What you can do to let go of stress

Here are the KJ Associates' Top Tips for managing stress in your business and personal life.  There are practical pointers to help you if you're in the middle of an issue right now - if not, why don't you bookmark this page for when the next one comes along!

  1. Step back from the situation
    - take time to assess what is happening. 
  2. Identify the pressure(s)
    - who or what is really causing you the problem?
  3. Separate the reaction from the cause
    - analyse what is happening, together with your reaction, and look at the root cause of your stress.
  4. Clearly identify if personal action can change the situation or not
    - recognise whether you can do anything to change it. If not, then change the way you view it so it becomes less stressful.
  5. Recognise that if no personal action can influence the situation, then letting go or worrying are the only options
    - and, if you choose to 'worry', you need to remind yourself that only 4% of what people worry about actually happens!
  6. Understand the harm unhealthy stress can cause
    - there are many consequences of stress, including a weaker immune system, leaving you vulnerable to viruses, lack of sleep and its results and heart attacks to name but a few.
  7. Remind yourself of how unhealthy stress helps no-one
    - this is sometimes easier said than done, however, talking to yourself positively is a gentle way of dealing with stress.
  8. Resolve to use thinking skills to stop worrying further
    - taking an analytical view of the situation and breaking tasks down into smaller chunks can make a big difference.
  9. Use the inner voice to remind yourself of your stress relievers
    - that inner voice that so often talks about all the negative things or all the things you need to do, adding to the pressure. So use that inner voice to remind yourself of some of these tips which can help to relieve stress. Also consider practical ways that could help to improve the situation later.
  10. Decide not to react
    - you have a choice - make a decision to exercise that choice!

Our course 'Managing and Understanding Stress' is designed to help managers understand what causes stress, how to identify stress and how to take simple preventative steps to reduce or deal with stress.  It's held at your place of work with other managers in your organisation.  For more information on our Managing and Understanding Stress course click here.