It’s almost impossible to enjoy life when you’re always stressed. This, for sure, I know from my own experience. Fortunately, I found ways to de-stress my life. In this post, I share the six most effective ones. So you can, just like me, reduce stress to a minimum and pave the way for the good things in life.
6 Effective Ways to De-Stress Your Life
- Look for a simple solution first
- Don’t multitask
- React less, control more
- Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize
- Stop being so nice
- Don’t be all things to all people
Look for a Simple Solution First
The truth is, we often make our life more complicated than it needs to be. We reinvent the wheel and create a lot of extra work for ourselves. And this simply because we don’t allow ourselves to choose the path of least resistance. But there are endless possibilities to simplify the things we do. No matter if it’s in our personal life or business. Hence, make it a habit to check first if there is a simple solution. We don’t have to do everything from scratch – it’s ok to use a template. And not everything has to be perfect in every detail. Keep things simple whenever possible.
React Less, Control More
In highly stressful moments, we tend to only react to demands. I’m sure you’ve experienced this, too. You work like a robot only to keep up with the pace. The problem is, in these situations, we stop reflecting on what we actually do. But this means we lose control. We’re no longer in the driver’s seat. Thus, step back – particularly in very stressful times – and think about what you can do better, differently, or not at all.
Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize
My days, so I felt, were never long enough. Honestly, I thought I knew how to prioritize. But I didn’t. Until I was utterly exhausted. Today I understand why. I hadn’t focused on what really matters. Everyone and everything else had always been more important than me and my priorities. Like Greg McKeown wrote in his book Essentialism, The Discipline Pursuit of Less: “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will”.
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will." – Greg McKeown Click To TweetHowever, one of the keys to reducing stress is to prioritize. This is easier said than done as we often fall into the ‘all is equally important’ trap. But there can be only ONE top priority – and not a whole long list of them.
Stop Being So Nice
Yes, I know. You don’t want to let anyone down – not your partner, your kids, or your colleagues. You want to help them out. This is ok. But only as long as you don’t forget about your own well-being and your own priorities. There’s nothing wrong with the word NO. Setting healthy boundaries doesn’t mean you’re selfish. Your time and energy are limited resources. That’s a fact. Moreover, if you’re continuously stressed and don’t take time to recover, these resources will inevitably decrease. And this helps no one.
Don’t Multitask
Actually, I should have written this differently. Don’t TRY to multitask. Because successful multitasking is a myth! We can’t do different things at the same time (at the same quality). Concentrate on what you do, right when you do it. This will always yield better results. And it will help to de-stress your life.
Don’t Be All Things to All People
The more we focus, the more energy will go in each of our projects and tasks. This is true for all areas of our life. So, when you’re an entrepreneur, rethink and streamline your offer. When you’re a working mum, think twice if you want to be chairing a committee. The examples are endless. Today’s abundance of choices is a blessing and a curse. But to enjoy life instead of feeling overwhelmed by it, we have to be very selective. And use our resources wisely.
And there you have it. These are six effective ways to de-stress your life.
Now you may think, wait a minute, aren’t we in the lucky situation that we have all this technology at hand to make our life more efficient? So we can jam-pack our days a little more without getting stressed?
Tech-Gadgets and Apps: Way No. 7 to De-Stress Life?
Undoubtedly, technology can help us in many ways. However, it also adds to the complexity of life. Particularly when we already feel overwhelmed and stressed. Because then, the many notifications and reminders that pop-up every second don’t really help. Instead, all these ‘digital simplifiers’ stress us even more.
From my perspective, the answer can’t be to opt-out of our digital world and stay clear from innovations. However, decluttering our DIGITAL life is definitely another effective way to de-stress our REAL life. If you want to know more about it, check out these articles:
For too long, stress had ruled my life. The good thing is that stress also made me change my life thoroughly. And definitely for the better. Read more about it in my personal story.
What are your experiences with any of the above tips? Anything you’d add to that list? Has your life changed for the better once you’ve managed to keep stress at bay? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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