Stress, Anxiety, Pressure.... no thanks I know how to deal with it

Coping with anxiety

A big event coming, bills to pay, deadlines to meet, hiring a new employee, doing the job of others and things at home aren’t that calm either……, all of this leaves you with a lot of anxiety and pressure.

We do behave differently under pressure, however it has been observed that we can turn anxiety to our side and use the extra push that we receive from pressure to transform it into energy. First of all it is important to acknowledge the pressure and the stress we are facing, and that will be an easy step to do, because we all show signs of stress on two different levels: Physical and Behavioral.

Physical signs:

· General fatigue

· Sleeplessness

· Headaches

· Back or shoulder ache

· Upset stomach

Behavioral signs:

· Irritability

· Loss of concentration

· Depression

· Change in appetite ( eating more or less than usual)

· Drinking or smoking more

· Feelings of panic

Before you get too worried, there are effective ways of controlling all those stress symptoms. I use two very effects methods and those are Simple body relaxation and Visualization.

Simple body relaxation:

This method will help you relax your muscles, which in their turn will send signals to your brain.

This sequence is easy to remember and all you need is 10 minutes and a quiet room on your own.

Toes: Tense the muscles on your toes, and then relax;

Feet: Tense the muscles on your feet, and then relax;

Lower legs: Tense the muscles on your lower legs, and then relax;

Thighs: Tense the muscles on your thighs and then relax;

Stomach and lower back: Tense the muscle and then relax;

Continue the same technique on your:

Chest

Shoulders

Upper arms

Lower arms and hands

Neck

Head

If you follow that sequence, you will feel a warm wave of relaxation spreading up your body, it will help you feel comfortable and less anxious

If you only have time to follow a shorter sequence, just focus on your shoulders neck and head.

Visualization:

While the first technique works on your muscles, this one works on our motherboard our programming engine: our Mind.

Visualization is used by almost every winning sports achiever in the world, it’s also very common among successful entrepreneurs, and has the effect on focusing on the important task at hand. The idea is to put yourself in a daydream state and picture success. Scientifics have found through experiments, that repeatedly picturing something, clearly and vividly, acts on the unconscious mind. In fact the mind begins to believe the dream and starts to mobilize resources to make it a reality. In the same time because your mind is so focused on the successful income, you won’t have time to worry.

In order to use visualization you need to do the following:

· Make yourself comfortable: by using the relaxation technique, listening to music or going for a walk.

· Make sure that you are totally relaxed

· Think about a time when you were successful at something, a time when you achieved and were happy, imagine doing the same thing again and the feeling that comes with it.

· Now visualize yourself in the situation: whatever is the task you want to accomplish, try to record a mental movie of it in your mind with all the details.

Whenever I have a keynote with a big audience coming, I start using the treadmill, because running relaxes my body. After making sure that I have no tensed muscles I try to remember my last successful speech, and with the experience I simulate my next keynote and start visualizing all the details; what will I be wearing, how the conference room looks like, who are the people and what will they be wearing…. Strangely enough, because I imagine myself being on stage with a very fit body, I tend to lose weight every time I deliver a keynote or a speech without even changing my dietary habits, this is how powerful visualization is.

For more info on how we can help you increase your personal and professional performance drop us a line on info@ideasgrp.com

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Ask and you Shall Receive

And I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Luke 11:9

I have met a gentleman last week who has lost his job, as his company made more than half of the staff redundant.

“It is hard to find a job these days” he said “the market is crowded with job applicants and companies are getting rid of their existing staff” he adds.

So I asked: “Who did you talk to? And where did you apply?”

“There is no use even if I talk no one will listen in this tough period”

That reminded me of an old joke about a man who was complaining about never winning the lottery and when his friend asked him how many tickets has he bought in his life , he replies “none I never win so why buy”

We cannot expect good things to happen if we do not ask for them, it is just a question and there is no harm in asking a question. All it takes is just a simple question.

In Sales this question is called: asking for a referral, and a good sales person knows that the least that they expect to get out of a meeting is a referral, so if the client doesn’t need their product or service there is a large chance that they know someone who does.

Just two days ago, while an amazing mastermind session was being wrapped up, I said to the group “ I am going to Morocco in 2 weeks, do you guys know any one there?” and my good friend Reg www.regathwal.com jumped of his chair to grab a list of more than 30 business cards, whom I have emailed and got 2 scheduled meetings.

All I had to do is ask.

So my advice for you is to take control of your environment and choose your response to what is happening around you and never give in to the general negative mood.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened Luke 11:10

I close this blog by a small extract of Habit 1: Be proactive; by Dr. Stephen Covey

It is inspiring to realize that in choosing our response to circumstance, we powerfully affect our circumstance. When we change one part of the chemical formula, we change the nature of the results. Those who are proactive focus on what they can do, on what they can influence.

So good luck on your new questions to be asked and if you need help you know who to write to: info@ideasgrp.com

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