Five Secrets to Managing Stress

By Byron Pulsifer

There is no doubt that we all lead a hectic life no matter where you live, or what you do for employment. There is some stress associated with every job and we are all eager to learn ways to help us cope. After many, many years of working in a corporate culture, I’ve found my own five simple yet, to me, effective secrets to managing stress in a work environment.

First of all; stay organized. Sound simple? It is, but a lot of people don’t do it. So, what does this first simple secret tell you to do? In a nutshell, it tells you that clutter and chaos can create stress for you because you are not able to organize your work so you get done what you need to get done. It tells you that when you are organized, you aren’t just putting in time; you are accomplishing the things that are required. In other words, you are using your available time efficiently not just effectively. It tells you that you need to set priorities and tackle the tough, high priority items first, not last. A simple example is the dreaded email. It’s easy to get caught up in answering every email, or checking your email every few minutes instead of completing the priority tasks at hand.

Second, learn to delegate. This may not apply to you now, but it could. This means that you give work to someone else to complete; it could be a team member, or a subordinate member of your team. Why is learning to delegate a secret? Well, for many people, they can’t let go of the reins. Some feel that if they let someone else complete a task instead of doing it themselves, they will lose control, or won’t be seen as valuable. These kinds of people always seem to spend more time making sure the task assigned is being accomplished rather than spending their valuable time doing what they need to do. Failure to delegate, and, even worse, failure to let go of the control handle, will serve only to increase your stress levels because you are trying to do more than you have energy or time to do.

Third, get proper rest. Sounds like a common sense thing to do; right? But, how many of us have burned the evening oil right up to bedtime. When we go straight from work issues and try to sleep, the mind is still engaged in drive when it should be in park. All those issues of work keep surging through our mind so we have a problem getting to sleep. So, if you need to work late into the evening, I’d suggest doing what I did. I stopped working on anything at least two hours before my usual bedtime. In this way, I was able to do other things; be that spending a relaxing hour engaged in a favorite hobby, reading a book, or even watching what I call a mindless TV show. And, if you still need to spend more time on your work, get up an hour earlier after a good night’s sleep.

Fourth, exercise. It’s been talked about for years in that regular exercise helps to dissipate stress. Get the old body moving; take a brisk walk; work out for an hour at the gym; use that exercise bike instead of using it for a dust collector, or depending on the time of year, go for a swim, play an outside game where you exert some physical energy (assuming your health permits this).

Five, learn to say no. Here’s a good one. For too many of us, we are afraid to say no to that request to take on an additional responsibility of a task before we are ready; this includes those volunteer organizations you might belong to, or going to that evening get together when you know you are already worn out. Saying no, for some people, seems to be akin to admitting that you’ve got enough on your plate, or that if you don’t take on more you will be preserved as the weak link.

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