is a misunderstanding. What most people describe as good stress is actually pressure. Pressure comes from the demands and expectations that you, and others, place upon you. In the right amounts, pressure challenges you and helps you to improve.
I once heard stress jokingly referred to as:
The psychological and physiological consequences of resisting the urge to choke somebody who really deserves it.
While that may be a little dramatic, it does emphasise the point that stress occurs at the point where you no longer feel that you can cope with the pressure. It is not about whether you can actually cope but whether you believe that you can cope. Once you cross that line from pressure to stress, you begin to experience physiological and psychological consequences which, if prolonged, lead to serious problems. The first step to avoid stress is to recognise your own limitations. Understand when the pressures and the demands are too much and take corrective action.
2. Recognise when you have crossed the line
Even with the best made plans, there will be times when you fail to notice stress creeping up on you. Before you know it, you become stressed. A very short period of stress is unlikely to cause any lasting problems but you want to get back on the right side of the line as quickly as possible. To do this, you need to recognise the symptoms of stress. There are many different symptoms which can be a clear sign that you are experiencing stress. The following articles will help you to familiarise yourself with the symptoms:
- Behavioural symptoms of stress
- Psychological symptoms of stress
- Physical symptoms of stress
- Emotional symptoms of stress
3. Identify the causes
Like any negative experience, you want to learn from stress and identify any actions you can take which will help you to avoid a reoccurrence of the situation. Whenever you feel stressed, or notice the onset of one of the symptoms of stress, record the details of the situation, e.g.:
- Where were you?
- What was happening?
- Who else was there?
- How did you feel?
- Why did you feel this way?
Record every detail that you can think of. Over time, you will start to notice a pattern e.g. when a particular event occurs, I feel this way. You would then know what the stimulus is and that you need to take some corrective action to deal with it. To help you, you will find a list of potential stressors here.
4. Get organised
As mentioned previously, stress occurs when you feel that you can no longer cope. In many of the cases where you feel that you cannot cope with the demands placed upon you; you probably could cope but you are not organised enough to do so. Being organised is about having a productivity system which allows you to stay on top of all of the commitments that you have made. By taking the time to improve your productivity, you will be able to improve on the quality and quantity of work that you get done. You will also be better able to avoid making commitments that you cannot keep and, you will identify situations where you cannot keep a commitment; allowing you renegotiate that commitment at the earliest opportunity.
To make lasting improvements to your productivity, check out The Organised Mind.
5. Boost your resilience
Resilience is your ability to cope with the demands and pressures placed upon you. When you are more resilient, you are able to deal with increased pressures and setbacks. For example, when things go wrong, you are less likely to get down about it and, more likely to start searching for a way to rectify the situation. Resilient people do also have experiences; they just deal with them better and bounce back quicker.
Resilience is not just about coping with adversity. One of the most important aspects of resilience is your lifestyle. When you make positive changes to your lifestyle, you will automatically boost your resilience. When you take action to boost your resilience, you improve your physical and mental wellbeing which allows you to gain more enjoyment from life.
Learn more about resilience.
6. Enjoy a balanced life
There is a modern tendency, particularly among entrepreneurs and managers to become completely absorbed by one area of their life e.g. career. They only set goals for this one area of their life and, in some cases they achieve some amazing things. But, happiness and fulfilment do not come solely from one area of life. They come from a well balanced life.
Think about it for a moment; if you are focusing solely on one area of your life, how many important things are you ignoring e.g. if you spend all of your time and energy on your career, where do your family fit in? If you neglect, somebody or something for long enough, you will begin to experience problems and, problems soon become stress; if they are not dealt with. You can avoid having to deal with these problems and, enjoy more happiness, fulfilment and health, just by taking the time to enjoy, appreciate and set goals for each of the important areas of your life. When you live a properly balanced life you will avoid stress and experience a level of happiness and contentment which you had never thought possible.
To learn how to design your entire life in a manner which minimises stress, check out Stress Free Living.
Stress can be a source of great pain and suffering in your life, if you let it spiral out of control. The best way to avoid stress and avoid unnecessary suffering is to take measures to prevent stress from occurring. You cannot always avoid stress but when it occurs, you can take corrective action to get yourself back to a good place. And, you can make sure that you learn from the experience. When you learn from a stressful experience you get the opportunity to make changes which will prevent the situation from reoccurring. In the medium to long-term, you can create a balanced life, where you are better organised and able to cope with setbacks and difficulties. By taking this approach you will find it easier to avoid stress while improving your performance and achieving better results.