You’re probably here because you’ve been feeling pretty stressed out lately. Your mind’s in a million places at once and it’s hard to focus.
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Whether you’re tackling a major work project, moving, or you just have a lot on your plate; stress management is so important.
After all, the key to happiness is protecting your peace of mind.
If you’ve been feeling pretty stressed, trust me, you’re not alone! There are entire classes dedicated to coping with stress.
A lot of times, we we feel the most stressed when our lives are the least organized.
Adreanne
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The thing is, life doesn’t stop. Even when you want it to, for just a moment.
So, I’m here to give you some quick productivity tips to clear that stressed out mind of yours. These tips continue to help me get myself together and get back on track; I know they’ll help you, too.
5 Tips To Clear Your Mind When You’re Stressed TF Out!
1. Write It All Out.
It’s just like venting to your best friend, but possibly a little more effective. Instead of having a pitty-party, look for solutions.
Get those thoughts out of your head and onto some paper.
It’s like a mental regurgitation (or brainstorm) of everything that’s been bothering you. Don’t worry about editing or proper grammar, just get it out of your head and onto some paper. No one else is going to see it.
This frees up brain space and makes it easier to come up with new ideas. In other words, your head can only hold so much awesomeness at a time, so free up some space and keep the creativity flowing.
Once you finish, you’ll start to feel like a huge weight has been lifted from your shoulders.
2. Prioritize Your Thoughts.
Everything you do can be categorized as either important or not important. Also everything you do can be categorized as urgent or not urgent.
The Boron Letters Chapter 1
You see those items you’ve written down from your mental brain dump in step 1? Group them into the 4 categories you see below:
- Q1 – Urgent & Important tasks with immediate deadlines.
- Q2 – Not Urgent, but Important tasks that could become urgent if left unattended to or procrastinated on.
- Q3 – Urgent, but Not Important tasks like getting to the store before it closes.
- Q4 – Not Urgent & Not Important tasks that usually contribute to procrastination.
This will help you easily see what needs your immediate attention versus what can wait. Now you can narrow your focus in on the Q1 – Urgent & Important tasks.
You shouldn’t have very many of them.
If you have A LOT of urgent and important tasks, then you must be a fellow procrastinator like myself!
No worries! This is just a sign that you could work on your time management skills… A little more on that in step 3!
But this organization hack should decrease your stress levels. The other categories don’t require your focus right now because they’re either not urgent (time-sensitive) and/or not important.
Now that you’re starting to see some organization, you can relax a bit, and move on to step 3.
3. Plan: Set Milestones
Once you’ve completed your urgent tasks, you should move to the right of that 4 square box, in Q2 – Not Urgent, but Important.
These tasks could be as simple as car maintenance or cleaning your fridge before things get out of hand in there.
But if you have more complex and ongoing projects like blog maintenance, updating a resume, or a long-term work assignment, then this tip is for you.
…Well, technically, this tip can apply to any aspect of life, complex or not… but you get where I’m going with this.
To avoid these tasks running into the Q1 – Urgent & Important category, break each goal into actionable, daily and weekly tasks to give you a clear breakdown of what exactly needs to be done.
This’ll also create productivity habits that’ll help you stay on top of your game in the future.
A lot of times when we’re stressed out, it’s a result of not having a proper roadmap to guide you from point A to point B. All you see is this big step that you have to take.
But by breaking each task into smaller steps, you make it easier to see your way through to the end, thus reducing both your stress and anxiety.
Also, make sure to set a date for each task. If you don’t, then that task will probably NEVER get done, trust me!
4. Work in Batches.
Task batching is when you group a list of similar tasks together to complete during a dedicated time with no interruptions.
If you’re like me and you find yourself struggling to stay focused on one task, this tip is for you!
This time management technique is proven to maximize your concentration and productivity.
It cuts down on the amount of time your brain takes to switch between tasks. This means more time getting things done and less time trying to get started, which I’ll explain more in the next tip.
5. Discipline Yourself.
This may be the hardest thing to do out of the bunch, but definitely the most important. It’s easy to make plans and schedule things to do, but what’s the point if you don’t hold yourself to them?
Let’s be honest, you know how tough it is to get started doing anything, especially when you don’t feel inspired.
This is what I was referring to in the last step.
Getting started is like pushing the pedals on a bicycle to go uphill for the first time, or like revving your car engine when the light turns green, it takes some effort to get going.
But once you get going, then it’s smooth sailing from there. You just need to get past that initial effort of getting started, then it’s easy going, you’re inspiration juices get flowing, and then you’re off!
Getting started may be tough, but the more you force yourself to start, ESPECIALLY when you don’t want to, the easier getting started becomes.
There’s a misconception out there about it taking only 21 days to form a new habit. But the truth is…
It can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic.
Healthline
So, the point is, the sooner you discipline yourself to ‘get started’, the sooner you’ll achieve that goal you’ve been wanting to accomplish for the longest.
Lack of discipline will kill your goals before they even get onto paper. So get start now, and follow through the next day and the day after that.
Bonus tip!!! Take Adequate Breaks
After you’ve accomplished everything on this list, don’t forget to schedule some down time in there, where you can relax.
A good productivity hack that’ll ease your stress is The Pomodoro Technique.
It’s centered around the idea that you work to finish tasks in a smaller amount of time (e.g. 25min), and take small, incremental breaks (e.g. 5min).
According to Kat Boogaard, career and productivity expert, after about 4 pomorodos, you should give yourself a longer 15 – 20min break.
This will help you avoid burning out and keep you performing at the most efficient level possible.
Society tells us that taking no days off and working nonstop will get us to that next level. But that’s actually pretty dangerous.
The reality is that our bodies are like machines, and will legitimately break down when overworked.
Taking a break isn’t dodging responsibility, it’s personal maintenance. If anyone tells you otherwise, just count how many bags they have under their eyes and then keep it moving… Just kidding…
Kind of.
So When You’re Feeling Stressed Out…
These tips should give you some peace of mind.
Remember, we feel the most stressed when our lives are the least organized. So, let’s get it together, sis.
Peace.
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