Streamlining one's living pattern and priorities of life is perhaps the most significant step that one can take in order to sidestep stress and its effects.
The first thing is to set one's body clock right to get around crippling stress-effects such as sleep disorders, bowel disorders, nerve perturbation and hormonal dysfunction.
When sleep comes with an effort it is obvious that we're holding on to the day's stresses and reaching out for tomorrow's as well.
Effective time management and living in an organized way can save us from nagging day-to-day stressors.
We just can't keep count of missed or procrastinated calls to the doctor, a friend, a relative or a business partner in a day. Many don't have the time for family and social commitments, which often results in anxieties and relationship tensions.
A bad time manager invariably ends up a much-harried one at the close of the day.
Getting organized in various fields of life—be it a holiday trip, household, office or management of children's affairs—can be a sure step towards avoiding stress.
To get yourself organized in life the following points can prove vital:
• Be Flexible.
There is always more than one solution to a problem. One should be flexible enough to accept alternative solutions and experiment with them. It doesn't help becoming anxious, depressed and staying screwed, if one's dream formula for a problem didn't work.
• Be Realistic About Your Ability.
It does help to set realistic and achievable goals?long term or short term, in life. The targets should correspond to one's capability to achieve them. Making unrealistic demand on oneself and others is a sure way to invite stress.
• Prioritize Your Tasks.
Prioritizing the tasks on hand can help reduce the challenges in completing them.
Putting time and energy to important tasks and breaking a big task into smaller steps makes things easier.
When one finishes one thing at a time and is able to meet one's responsibilities in time, the effect can be inspiring.
• Do Not Hesitate At Delegating Responsibility.
Delegating responsibility when it is appropriate, prevents emergence of stress.
When one has several tasks at hand and puzzles over how to go about them, assigning smaller tasks to others can work wonders. This can be done both in office and at home.
• Learn To Be Assertive.
Practicing to be a little more assertive or learning to say `no' when required can prevent you from taking up extra tasks which can eat into your precious time and energy.
We often come across a housewife at home or an executive in office putting themselves under unwelcome stress by taking more than what they can handle.
• Keep A Time Planner.
Keeping a time planner ready helps going about one's task systematically.
The listings should be scheduled on a day-to-day and priority basis.
It is, also, important to allot a little more time for each schedule to avoid working under strain and anxiety.
• Take Planned Breaks From Work.
Whether a quick 5-minutes break or a 5-day long holiday, the breaks might offload the after-effects of stress in us.
Apart from adjusting one's lifestyle to one's body clock, effectively managing time is also an invaluable skill in coping with stress.
Knowing when to take the load and when to offload, often goes a long way to maintaining a healthy and balanced existence.
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