• Live each day.  Take one day at a time.  Worrying about tomorrow, next week, or a month from now is information overload for anyone.  A lot can happen between now and then, even if you have a legitimate concern.  Take on today’s concerns first.
• What is the worst that can happen?  Ask yourself this question … and be rational about your answers. Write them down and ask yourself if they are legitimate.  Prepare yourself mentally for the outcomes that can truly happen.
• See if there is a way to lessen the severity of the worst.  An example might be an outdoor party you are planning and you are worried about the weather that day.  Can you make sure you have a clear backup plan, maybe a shelter or rain date?  If you lessen the worst that can happen, you are on your way to worrying about it less or not at all.
• Keep a list of what worrying does to your health.  What does this added stress do to your body?  How does it make you feel?
  These are reminders that will help you give yourself momentum to solve these problems head-on.  Would you rather sit and worry about the problem or try to do something about it and feel better?

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Worrying can cause us to second-guess ourselves and mull over every decision.  It can be a curse, causing us to overanalyze everything we do and say. Worrying keeps all our issues at the forefront.  We worry about what others might be thinking and saying.  We worry about every social situation, and rerun in our mind what happened and what was said to make sure we said and did the right things — which can be absolutely exhausting.  When we are not worrying, we feel out of control. Most worriers do not like surprises either.  Stopping excessive worrying is not easy, but the key is to actively try to combat it.

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• Keep a daily activity log.  At the end of the work day, you often wonder where it went.  Keeping a log of what you did that day and how long the tasks took is a great way to work more efficiently.  After you discover what takes up most of your time, you can work to streamline those processes.  You will also discover “wasted” time — time that could be better spent doing other things.
• Set daily goals.  Make sure your goals are realistic.  You shouldn’t try to fill the entire day, since new issues always come up.  It will feel good to cross off your tasks when you have completed them, and the record of your accomplishments will be a good source of information when you have a job review.
• Try to meet or exceed expectations.  You should always know what is expected of you.  If you don’t, you need to find out … and then make sure to do good quality work.  But exceeding expectations does not mean taking your work home with you.  Your boss will think you can handle a larger workload than you should, which will only lead to burnout. 
• Eliminate interruptions where you can.  Eliminating interruptions is probably the best way to make you more efficient throughout your work day.  The biggest interruption is usually the phone, so set aside some time during the day to make your phone calls.  If your query is not urgent, send an email instead. You will probably get an email response, eliminating the interruption of another phone call.  Also set aside time to answer emails.  Remember, you do not have to answer every email or voicemail message the minute you receive it. 

  The book Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister discusses “flow”: the state of being totally focused on the work at hand.  You become unaware of the passage of time, and work seems almost effortless.  Noise and interruptions are the enemy of flow.  It takes 15 minutes to get into a state of flow, and with each new interruption it takes another 15 minutes to get immersed again.

• Do not take on other people’s problems.  Taking on problems that are not your own will ruin your daily goals.  Even if you know you can fix the problem or issue, it’s best to give advice instead of doing the task yourself.  Becoming a “jack of all trades” at your workplace is a sure way to get none of your own work completed.  Once people discover you will help them and do their tasks for them when there are problems, they may become dependent on you.  Also, word will travel quickly and people you may not even know will be asking for your help.  Try to help where you can to be a “team player,” but keep it to advice.
• If your job is becoming too much for you, tell someone.  It can be difficult to accept that a job is too much for you.  No one wants to seem incapable.  Many jobs start out simple, but the longer you do them, the more is expected of you both in quantity and responsibility.  Eventually it becomes too much and you either have to produce lower quality work, fall behind, or work extra hours to keep up.  The best way to combat this trend is to keep a log of what is expected of you.  Highlight the new responsibilities that have been added in the past three to six months and log how long tasks take to complete, so your work day is accounted for.  Your boss may not realize how long it takes to complete certain assignments, and won’t know there is a problem unless you say something.  It is best to let your problems be known early, before they become nearly insurmountable or you make a severe mistake because too much is going on.

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• Avoid or walk away from a stressful situation.
  This is many times not possible, but if it is, get away from the source of your stress.  An example might be a conversation about a subject that causes you anxiety.  Politely excuse yourself and find something else to do.  A great way to relieve stress is to avoid it from the beginning.
• Learn to keep things in perspective.
  This will have the most positive impact, but is the hardest thing to do.  Letting fewer things annoy you means realizing that some are out of your control and can’t be changed.  It also means not stressing about the little things in life.
• Take deep breaths to physically and emotionally calm yourself down.  Taking deep breaths does two things for you: it helps return your breathing — which becomes short and shallow in times of stress — to normal, and it helps you turn your attention to your breathing, which interrupts your previous thoughts.  As you exhale, you can feel the stress leaving you.  As you inhale, you can feel calmness return to you.
• Get up on time so you can start the day without being rushed.  There is nothing worse than getting a late start on the day and being stressed when your day has barely begun.  Running behind in the morning can disrupt the entire day.
• Take breaks throughout the day. Take time to stretch or go for a walk.
• Go to bed on time.  Going to bed on time ensure you get enough sleep.  As discussed earlier, stress and anxiety are a leading cause of insomnia, creating a vicious cycle if inadequate sleep occurs.  Getting enough sleep will also help you to concentrate.
• Simplify your life. To worry less, have less.  Clutter can cause disorganization, which can cause unneeded stress.  Have you ever looked for an important paper that you knew you had, but were not sure where?  You find yourself going through piles and drawers of paper you thought were important.  Simplifying does not have to mean living like a pauper.  It means getting rid of whatever is not really important.  It also means getting rid of duplicates you will never be able to use.  Organize what you have so you know where things are and how to get them when needed.
• Allow extra time to do things and to get places.  Avoiding being late can go a long way towards reducing stress.  Being late for a meeting or appointment can be very embarrassing.  Not only are you stressed trying to make it on time, you have the additional stress of confronting your colleagues or friends when you do arrive, making for a very unpleasant experience.
• Live within your budget.  Money can be a huge source of stress.  If you have significant credit card debt or can’t afford your mortgage from month to month, you have a constant worry eating away at you.  Buy what you can afford.  Learn to save and pay with cash.  If you need more money, read the earlier section on making more money.
• Practice a drug-free method of relaxing.  Meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises can keep stress at bay.  Practice daily and you will improve your overall health immensely.
• Get enough exercise.  Exercise is a great way to reduce stress and help our body deal with it better.  You don’t have to always go to a gym or wait for your usual time to exercise.  If you are feeling stressed and have the time, take a brisk 20-minute walk.  You will feel better about yourself and your body will be able to handle the pressures you face.  Exercise also helps relieve anxiety, anger, and frustration.
• Eat right.  Eating nutritiously helps contribute to overall good health so we are better able to cope with stress.  Not eating properly puts us at a disadvantage and can keep the body from functioning optimally.
• Learn to be organized and to plan.  Getting organized wards off stress.  Hurrying from one daily task to the next with no direction or organization is a recipe for disaster.  If possible, plan and prepare the night before for the following day.  It is better to realize something can’t get done while planning it than while trying to accomplish it. Planning can seem mundane, but it helps you keep to your schedule and allows more efficient use of your time.  The key is to prioritize tasks and pace yourself.
• Allow time every day to be alone.  Time for yourself is important to unwind and do the things you like and want to do.  So much of our time is not our own — especially when we have children.  You need to take time by yourself to do whatever you want without interruptions.  This can be combined with exercise if you go for a walk or run.
• Enjoy hobbies.  Some people are so busy they do not even have hobbies.  Hobbies are a way to escape everyday life and do something we really enjoy.  Hobbies are “our own,” and give each of us our uniqueness.
• Laugh.  Laughter is probably the quickest way to turn around a stressful situation.  Laughing interrupts the pattern of anxiety and jolts us back into reality.  Next time you see a movie, go to a comedy instead of the usual action or drama movie you might normally see.
• Know and accept your limits.  A sure path to a life full of stress and anxiety is to try to be a perfectionist.  Never being happy about your accomplishments will quickly make you a pessimist.  Working to the best of your ability should be what you strive for.  Mistakes are only bad if you do not learn from them — it is OK to fail, but try not to make the same mistake twice.  If you do not try new things and take a risk now and then, you will not experience success and growth.
• Be a positive person.  Being positive is not always easy.  There is so much negativity around us that it can be difficult not to wallow in it, but it will bring you down if you focus on it. When you are positive, it shows the world that you are rising above the negativity, that you want the most out of life and are determined to get it.  Being positive will help you mentally and physically stay on top.  Spending time with positive people will also help you to share their attitude.
• Talk about your troubles with someone.  Talking about your problems is a great stress reducer.  It allows you to get them out in the open and really confront your issues.  The person you confide in may give you advice, but you should think of the conversation as more about confronting the stress than looking for advice or opinions.  If your troubles are kept inside, they will eat away at you and increase your stress and anxiety even more.  Support from family and friends can be invaluable.  You must also recognize when your troubles are too much and you need a professional to help you sort through them.
• Avoid reading newspapers and watching the news if this makes you anxious.  Watching the news can be very stressful.  Hearing about people dying or pets being mistreated can really affect some people.  If these things do bother you inordinately, try to avoid the news.  Instead, do something you know you will enjoy.
• Take a vacation or some time off.  Everyone needs vacations.  They are a time to recharge your batteries and have fun.  If you take time off from work, try to go away instead of working around the house.  Even weekend getaways can be very beneficial — you don’t have to travel across the country.  Take a trip to the closest big city and experience what it has to offer, for example.  Taking a vacation creates memories that can be reflected on in times of stress.  Remember that cruise you took or the vacation to the Caribbean?  Sure you do, because they brought out positive emotions and experiences.

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Increased stress is one of the biggest killers of happiness.  It quickly affects every aspect of our lives. We treat people differently, which can affect our relationships.  We become more irritable, everyday activities become a chore, and we end up enjoying things a lot less.

You can eat well, exercise regularly, and get adequate sleep, but going to a very stressful job every day will take its toll on you.  Some of us are so used to such high stress we don’t even realize it — we just figure it is a part of our lives and it won’t go away.  It is important to realize the negative impacts of stress, and to recognize and analyze its sources and try to reduce or resolve them.

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