It’s a fact of life that stress is unavoidable at times. Even those with the most relaxing jobs have stressful days! Stress happens, but that doesn’t mean it has to rule your life.
By learning how to manage your time, you can reduce stress significantly.
In this article, I go over 10 tips on how to manage your time better and become less stressed.
What Does is Mean by Been Stressed?
A stressed person is one who has been pushed beyond his or her normal ability to cope with a situation.
There are many different types of stress and each one can have different physical and emotional side effects. The 3 main types of stress are:
- chronic stress
- acute stress; and
- traumatic stress
Chronic stress: This is when a person has more stress than he or she can handle regularly such as from work, family problems, relationship problems, school work, etc…
Acute stress: This is when an event occurs that causes significant trauma for that person such as a death in the family, divorce, etc…
Traumatic stress: occurs only once in someone’s lifetime such as the death of a loved one in a car accident. This may affect them for years afterward even if they don’t realize it.
The best way to manage your time reducing stress is to find what works for you and apply it consistently.
Keep in mind that taking breaks with a busy day is important for preventing stress, but can also be useful for getting back on track when needed.
Make it a point to do something fun once every two or three days, so you’re able to step back and re-focus on what’s important.
Here are 10 Tips to Reduce stress and increase your mental health
1) Never Say Yes When You Mean NO
The more you can say no, and mean it, in your daily life, the less stress you’ll feel.
Saying yes to everything is easy and fun, but it can be incredibly stressful and deplete your energy. You don’t have to stop helping others.
Instead, you need to learn how to help yourself first. Start by saying no when someone asks you for a favor or if there’s a task you don’t want to do.
Once you get used to saying no—not by coming up with excuses but by standing your ground—you can begin saying no automatically whenever someone makes demands on your time or asks favors of you.
This might sound rude, but remember that self-care is more important than anything else in life.
This has a liberating effect that allows you to take better care of yourself while simultaneously making people who depend on your time happier.
It’s easier said than done, especially if you are always saying yes to everyone around you, but trust me—you can say no with grace!
2) Follow a Strict Schedule
By spending too much time working, we end up with less time for our families, friends and hobbies.
Try getting your work done as early in the day as possible so you can spend more free time relaxing and doing what you love.
Keeping a strict schedule will also help keep your stress levels down.
When you know exactly how much work you have to get done each day, it’s easier to stop when it’s done—there are no deadlines that haunt you after hours or days.
If you’re stuck on how much work is possible each day (and often there are limits), try planning out exactly what your day looks like and create a schedule around that.
3) Outsource Tasks
Instead of wasting your time trying to get everything done yourself, delegate things you don’t have time for.
Outsource tasks that aren’t a part of your core competency—or tasks that others can do just as well or better than you can.
Letting go of work and responsibilities will allow you to focus on only doing what needs to be done, which frees up more time in your schedule and relieves some stress as well.
Delegating is a great way to manage stress when it comes to increased responsibility or heavy workloads.
For example:
- If you hate cooking, get someone else to cook for you in exchange for paying them a small sum of money every month.
- If you cannot afford a chef, visit fast food near your place where chefs are always looking for potential clients who they can work with while they hone their culinary skills.
The same goes with completing a task: If tasks require technical knowledge (like SEO, Running FB Ads, Web Design, etc.) consider hiring an expert or a professional to get it done for you.
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4) Use Your Phone Less
The average American spends around five hours a day on their phone. That’s a lot of time spent in front of a screen, and not a lot of physical activity.
Instead of watching an episode or taking selfies, get off your phone and enjoy living life in real-time.
Studies show that physical activity can help reduce stress; you don’t have to go for a jog (although it never hurts).
All it takes is standing up more and walking around more often throughout your day; even walking from one room to another can give you more energy than sitting still at your desk would!
5) Exercise More
Although research shows that more exercise won’t necessarily help you lose weight, it can help lower your stress levels.
And while working out is time-consuming and sometimes painful, it’s also one of the best ways to reduce stress naturally.
Exercise releases endorphins, which improve mood and make you feel good. Consider;
- walking instead of driving short distances;
- or taking a power walk during lunch breaks
- try strength training at home or work;
- or join a fitness class or recreational sports team.
Many people get huge benefits from simply moving more throughout their day, such as by taking an extra 10,000 steps per day (roughly five miles).
If you have time for only one activity to reduce your stress level, make it move in some form.
Read: 25 Best Time Management Books for the Busy Entrepreneur
6) Eat Better and Get Enough Sleep
Following a healthy diet will help reduce your stress levels because there’s nothing like a good meal or snack to boost your mood.
It’s also important to stay hydrated, as dehydration can lead to headaches and irritation.
Dealing with too much stress is hard on everyone, but sleep is especially important for adults.
Make sure you get at least 7 hours of shut-eye each night; consider setting an alarm so that you don’t run out of time and/or wake up groggy.
7) Leave work on time
Leaving work on time is an important factor in reducing stress. If you always try to get that last-minute project done, it can lead to a lot of extra work and unnecessary anxiety about deadlines.
It’s great for your health—and even better for your career—to learn how to leave early.
According to a Gallup poll, employees who are late or absent from work cost U.S. companies more than $600 billion every year in lost productivity and customer service issues.
Staying late doesn’t mean you’re dedicated; it just means you need some extra time outside of work.
8) Don’t multitask, single task
Multitasking is generally a recipe for disaster. It’s hard enough for our brains to process one thing at a time, let alone divide our focus between two or more tasks.
Don’t try to do multiple things at once; you won’t get any of them done as quickly or efficiently. Do one thing at a time and give it your full attention; then move on.
You’ll be much happier with your work, and you’ll save yourself plenty of stress by reducing your total workload (not to mention making fewer mistakes).
You can only imagine how many mistakes I have reduced over time because I have started single-tasking instead of multitasking. Overall, it has helped me become more efficient!
9) Stop worrying and think positive thoughts
When you’re anxious, it can be easy to get caught up in all of your worst-case scenarios.
In addition to stressing out about everything that could go wrong, you may also find yourself worrying over things that most people don’t typically concern themselves with
Why?
Sometimes our anxiety stems from doubting ourselves or feeling like we can’t do what we need to do.
If you find yourself constantly worrying, take a step back and remind yourself that not everything is worth your time.
Instead of spending so much time focused on what might happen, try redirecting your thoughts by reminding yourself of how strong you are and how good you feel when things go right.
Final Words
It may seem ironic, but in reality, you’ll actually have more time when you’re living a more focused life.
Once you get into a routine and minimize your energy drains, you won’t stress about whether or not there are enough hours in a day.
You’ll be able to let go of how much time something will take and focus on why it is important.
You won’t obsess over how can I do everything? because you’ll be intentional about what should get done—and that makes every hour count!
