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How To Stress Less: Simple ways to stop worrying and take control of your future
Say goodbye to stress for good! It’s a fact - stress kills! Yet, so many of us find ourselves stressed out, day to day. However, if you are feeling anxious, find it hard to relax or perhaps struggle to get rid of that constant mental ache, let celebrated life-coach and mentor Benjamin Bonetti show you how to chill. In his latest title, How To Stress Less , Benjamin shows you how to combat stress by taking action and intentionally rejecting it when it rears its ugly head. How To Stress Less provides you with an easy to follow guide to help you effectively release and manage everyday stress that can seriously affect your health. Benjamin does not promise to wave a magic wand to make your troubles disappear. Rather, he addresses the impact of stress and helps you deal with deep-seated issues surrounding common reasons we find ourselves stressed out in the first place. In this forward thinking stress manual, How To Stress Less
206 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 2, 2021
For a first time self help book on this subject matter I quite enjoyed it.
It had some valuable sensible information on helping us process things for ourselves.
In some parts I could identify myself quite visibly which was scary!
I don’t tend to worry about the future i more try to plan for different equations in the future as to several things that might happen.
But that’s the realistic important things.
It’s controlling situations.
If I’m reliant on others and have to wait for important things that help or will change my life for the good, that’s the hardest for me. When my future is in someone else’s hands.
Had some good tips I could mull over.
Not earthbreaking, but hints to put into practice.
It had some valuable sensible information on helping us process things for ourselves.
In some parts I could identify myself quite visibly which was scary!
I don’t tend to worry about the future i more try to plan for different equations in the future as to several things that might happen.
But that’s the realistic important things.
It’s controlling situations.
If I’m reliant on others and have to wait for important things that help or will change my life for the good, that’s the hardest for me. When my future is in someone else’s hands.
Had some good tips I could mull over.
Not earthbreaking, but hints to put into practice.
February 11, 2022
I enjoyed the straightforward, "no bullshit" approach to managing stress based on 3 pillars of lifestyle, nutrition and fitness. This book provides several practical tips and exercises for managing stress anchored on a shift of mindset. The specific part dedicated to nutrition didn't resonate with me so much, but that's simply because I decided to adopt a slightly different approach here (and in the end there are many theories on this subject and each individual should be able to make up their own mind about what's right for them). Overall a useful book that I will keep for reference for future occasions.
August 6, 2024
This author comes off a bit sociopathic — like, denying his children sympathy for their woes and asking them to come up with a solution to their stressors, and repetitively denying the validity of stress at all. But! I must admit it's helped me reframe the way I view life's hardships. And! There were certainly some takeaways, so here are my notes:
• "The past has no direct value to the present, aside from the choice of whether to continue on this path or stop." - I don't completely agree with this but it's an interesting concept.
• Our internal image/ perception of ourselves guides how much we believe we can deal with
• Let your confidence grow from your core — who you want to be
• The only option is to let the stressor continue or to make action to address it
• What can I do to prevent this stressor from affecting me this way again?
• Negative emotions won't lead to a new outcome. Creating action will, though.
• Beware of using stress to garner attention; you can use stress-meditation to garner attention instead
• Building toward a persona; what kind of person do you want to be?
• Do you want pity, do you want to be a victim that bad?
• View stressors as challenges rather than threats
• See things as they are; their scale in seriousness; their full potential to be fixed/resolved
• Replace negative thoughts with three positive thoughts
• Tune into stress reactions in body
• Create a stress assessment that guides how you respond.
• "The past has no direct value to the present, aside from the choice of whether to continue on this path or stop." - I don't completely agree with this but it's an interesting concept.
• Our internal image/ perception of ourselves guides how much we believe we can deal with
• Let your confidence grow from your core — who you want to be
• The only option is to let the stressor continue or to make action to address it
• What can I do to prevent this stressor from affecting me this way again?
• Negative emotions won't lead to a new outcome. Creating action will, though.
• Beware of using stress to garner attention; you can use stress-meditation to garner attention instead
• Building toward a persona; what kind of person do you want to be?
• Do you want pity, do you want to be a victim that bad?
• View stressors as challenges rather than threats
• See things as they are; their scale in seriousness; their full potential to be fixed/resolved
• Replace negative thoughts with three positive thoughts
• Tune into stress reactions in body
• Create a stress assessment that guides how you respond.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 7, 2026
This is my third and successful attempt to discover the value in this book. I think neurotypical folk may enjoy the meandering more. If you have ADHD, my directions make it operationally readable.
If you seek a definite clear tool then at the back of the book he recommends meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, mantra, and guided meditation. Guided meditation simply means the first two of the Buddha’s foundations of mindfulness. Other tools include morning stretch, deep breathing, and centring or grounding.
The 26 pages from page 22 to 48 present the theoretical basis.
In a nutshell, stress load is how much we can bear, stress shock is overwhelming or overloading stress.
One powerful missed opportunity is the idea of a stress account. The account has Debit and Credit and specific actions can invest or withdraw and of course some stress accounts compound faster than others as well. This metaphor is so rich that it might well be named the serenity account and a whole book written around it.
The top 10 stresses are interesting from my perspective. Being late is the result of greed. Frustration is the result of wanting. Doubt of ability is shame or false pride and lack of humility. Feeling over extended is enabling or codependency. Lack of time for relaxation is low self-worth. Feeling tense can indicate organic issues or lack of time and training to relax. Negative thinking indicates a lack of training in cognitive therapy. Family conflicts indicate attachment and control. Experiencing burnout is a major opportunity for re-alignment of values through reflection and meditation. Feeling lonely is a profound stimulus for social skill development. They are interesting but not discussed in the book. Another missed opportunity.
Masking, covering, attention seeking, and coping are actually defined as stress strategies rather than stress relief strategies. This is a highly original insight. Instead, he suggests choice and reframe.
The cognitive interventions are interesting but frankly unclear. He seems to suggest asking what is the value and benefit of the stressful situation. He suggests replacing coping with choice and specifically choosing strength and learning instead of stress. He suggests to state a threat and then reframe it verbally as a challenge.
Page 62 has some baffling ideas to prevent stress. Posture, mind games, positive videos, say thank you, replace negative emotions with positive emotions, simply general sentiments.
By contrast the legacy setting exercise on page 73 seems marvellously effective and original, and in fact boosts the overall value of the book.
“Believing that your qualities are carved in stone – the fixed mindset – creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over.” - Carol Dweck. Explains compulsive workaholism.
All of page 95 is marvellous and one must ask, so what?
Benefit versus symptom, page 102, doesn’t really describe how to make the shift from seeing stress as a symptom to seeing the benefit of a release of trapped energy and potential. Like, how do you do that?
Stress medication equals perpetuation, but stress education equals elimination. Author, page 155.
I feel like there’s a lot of missed opportunities for clear sharp operational directions, but the author is a master coach communicating valuable ideas through the limitations of a book, and he does a magnificent job.
There are original ideas and there are extremely helpful ideas hidden among this text and I would like to see a completely revised edition weaponising and operationalising these ideas and practices.
I know this is quite a harsh review because I found the book impenetrable at first. But it does have good ideas and this review outlines where to find them.
If you seek a definite clear tool then at the back of the book he recommends meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, mantra, and guided meditation. Guided meditation simply means the first two of the Buddha’s foundations of mindfulness. Other tools include morning stretch, deep breathing, and centring or grounding.
The 26 pages from page 22 to 48 present the theoretical basis.
In a nutshell, stress load is how much we can bear, stress shock is overwhelming or overloading stress.
One powerful missed opportunity is the idea of a stress account. The account has Debit and Credit and specific actions can invest or withdraw and of course some stress accounts compound faster than others as well. This metaphor is so rich that it might well be named the serenity account and a whole book written around it.
The top 10 stresses are interesting from my perspective. Being late is the result of greed. Frustration is the result of wanting. Doubt of ability is shame or false pride and lack of humility. Feeling over extended is enabling or codependency. Lack of time for relaxation is low self-worth. Feeling tense can indicate organic issues or lack of time and training to relax. Negative thinking indicates a lack of training in cognitive therapy. Family conflicts indicate attachment and control. Experiencing burnout is a major opportunity for re-alignment of values through reflection and meditation. Feeling lonely is a profound stimulus for social skill development. They are interesting but not discussed in the book. Another missed opportunity.
Masking, covering, attention seeking, and coping are actually defined as stress strategies rather than stress relief strategies. This is a highly original insight. Instead, he suggests choice and reframe.
The cognitive interventions are interesting but frankly unclear. He seems to suggest asking what is the value and benefit of the stressful situation. He suggests replacing coping with choice and specifically choosing strength and learning instead of stress. He suggests to state a threat and then reframe it verbally as a challenge.
Page 62 has some baffling ideas to prevent stress. Posture, mind games, positive videos, say thank you, replace negative emotions with positive emotions, simply general sentiments.
By contrast the legacy setting exercise on page 73 seems marvellously effective and original, and in fact boosts the overall value of the book.
“Believing that your qualities are carved in stone – the fixed mindset – creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over.” - Carol Dweck. Explains compulsive workaholism.
All of page 95 is marvellous and one must ask, so what?
Benefit versus symptom, page 102, doesn’t really describe how to make the shift from seeing stress as a symptom to seeing the benefit of a release of trapped energy and potential. Like, how do you do that?
Stress medication equals perpetuation, but stress education equals elimination. Author, page 155.
I feel like there’s a lot of missed opportunities for clear sharp operational directions, but the author is a master coach communicating valuable ideas through the limitations of a book, and he does a magnificent job.
There are original ideas and there are extremely helpful ideas hidden among this text and I would like to see a completely revised edition weaponising and operationalising these ideas and practices.
I know this is quite a harsh review because I found the book impenetrable at first. But it does have good ideas and this review outlines where to find them.
December 21, 2020
Not a ground breaking read but it does have some good suggestions for ways to relieve and cope with stressors. The book also explains the negative effects stress has on the body and your physical functions and not just your mind which was interesting. A good starting point for people wanting some tips on dealing with stress. #howtostressless #benjaminbonetti #goodreads #tea_sipping_bookworm
#litsy #amazonkindle #bookqueen
#litsy #amazonkindle #bookqueen
July 17, 2020
Didn't enjoy, felt a little too smug.
February 1, 2016
A very good book which, besides suggesting methods to beat and conquer stress, also tells about the links between what you feel physically and what the stressor is doing to your body functions.
February 12, 2016
This book is riddled with pseudoscience and unreferenced "facts".
September 28, 2016
Great book!
December 6, 2022
Useful read. Many things mentioned in the book I can guarantee you already heard before, but as it adds to it, I'm not complaining.
I would recommend the audiobook over print version, tho.
I would recommend the audiobook over print version, tho.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews