How to Relax: Stop Being Busy, Take a Break and Get Better Results While Doing Less

by Martin Meadows

SEVEN HABITS TO REDUCE STRESS: QUICK RECAP 1. Manage your stressors. Identify what makes you most stressed and find a way to eliminate it from your life (or at least reduce its impact). According to the 80/20 principle, just 20% of the stressors bring 80% of the stress. Discover your top stressors and make a list of solutions to get rid of them. 2. Procrastination gets more stressful the more things you put off. If you can’t motivate yourself to do something, don’t do it. If you have to do it, delegate it. It’s usually not procrastination you’re dealing with – it’s just that you’re trying to do things you don’t need to do in the first place. 3. Show up early. Develop a habit to always be at least five minutes early. Being in a rush is a sure-fire way to get stressed out. Don’t be afraid that you’ll lose five minutes by being early for each appointment. If you don’t want to take a break during this time, you can always pull out your phone and reply to emails or do other small tasks. 4. Single-task. Multi-tasking doesn’t work, and the more things you’re trying to juggle at the same time, the lower the quality of your actions. Multi-tasking affects your productivity, causes stress, and can hurt the people closest to you when your lack of attention shows lack of care. 5. Have an open schedule. If you pile obligations on top of obligations, you’ll feel like a prisoner. Unless you thrive under pressure and love having every single hour of your day planned, loosen up your calenda...