How To Deal With The Stress Of Tension

Tension is a well known form of stress which we all experience each day through hundreds of different outlets.

There also seems to be a conscious or sub-conscious concern about our ability to perform, which lies at the basis of this very common stress:

Feelings Of Tension...

We may sometimes speak of nervous tension, tense situations, or of tensions between other people, but tension only really exists in the muscles. It is known as a physical reaction, a contracting of the muscles, which can occur in all of us - if we feel somehow troubled or threatened.

In some respect, tension can be a good thing as it prepares you for emergencies, and helps keep you alert.

If however our tensions are left to continue… we can become restless, fidgety, and unable to concentrate and focus properly. We might bite our nails, our eyes might start to dart around the room - we may even start to show other signs of nervousness…

So sometimes a little tension can be a good thing for us, but if we let it persists then very often there can be physical reactions such as backaches, chest pains, stiff necks, or headaches.

One recent report went as far as to suggest… “That roughly half of all headaches come from a muscle tension which results from the pressures of daily living”.

With Stress Your Body Has Two Choices

When it comes to dealing with stress, we have the ability to choose to respond in one of two basic ways.

1, We can choose the syntoxic response (the ignoring response)

2, or the catatoxic response (the fight-or-flight response)

For instance; a person could well choose the catatoxic response, let’s say someone is being insulted from two rows back in the theater. When they confront this troublemaker and learn that the man is six-feet-four inches tall and a professional wrestler, they may suddenly reverse their field and choose the much safer syntoxic response, which is simply to ignore this troublemaker.

Again, depending on your experiences and upbringing, one or the other of these responses could easily be ingrained to the extent that you do not need to consciously make a choice. It will be made for you by your own reflexes.

Our response to any stress, no matter how large or small, has been well documented and shows that these choices can come almost automatic for us, regardless of what we would like to have done…

Do You Start Your Day With A Plan?

It is said that our time management is only as effective as how well we plan it.

Do you want to get more work done in less time? Enjoy more personal time with your family and friends? And would you like to spend more time gaining momentum in life by reaching your real goals and desires.

If you are not spending at least 5 minutes every morning practicing visualization and planning your day, then you sure need to be… this will help you develop effective time management techniques.

Many people think or say, they are too busy to spend fifteen to thirty minutes every day trying to plan their day. Some people say that they have “just too many interruptions” going on to effectively take the time to plan their daily activities...

We have all had days where we may wake up late and have to hurry to get ready. And we all may have experienced a time when we are immediately scurried off to help a co-worker at work - before barely stepping one foot into the office.

These types of interruptions can be controlled.

Do not let them be your excuse for not planning when it comes to your time managing. Take the right action, and choose to be up earlier, or get to work sooner.

Is Clutter Getting In Your Way?

End up wasting hours every week looking for important bills, receipts or other files you misplaced?

Have a look on your desk, your shelves, and in your drawers; what do you see?

If it’s Clutter!

Then this clutter is not only taking up space but may also be eating up into how effectively you manage your time…

You can learn to reduce the space you use for storing important files and folders by taking advantage of the technology you have on your own computer. For instance, instead of storing huge volumes of papers and data, you can simply scan it and keep the information on CD or disk.

Not only can you purchase software to do this on your own, but there are also business services that will take-care-of-this-process-for-you.

Another great tip when it comes to managing your time better by clearing out old stuff is simply to get rid of most of it. Whether you believe it or not, most of what you think you need to save can be eliminated altogether…

But what about sentimental items like your old clothes, or old magazines and books?

Well instead of throwing these items away; feel good about giving it to someone that may need them. What better way to clear out your clutter than to give to someone that is in need?

7 Tips On Creating Your KEY Master List

The best way for you to master time management is by creating and using a key master list…

Here are 7 simple tips for creating your own key list in order to help increase your time and your productivity:

1. Don’t use a small pad; instead make your list on a bigger sheet with plenty of room… there will be no reason to leave anything off of your list.

2. Write everything down. Even if it seems small and unrelated. If it must be done, then get it on your list!

3. Simply use a legal pad for additional pages. Do not use single sheets of paper. Many times it takes a lot of items to list down when we really clear out our mind of things to do. It is vital you put your thoughts down on paper.

4. Schedule the most important items to be done first thing in the morning each day...

5. Prioritize your list from the most important to least important.

6. Cross off completed tasks each time they are finished.

7. Understand that this list is not something that has to be done in one day. Your list may be something that can cover the entire week or even the entire month...

Are You Wasting Time By Over-Analyzing Everything?

A lot of people fall into the trap of over-analyzing their daily decisions…

It’s a common problem with men and women who can't seem to manage their time effectively. If you find yourself over analyzing tasks and situations too frequently, you should not stress about it.

Simply take a step back and first try to realize that you have been trained since birth to gather and collect all data, statistics, reports, and opinions on a situation before you are supposed to make a decision.

Over-analyzing a project is a super time-waster, especially if you own your own business. There are some people who just can't seem to get any work done.

Many of these people end up failing miserably and going into debt by trying to make a business work, they end up stuck with what can only be called “paralysis of analysis”.

Do you find yourself in the same position, unable to concentrate and move ahead with your decisions?

If this sounds a bit like you then it’s time to take control over your decisions and move forward without fear of not achieving perfection. Finding all of the data and information in the world about a certain project you are working on will never make it perfect.

You must simply be confident, do your best, and start making decisions now!