Sometime Now

What do we all have in common with our fellow workers?We each have exactly 86,400 seconds credit in our time bank account at the beginning of each and every day. We have no more and no less in our accounts than the person that you know that always appears to be in control, gets enough sleep each night, takes a walk in the park each lunch time, goes home on time etc.

So what are you doing differently that means that you always seem to be pushing late hours, skipping lunch, feeling tetchy, tired etc. to meet deadlines?

Here are my ten top tips for you to mull over in the rare spare moments between crises.

Manage Time.

Every task is important but is every task urgent?

I once worked for a manger that had an open door policy where he was approachable between regular team meetings. This policy was based on his philosophy that anything that I needed to bring to him for discussion was important to me. However, he always asked me to test out the urgency of the topic. If a problem needs to be solved does it need to be solved now or can a discussion wait till a more appropriate time.

The same applies to work loads both personal and business.

Work smart and prioritise

Delegate

How many of you find it hard to let go and delegate tasks to others? Delegation is not another word for abdication; it is more one of trusting others to apply their skills to a task. By all means keep a watching brief on the way that the task is being carried out but interference is not necessary unless you can “Genuinely” see a potential disaster looming.

As the level of trust builds then less watching is needed.

It is the same with children, some parents get stressed and find it difficult to let go and allow their grown up kids to live their own lives.

Delegation frees up more of your time for those important tasks.

Dispel Guilt

If a deadline is likely to be missed, the first priority should be to analyse the potential consequences.

Ask yourself, what will be gained by working longer (sometime all night) hours to achieve a deadline that could easily be slipped by a day or two. This can be a point where tactful negotiations with your client are required. Whatever you do, avoid the trap of feeling guilty about an occasional missed deadline. Guilt or as it can be known, beating yourself up mentally, can lead to a downward spiral of stress related illness. Once down, you may find that you are missing more and more deadlines.

Guilt over things that are out of your control leads to high levels of stress.

The Anger Pool

A related topic is what I call the anger pool. Becoming angry with others and/or yourself will inevitably lead to your own ill health. Of course, if you are so inclined, your illness will give you a perfect opportunity to get angry with those that have caused your illness, including yourself. Keep an eye on my Blog as I will be posting more articles about how to avoid the anger pool.

Once in the anger pool, it is difficult to see a way out.

Unhealthy Habits

Fast food, excessive alcohol, smoking, caffeine etc are all listed by the medical professionals as side effects of increased stress. I would go further and say that they are part of a cause and effect cycle related to stress and other illnesses.

Drink lots of water during the day. Take a salad or a home made sandwich into the office along with a couple of pieces of fruit. I personally find apples are a bonus food to have mid morning as they are low on the glycaemic index (GI) scale and therefore release sugar into the blood stream slowly and over a much longer period than a biscuit or a chocolate bar from the snack machine. Talk to your doctor or complimentary health practitioner to find what help is available in your area to break these and other adictive habits.

Often hunger feelings are actually the body crying out for water.

Walk

Walking can be very beneficial for stress prevention. It not only gets you away from work it is one of the most cost effective form of exercise for most of us. You do not need to join any society, gym, or group to get started. Walk to your next meeting; take the stairs and not the lift, walk to the shop for your morning paper, get off the bus one stop earlier than normal and walk the rest of the way. A brisk walk can help clear the mind of all the mental clutter that has accumulated since the last walk. What better way to unwind than a brisk walk round the block after a meal. Personally, I enjoy a walk along my local canal tow path trying to spot different forms of wildlife that use the area as a habitat. I refer to this kind of walk as a medicine walk.

Walking is one of the cheapest forms of exercise which also can help clear mental clutter form the mind and reduce stress.

Get a Hobby but Avoid watching Goldfish

A hobby of any sort can be most therapeutic and help you to create a relaxed mind by taking you away from the pressures and stresses of work. Sometimes, hobbies can lead onto a change in business/work direction. However the ones that I am thinking of include the more tactile hobbies; painting, pottery, woodworking, gardening, walking, brass rubbing, sailing, wind surfing, rock climbing, the list is endless. All of these take you away from everyday pressures and help to focus the mind on alternatives. Imagine the thrill of producing a masterpiece oil painting and you will see what I mean. I once heard a song relating to walking, one line of which was “I may be a wage slave on Monday but I am a free man on Sunday”

Hobbies that take you into a different state of mind can be beneficial in preventing stress.

Charity Work

It is said that people that work alone either as sole traders, one person departments, drivers etc suffer form stress brought on by loneliness. One way round this is voluntary or charity work. A friend of mine often talks about how he volunteered to work in his local hospice. What a leveller that must have been for him as, at the time, he was going through the stress of loosing his business and being declared bankrupt.

If you are in the sole worker situation, working in a charity shop for a few hours per week can ensure that you maintain social contact.

Helping others through charity work is a great leveller and can lead to a feeling of satisfaction that can counterbalance stress.

Still The Mind through self  relaxation

Relaxation of the mind and the body is a wide topic and is covered in many popular books. I refer to the process as deep relaxation leading to more self awareness. When the mind is relaxed, it is able to cope with the situations that are causing you stress and can often bring forth “Light bulb” moments where alternative solutions appear.  Contact me for details of self relaxation courses for both individuals and groups.

A relaxed mind is a receptive mind, clear out the mental clutter now.

Yoga Classes

I am a great fan of Kundalini Yoga which is not the stereotypical “Bendy Wendy” Yoga of the cartoons. Once per week I attend a 90 minute session at my local village hall. After the session which incorporates meditation and relaxation as well as a set of gentle exercises, I find my mind and body relaxed. Try it and find a teacher near you.

Yoga is a great way to flex the mind and release the stresses and strains of the body.

If you want learn more about Stress Prevention or any other services that I offer, feel free to email me info@sometimenow.co.uk or you can Tweet me @Sometime_Now.

As always, all enquiries will be treated with the strictest confidence.