Guided Managrment is a great way profrssionals distract yourself from the stress of day-to-day life. Incorporating these strategies into your daily routine can significantly reduce your stress levels and improve your productivity and well-being. Consuming a healthy diet can help you combat stress over the long haul.

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13 Stress Management Techniques

Stress management techniques for professionals -

Avoid people who stress you out. If someone consistently causes stress in your life, limit the amount of time you spend with that person, or end the relationship. Take control of your environment.

If the evening news makes you anxious, turn off the TV. If traffic makes you tense, take a longer but less-traveled route. If going to the market is an unpleasant chore, do your grocery shopping online.

Avoid hot-button topics. If you get upset over religion or politics, cross them off your conversation list. Pare down your to-do list. Analyze your schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks.

If you can't avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Often, this involves changing the way you communicate and operate in your daily life. Express your feelings instead of bottling them up. If something or someone is bothering you, communicate your concerns in an open and respectful way.

If you don't voice your feelings, resentment will build and the stress will increase. Be willing to compromise. When you ask someone to change their behavior, be willing to do the same.

If you both are willing to bend at least a little, you'll have a good chance of finding a happy middle ground. Be more assertive. Deal with problems head on, doing your best to anticipate and prevent them.

Find balance. All work and no play is a recipe for burnout. Try to find a balance between work and family life, social activities and solitary pursuits, daily responsibilities and downtime. If you can't change the stressor, change yourself.

You can adapt to stressful situations and regain your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude. Reframe problems. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective. Rather than fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to your favorite radio station, or enjoy some alone time.

Look at the big picture. Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset over?

If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere. Adjust your standards. Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Stop setting yourself up for failure by demanding perfection.

Practice gratitude. When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all the things you appreciate in your life , including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple strategy can help you keep things in perspective. Some sources of stress are unavoidable.

You can't prevent or change stressors such as the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession. In such cases, the best way to cope with stress is to accept things as they are. Acceptance may be difficult, but in the long run, it's easier than railing against a situation you can't change.

Don't try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control, particularly the behavior of other people. Rather than stressing out over them, focus on the things you can control such as the way you choose to react to problems.

Look for the upside. When facing major challenges, try to look at them as opportunities for personal growth.

If your own poor choices contributed to a stressful situation, reflect on them and learn from your mistakes. Learn to forgive. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people make mistakes. Let go of anger and resentments. Free yourself from negative energy by forgiving and moving on.

Share your feelings. Expressing what you're going through can be very cathartic, even if there's nothing you can do to alter the stressful situation.

Talk to a trusted friend or make an appointment with a therapist. When you're stressed, the last thing you probably feel like doing is getting up and exercising.

But physical activity is a huge stress reliever—and you don't have to be an athlete or spend hours in a gym to experience the benefits. Exercise releases endorphins that make you feel good, and it can also serve as a valuable distraction from your daily worries.

While you'll get the most benefit from regularly exercising for 30 minutes or more, it's okay to build up your fitness level gradually. Even very small activities can add up over the course of a day. The first step is to get yourself up and moving.

Here are some easy ways to incorporate exercise into your daily schedule:. While just about any form of physical activity can help burn away tension and stress, rhythmic activities are especially effective.

Good choices include walking, running, swimming, dancing, cycling, tai chi, and aerobics. But whatever you choose, make sure it's something you enjoy so you're more likely to stick with it.

While you're exercising, make a conscious effort to pay attention to your body and the physical and sometimes emotional sensations you experience as you're moving.

Focus on coordinating your breathing with your movements, for example, or notice how the air or sunlight feels on your skin. Adding this mindfulness element will help you break out of the cycle of negative thoughts that often accompanies overwhelming stress. There is nothing more calming than spending quality time with another human being who makes you feel safe and understood.

It's nature's natural stress reliever as an added bonus, it also helps stave off depression and anxiety. So make it a point to connect regularly—and in person—with family and friends. Keep in mind that the people you talk to don't have to be able to fix your stress.

They simply need to be good listeners. And try not to let worries about looking weak or being a burden keep you from opening up. The people who care about you will be flattered by your trust. It will only strengthen your bond. Of course, it's not always realistic to have a pal close by to lean on when you feel overwhelmed by stress, but by building and maintaining a network of close friends you can improve your resiliency to life's stressors.

Don't get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that you forget to take care of your own needs. Nurturing yourself is a necessity, not a luxury. If you regularly make time for fun and relaxation, you'll be in a better place to handle life's stressors.

Set aside leisure time. Include rest and relaxation in your daily schedule. This is your time to take a break from all responsibilities and recharge your batteries.

Do something you enjoy every day. Make time for leisure activities that bring you joy, whether it be stargazing, playing the piano, or working on your bike. Keep your sense of humor.

This includes the ability to laugh at yourself. The act of laughing helps your body fight stress in a number of ways. Take up a relaxation practice. Relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing activate the body's relaxation response , a state of restfulness that is the opposite of the fight or flight or mobilization stress response.

As you learn and practice these techniques, your stress levels will decrease and your mind and body will become calm and centered. Poor time management can cause a lot of stress.

When you're stretched too thin and running behind, it's hard to stay calm and focused. Plus, you'll be tempted to avoid or cut back on all the healthy things you should be doing to keep stress in check, like socializing and getting enough sleep.

The good news: there are things you can do to achieve a healthier work-life balance. Don't over-commit yourself.

Avoid scheduling things back-to-back or trying to fit too much into one day. All too often, we underestimate how long things will take. Prioritize tasks. Make a list of tasks you have to do, and tackle them in order of importance.

Do the high-priority items first. If you have something particularly unpleasant or stressful to do, get it over with early. The rest of your day will be more pleasant as a result. Break projects into small steps. If a large project seems overwhelming, make a step-by-step plan.

Focus on one manageable step at a time, rather than taking on everything at once. Delegate responsibility. You don't have to do it all yourself, whether at home, school, or on the job. If other people can take care of the task, why not let them?

Working on your time management skills, taking time to recharge, becoming aware of how events affect you, and relying on a support network may help you manage job-related stress. Asking for help is also important. Emails, Slack messages, phones ringing off the hook, your co-worker dropping by for an impromptu meeting, deadlines — work-related stress can be a lot to handle.

Some tension is expected, especially when facing a looming presentation or challenging assignment. But when work stress becomes chronic, it can affect your physical and emotional well-being.

Experiencing work strain is unavoidable — even if you love what you do. You can take actionable steps to keep job stress at a manageable level. If you start becoming aware of how you feel, you may find yourself emotionally exhausted and pessimistic by the end of some days. Long-term exposure to unmanaged stress can take a toll on your body and mental health, and recent research suggests a potential link between work-related burnout and depression and anxiety.

Some of these can be subtle sources of tension, such as an uncomfortable workspace, chatter in the back, or a long commute. Keeping a journal to track your stress triggers and reactions may help.

You can include people, places, and events that cause you a physical, mental, or emotional response. Taking even a few minutes of personal time during a busy day can help prevent burnout caused by chronic work stress.

Listening to an interesting podcast between meetings or watching a funny YouTube video can give you relaxing pauses throughout the day.

The more relaxed you are, the more productive you can be. Here are more ways to recharge. Try setting up a priority list at the beginning of your work week by preparing tasks and ranking them according to importance.

You can also beat procrastination by setting aside specific time blocks for deep concentration work. Try to address the more tiresome or less appealing tasks for an early sense of relief that may make the rest of the day feel less stressful. Being available around the clock will quickly burn you out.

Creating clear boundaries between work and home life is essential to help you avoid potential job-related stress. Instead of making automatic judgments, try distancing yourself from negative thoughts and observing.

Setting aside time for self-care is necessary if you regularly feel overwhelmed by work. This means prioritizing sleep, setting aside time for fun, and ensuring you eat throughout the day. Purposefully slowing down and being conscious of your surroundings can keep you relaxed throughout the week.

Meditation , deep breathing exercises, and mindfulness calm stress and anxiety. You may start by taking a few minutes each day to focus on being present and enjoying a simple activity — a short walk around the park or appreciating a meal at your desk.

You can also take a few seconds every hour to look out a window, listen to a favorite song, or eat a delicious snack.

Remember to leave all work-related stuff aside when you take these breaks. Workplace conflict can take a significant toll on your emotional well-being. Try to avoid participating in gossipy situations. If you know one of your colleagues is especially prone to gossip, find a way to spend less time with them or steer the conversation to safer topics.

If you need to get that presentation just right or find yourself working extra hours perfecting a report you finished days ago, it may be time to take a step back and reflect.

While perfectionism has some positive benefits, it can also be highly stressful and lead to burnout. Try to keep your high standards in check by focusing on the effort you put into a project and not personalizing failure when you make a mistake.

A work-free staycation or trip a few hours out of town can help you reset. Try to set aside quiet time to talk with your manager and calmly discuss feeling overwhelmed by challenging tasks. Approach the conversation from a place of solving the problem rather than listing complaints.

The point is to find a resolution that helps reduce strain. They can help you navigate the conversation and offer troubleshooting tips.

Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on professiionals management, professipnals psychology, relationships, techinques emotional wellbeing. Rachel Etchniques, PhD FTOS, is tcehniques licensed Coenzyme Q and weight loss, clinical Stress management techniques for professionals professor, speaker, wellness expert specializing in eating behaviors, stress management, and health behavior change. According to a survey of more than 2, full-time U. employees, agesmore than half of employees find themselves stressed during at least 60 percent of the workweek. Work stress has significant health consequences that range from relatively benign like getting more colds and flus to potentially serious such as heart disease and metabolic syndrome. Working on your time management skills, taking time to recharge, becoming Low GI grains of Stress management techniques for professionals events affect you, and relying managmeent Stress management techniques for professionals support network may managdment you Stress management techniques for professionals job-related stress. Asking for help is also Stdess. Emails, Slack messages, phones ringing off the hook, your co-worker dropping by for an impromptu meeting, deadlines — work-related stress can be a lot to handle. Some tension is expected, especially when facing a looming presentation or challenging assignment. But when work stress becomes chronic, it can affect your physical and emotional well-being. Experiencing work strain is unavoidable — even if you love what you do. You can take actionable steps to keep job stress at a manageable level.