Another key way to live a Happy And Successful Life is to be able to Manage Your Life. Here are 2 Ways To Manage Your Life - Manage Your Stress and Manage Your Time.
2 Ways to Manage Your Life: Manage Your Stress
What is Stress? Stress is the tension that we all feel when we experience problems, both physiological and psychological.
When we experience stress, our functioning is impaired and we are not at our best.
A lot of factors can trigger stress, and it is thus highly important to minimise or eliminate them. Stress has a huge impact on our physical health.
It can cause cardiac problems, tension headaches, weight loss or even weight gain. In some cases, it can even become quite fatal and cause heart attacks or strokes.
Because people react to stress greatly, not all stress management methods are effective. That is why you have to discover your own personal tool for alleviating stress.
Firstly, try to determine the underlying cause of the stress. Stress can be related to a number of things, including work pressure, family pressure or any underlying health problem over which you have little control.
Spouses, children or work peers can be one trigger of stress. Work issues such as stringent deadlines, increased workload, an annoying boss, chattering workmates or a low salary can all contribute to your level of stress.
Thus you need to discover your own stress inducing triggers in order to be able to control it.
Now obviously, many situations are not under your control, but just knowing what factors cause you stress can make a huge impact on the way you choose to alleviate it.
6 Ways To Manage Stress
- Laugh Off Your Stress
It is often said that laughter is the best medicine. When you laugh, your body produces endorphins that lower your stress levels.
However, you cannot laugh all the time while in stress! That is why other effective methods of stress management should be devised.
With that said, I heartily recommend joining a 'Laugh Club' - Innovate!
For instance, some people have a pet to help them alleviate stress.
Others install water fountains or aquariums in their home in order to make the environment stress free.
Some even use such things as scream therapy, squeezing soft items, jogging and running, or taking up some hobby so that they can effectively reduce and manage the stress. - More Vigorous Activity
Vigorous physical activities tend to decrease adrenaline, which in turn decreases stress levels. - Practice Meditation: Meditation is a tool to calm the mind, which in turn can calm the body. It does not need to be religious in nature as there are plenty of secular ways to accomplish this.
- Reduce or eliminate stimulants such as caffeine from your diet. These can be harmful when overused.
- If all else fails, use prescription medications. However, it must be 'stressed' (so to speak) that all stress management techniques should be tried upon before seeking medication, as these tend to have lots of side effects on the body.
As we can see, it is quite important that stress causing factors should be first identified and then, alleviated via one or more of the techniques described above.
This will not only help you fight stress, but also keep you fit and healthy for a long time.
2 Ways to Manage Your Life - 2: Manage Your Time
In this fast paced world, a common complaint is that we lack the time to do things.
In the past, time management was considered to be a thing for businessmen only, but nowadays, everybody needs time management.
Personal lives, as well as work lives are well organised when they follow the rules of time management.
Time management benefits your mental and physical health and gives them a sense of control and satisfaction. People who are in control of their time actually tend to lead fulfilled and successful lives.
The techniques of time management are not fixed or rigid. Moreover, it is not necessary that all people use every management technique.
That is why you have to look for the technique that best suits you for maximum effect. We all tend to exercise time management in some way or the other, but what we need to appreciate is how to maximise the effectiveness of our methods.
Here are some tips for time management:
- Set your goals and objectives. We covered this in a previous article but mention it again here. This means that whenever you set out to do something, you should know what purpose you have to fulfil.
It not only gives you a sense of direction, but also helps you allot specific timings to whatever tasks you have to accomplish. - Set clear priorities in your mind. You should know what is more important to you (your values) and what needs to be done first.
Prioritising helps you assess your long term needs and requirements. The ultimate success of someone depends on how well he or she prioritises things in life.
Both short term and long term priorities should be set, which should be related to each other. When prioritising, be strict with those aspects of your activities that are not contributing to the long term goals that you have set for yourself.
Remove useless areas from your life so that you can focus your energies towards achieving more.- While mapping your needs, make sure to include family time and relaxation time in your routine.
This ensures good health and peace of mind. Also, allot time for proper meals and exercise so as to maintain a healthy normal life. - Write down your priorities for a particular time period so that you can examine your weaker areas and reinforce the time spent on them.
- Always keep a diary to plan every day, week and month.
A lot of apps are now available so that you can access your plans anywhere without carrying books around with you! - Using a conventional diary is also useful when you are not out and about. It lets you get off the computer for a bit and think of your priorities with a peaceful mind. Often called Journaling, this activity allows you the time to express your thoughts in a natural and coherent way.
You can start with baby steps and make a To-Do list daily when you start your day. This can slowly enhance your habit of planning your daily routine while you gear up gradually for the full daily time planner mode.
Time management is surely a very satisfying way to lead your life. It also helps you be in control of what you do whilst reducing stress and improving health.
If you can both manage your time and manage your stress, you are well on the way to managing and controlling your life, and well on the way to a Happy and Successful Life.
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