23 Techniques to Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Spirals, Declutter Your Mind, and Focus on the Present:
Our daily habits influence our stress in subtle ways
Checking social media too often, having poor nutrition, and not getting enough sleep all influence our anxiety.
No stress can be stressful
We can be stressed by not being challenged enough. We need a balance that is suited to our needs.
- Avoid – Some things are negotiable or avoidable. Look to remove or work around stressors where possible
- Alter – Be honest about your needs.
- Accept – Acknowledge your feelings. If you’ve been wronged, try to find a way to forgive. Forgiveness allows you to move on rather then dwell on a past slight.
- Adapt – If we can’t change the situation, we can try to change the way we respond to it.
Kanban Method
Literally visualize your workflow. Put your work on a board where you can see it later out in front of you and see each item’s status.
Minimize “WIP” (work in progress). Take a task to completion rather than having multiple in progress at once.
Watch for possible efficiencies and opportunities for improvement.
Build in time to review your workflow and check on your progress.
Experiment and learn from your successes and failures.
Time Blocking
Give yourself time to focus exclusively on a single task, deeply. This also allows you to set a deadline to prevent open-ended tasks from dragging on for too long.
Schedule more complex tasks for a time when your brain is most capable of deep work. Schedule time for more shallow work when your brain is less focused.
The 5-4-3-2-1 Technique
When you see stress coming on, pause, breathe, and do the following: Find:
- 5 things you can see.
- 4 things you can touch.
- 3 things you can hear.
- 2 things you can smell.
- 1 thing you can taste
Linger on each and take it in completely. The goal is to redirect your attention to other things. You can’t concentrate on stressors while your other senses are fully engaged.
The Eisenhower Method
Label each of your tasks as either:
- Important or unimportant
- Urgent or not urgent
- Important and urgent tasks get done immediately. Reserve some time each day for these, but if you find yourself always having several, re-evaluate what is causing so many.
- Important and not-urgent tasks get scheduled to be done at a particular time. It’s good to have scheduled time for routine tasks, which often fall into this category.
- Not important and urgent tasks should be delegates of possible. Say no if possible.
- Not important and not urgent tasks should be deleted where possible.
