10 Ways To Eliminate Stress Once And For All

Do you remember a time when you were mellow and mild mannered? A time when you had plenty of energy and lots of time to do what you want to do?

Does it seem like a distant memory? If you find yourself getting tetchy with the wife and kids, waking in the night fretting over a work project, or find the staff at the McDonalds drive thru greet you by name because you never have time to eat properly, you are probably suffering from stress.

Stress is characterised by irritability, headache, tense muscles, dodgy stomach, insomnia, anxiety, lack of motivation, and at its worst can lead to depression.

So follow these 10 tips to help you eliminate stress once and for all.

1. Prioritise Your Workload

A ridiculously long to-do list is overwhelming and it’s probable that you will fail to complete anything well if you can’t stop thinking about the next thing looking over you.

Setting priorities will help you feel more in control. Tackle the easy things with big impact first as these will give you a good sense of achievement when they’re completed. Then figure out the deadlines for the remaining tasks and plan what you will do when – and do your utmost to not get side tracked from the plan.

2. Speak To Your Boss

If you’re the kind of person who buckles down and gets a good job done, your boss will give you extra work because they think you can cope. But at times you simply can’t – there are not enough hours in the day. So speak to your boss, be honest and explain the limits of your capacity.

It’s highly likely that they’ve been amazed at your productivity so far and will be more than willing to ease off adding to your current workload.

3. Delegate Work

When the sheer amount of work you have is overwhelming you, and you see Steve in the Operations department playing solitaire on the computer every time you walk by, it’s time to delegate. If you can delegate tasks to colleagues or subordinates directly than do so – yes you may have to explain a few things, but let them get on with it in their own way and see how they do.

If you have no one to delegate to officially, back to the boss to ask him/her to allocate some of your workload to others.

4. Keep Work At Work

If your contract is for a 9 to 5 job, stop checking your work emails when you’re at home. If you get a late night email requesting an urgent response it could cause stress and make you feel obliged to answer immediately. However consider:

a) if it can wait until the morning. ANSWER – yes

b) what are the implications if you don’t respond straightaway. ANSWER – there are none. Everyone else is relaxing in front of the TV

In future when you leave the office, don’t check your work emails. At all. Follow the French “right to disconnect” way of things.

5. Plan Relaxing Evenings

Once you’ve asserted your right to disconnect, use your evenings to relax. And that doesn’t mean flopping in front of mindless TV series with a glass of wine / brandy / beer to hand. Find a great film you’ve been meaning to watch, and watch it. Dig out the book you’ve not even started and get stuck in. Even introduce your kids to some of your favourite board / card games and see if you can wean them off their tablet / mobile phone / PlayStation to enjoy life the old fashioned way.

6. Get Out At The Weekend

A de-stressing weekend does not involve housework, DIY or car maintenance. Forgo those “treats” for once and get out of the house, with family, friends or alone. Go for a brisk walk in the woods / up the hills / on the beach. Take your husband / wife to that cute cafe you used to meet for coffee when you first started dating. Go to the cinema, visit museums or stately homes, organise a 2 night camping break… to really reduce your stress levels you need to start to enjoy all that life has to offer you outside the workplace.

7. Plan A Holiday In The Sun

Or in the snow, or on a cruise – it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you are planning something you can really look forward to. Something that will become a reward you all the hard work you do on a daily basis – and something that will inspire you when you’re feeling a little low.

8. More Me Time

Oh that’s a little self- indulgent, you may think. But you’d be wrong. People who have a great work / life balance have something else that they enjoy alone. It could be gym workouts, yoga classes or other fitness activities. It could be booking a spa day a month. It could be going shopping alone, free to visit the shops you want rather than the toy shops your kids prefer.

Whatever it is, make sure you allocate a little more “me time” in your life.

9. Avoid Stressed Folk

There’s nothing worse than meeting up with someone who is more stressed than you are. They will continually ask for your opinions on their (bad) choices, for reassurance and for help with all manner of weird schemes they believe will sort their life out once and for all.

Don’t get sucked in. Their hyper, negative vibes will soon start to get under your skin. And The end result will make you feel more frazzled than ever. Unfortunately you’ll need to give these friends a wide berth while you are trying to de-stress and re-balance yourself.

10. Learn To Go With The Flow

Perhaps the biggest challenge for one who is so stressed. But remember many of life’s events are out of your control, so you need to learn to go with the flow. Slow checkout till? Count to 10, think of the nice holiday you have planned and de-stress. Caught in a traffic jam? Put on your favourite CD, enjoy the music and revel in the fact that you are not holed up in the office with your co-workers!

If you can follow these 10 tips, and follow them regularly, you will find that you eliminate stress once and for all – and your life will be all the better for it.