Reducing your stress triggers to a minimum

In an ideal world we would all be able to balance our time, energy and stress levels perfectly. Sadly, our ideal world doesn’t even come close, and instead we’re left trying to juggle it all whilst maintaining a sense of focus, which in itself only adds more pressure.

There are many columns in magazines, youtube vloggers and great top tips (especially ours ) that give us a wedge of advice, the issue again is finding time to adopt these methods amongst the heat of your weekly rush. The catch 22 we’re all so familiar with. Mindfulness is a great way to tackle stress but all of these go-to’s tell us how to manage stress once it’s already upon us, and not how to bust it before it gets to us.

Banish tunnel vision.

If you have deadlines looming, maybe a brief that’s getting on top of you, it’s so easy to surpass other aspects of your work and family life in order to put your all into the biggest deadline on the horizon. A little attention, let’s call it a consideration, to other aspects of your working life could actually lighten the load. It seems counterintuitive at first, but rather than averting your attention, keeping a list of other things you have going on could actually allow you a bit more time. Keeping an open view will allow you to tackle the extra load methodically rather than having to pounce having only just remembered it.

Be realistic.

Biting off more than you can chew is a tough cookie to swallow. So being realistic and truthful to yourself can actually go a long way. We’ve all been there, so people will understand. Colleagues will appreciate a realistic estimation of when they can expect your work, opposed to  hearing a bunch of ‘I’ll have it by tomorrow afternoon’, all of which have been looming for the last 2 weeks.

Find the root cause.

It’s not always easy to find out why you’re stressed. Yes, life and work can take its toll, and your 3 year-old can drive you round the bend, but sometimes it goes a little deeper than general ‘life’ issues.  Setting aside an hour for a coffee with a friend to reflect on what’s been bothering you may actually be the answer. A different perspective may shed light on what’s really getting you down and may also allow you to notice the warning signs in future.

If all else fails? Take a nap.