By Denise Gosnel
Strategy 1: Create A Stress Inventory
First, start by creating a stress inventory. For example, write down the situations, tasks, and events that caused you to feel stressed. Then describe your reaction to each. Did you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous?
Next, sit down and review your stress inventory. Choose one situation that you want to improve upon. Identify the problem and then come up with ways to resolve it.
For example, if you need to leave work early to pick up your children from school, then come to the office earlier, take work home to catch up on, or delegate tasks to others to get more done. The best way of coping with stress is to try to find a way to change the circumstances that are causing it.
Strategy 2: Delegate Tasks To Others
You should delegate things to others every time you have the opportunity. As a business owner, you tend to be a perfectionist, so this is often a difficult task to accomplish. The hard part to overcome is the fact that the other person may not do the task as well as you could do it yourself.
If you can delegate certain tasks to others that they can get 80% right, could you make it right in less time than it would have taken you to do it yourself from scratch? Or, is this the type of task that 80% right is acceptable so it doesn’t really matter anyway. In either situation, if the answer is yes, then that task SHOULD be delegated.
The point is “just do it.” If you don’t delegate, you will never have time to do the critical things that “only you” can do. You need to allow others to complete tasks for you.
Strategy 3: Accept The Unavoidable
Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You simply cannot prevent them or even change them. In these situations, you are forced to accept things as they are.
As a business owner, accepting what you cannot change is often times very difficult to swallow. You want to always be in the control … and, if you are not, your stress level increases.
So, rather than stressing yourself out over what you cannot control, take charge and accept what you cannot change. Focus on how to solve the problem and not the problem itself. By doing this, you will reduce your stress, while at the same time become more productive.
Strategy 4: Change Your Focus
Another way to reduce your stress meter is to change your focus and stay positive. As they say, “everything has a silver lining.”
When you focus your time and energy on being positive, your stress level will decrease. All your positive energy begins to work in a forward direction. By simply changing your focus, you alter the situation.
The way you can do this is by looking at the big picture. When you stop and put everything into perspective, is it really worth the stress? Will the problem you are currently worried about even matter next week, in a month or even next year? In most cases, it doesn’t. But either way, you can still adapt or even dismiss whatever is causing your stress and move on. It’s not worth letting the stress get you down when that just takes your energy away from solving the problem.
You have the ability to control and manipulate the amount of stress that you place upon yourself, even if it seems overwhelming at times. Just stay focused on everything that is positive in your life and on solving the challenges that are in front of you. And keep charging ahead no matter what roadblocks are thrown in your way.
Strategy 1: Create A Stress Inventory
First, start by creating a stress inventory. For example, write down the situations, tasks, and events that caused you to feel stressed. Then describe your reaction to each. Did you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous?
Next, sit down and review your stress inventory. Choose one situation that you want to improve upon. Identify the problem and then come up with ways to resolve it.
For example, if you need to leave work early to pick up your children from school, then come to the office earlier, take work home to catch up on, or delegate tasks to others to get more done. The best way of coping with stress is to try to find a way to change the circumstances that are causing it.
Strategy 2: Delegate Tasks To Others
You should delegate things to others every time you have the opportunity. As a business owner, you tend to be a perfectionist, so this is often a difficult task to accomplish. The hard part to overcome is the fact that the other person may not do the task as well as you could do it yourself.
If you can delegate certain tasks to others that they can get 80% right, could you make it right in less time than it would have taken you to do it yourself from scratch? Or, is this the type of task that 80% right is acceptable so it doesn’t really matter anyway. In either situation, if the answer is yes, then that task SHOULD be delegated.
The point is “just do it.” If you don’t delegate, you will never have time to do the critical things that “only you” can do. You need to allow others to complete tasks for you.
Strategy 3: Accept The Unavoidable
Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You simply cannot prevent them or even change them. In these situations, you are forced to accept things as they are.
As a business owner, accepting what you cannot change is often times very difficult to swallow. You want to always be in the control … and, if you are not, your stress level increases.
So, rather than stressing yourself out over what you cannot control, take charge and accept what you cannot change. Focus on how to solve the problem and not the problem itself. By doing this, you will reduce your stress, while at the same time become more productive.
Strategy 4: Change Your Focus
Another way to reduce your stress meter is to change your focus and stay positive. As they say, “everything has a silver lining.”
When you focus your time and energy on being positive, your stress level will decrease. All your positive energy begins to work in a forward direction. By simply changing your focus, you alter the situation.
The way you can do this is by looking at the big picture. When you stop and put everything into perspective, is it really worth the stress? Will the problem you are currently worried about even matter next week, in a month or even next year? In most cases, it doesn’t. But either way, you can still adapt or even dismiss whatever is causing your stress and move on. It’s not worth letting the stress get you down when that just takes your energy away from solving the problem.
You have the ability to control and manipulate the amount of stress that you place upon yourself, even if it seems overwhelming at times. Just stay focused on everything that is positive in your life and on solving the challenges that are in front of you. And keep charging ahead no matter what roadblocks are thrown in your way.
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