Five Easy Stress Management Techniques
In my years as a consultant and management expert, I have often given (and needed!) advice about stress management, and I can certainly say that stress is a fascinating subject. It's at the crossroads of psychology, sociology, economics and even yoga.
Given the wealth of information out there in the world regarding this topic and its complexity, I am sure you have tried several stress management techniques on your own, and that’s good! Being self-aware of your stress levels is the first step towards effective stress management, so if you are concerned about your health and well-being and are looking to try new techniques, you came to the right place. In this blog, post I will share with you the five stress management techniques that work best for me, and hopefully they can help you too!
1. Buffering: relax when it’s hardest
One of the most effective stress management techniques is what I call buffering. You can’t — I mean, you shouldn’t — expect yourself to go on when you’re having a full-blown panic attack. The same happens with a peak of stress. Try to make a mental note of relaxing and meditating (or axe throwing! whatever you do to relax) both before and after the thing that stresses you the most.
Stressing circumstances come and go, and pretending that they don’t… doesn’t help. You can’t pretend bad things haven’t happened or won’t happen in the future, but you can prevent stress that comes from some parts of your life that are overflowing too much into others by leaving space around them. That’s stress management too. Leave some space between your daily activities to take a break and put into practice some relaxing techniques in a private, quiet space. This will help you to be more at ease as you transition from activity to activity, and separate the different areas of your life.
2. Narrow your focus and take one small step
One of the most basic lessons on stress management can be found in the classic Momo, from Michael Ende. It’s a scene with Beppo, a road sweeper, and it goes like this:
“Step, breathe, sweep, breathe, step, breathe, sweep (…) You must never think of the whole street at once, understand? You must only concentrate on the next step, the next breathe, the next stroke of the broom, and the next, and the next. Nothing else.”
—Momo, Michael Ende (read the rest of the scene here: http://doula4you.ch/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BEPPO-egl..pdf).
Even if you feel you’re stuck like a Roomba in a hallway, breath in deep and try to take a small step. That will take you to the next breath, and the next breath will take you to the next step.
3. Your loved ones are not your maintenance technicians
I mentioned in a previous post that even if you were a robot you would need maintenance. But to manage your stress both at home and at work, you should not make your partner your maintenance technician. That’s your responsibility, and you should take care of it.
Of course, our loved ones are our first line of defence when things get tough elsewhere. Yet before stress becomes chronic (or even after that), a systematic approach will help you. That way you will be able to deal with your work stress. And that, in turn, will help you to keep your home stress-free place for all of you.
Many jobs are emotional drains and we get home wanting to be held and pampered. That’s reasonable, but make sure that you do your part in getting your stress out of your system: get food you like, a professional massage, exercise (run, lift or hit things at the gym, you know what works for you). Try to get at home as whole as you can. Do not expect to always unload your burden on your partner or family — maybe they need help too.
4. Plan your energy use
Do you have a night rate for your electricity at home? Many people save on their energy costs by planing when they will use the most energy-draining appliances. It’s not a bad idea to do this with your own energy.
Many people plan their day according to the size of the time slots they have available: an hour here, half an hour there. However, not all tasks are created equal.
Maybe when the time comes you find it hard to do what you had planned. Have you considered the energy costs of each item in your to-do list? Manage your stress by alternating easy/hard or relaxing/stressing tasks in a way that works for you. Some productivity apps (like the now sadly defunct Hightrack https://applicantes.com/hightrack-app-productividad-cierre/) can help you sort your tasks both by time and by required energy. Allow yourself some mental space after a stressing task by following it up with some “easy success” ones.
5. Be a good boss — for you
A good boss chooses the right person for the right job and provides them with the right resources. Are you a good boss for yourself?
Maybe you’re overloading your schedule, trying to do more than you can do. Sometimes, when you’re feeling overloaded you are actually overloaded. And then the only way to go forward is to use the good old 4Ds: delete, delegate, defer, do (check: http://onelifebywan.com/4ds/).
Compile a list of everything that is overloading your mind, prioritise, delegate, leave for later, and then finally get to the key thing that only you can do right now. That’s the thing you can do today, and after that, it’s out of your hands.
Had you tried some of these techniques for stress management before? What is the technique that works best for you? Feel free to try them and share your experience of putting them into practice in the comments below!
