Showing posts with label stress management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress management. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

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

Ideas Group is a global learning and human capital development firm specialized in leadership and team development. We help our clients become high performance organizations and foster a sustainable growth.
We strive to continue on partnering with our clients, finding solutions for their sustainable performance through services that include management consulting, generic courses for immediate impact, tailor-made workshops and transformational experiential learning experience

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

7 Steps to fight stress in this Financial Crisis

 

7 easy ways to fight stress in tough financial times

In these tough financial times,  companies are cutting costs, business owners are stressing over ways to increase their revenues, and a large number of employees are alarmed at every email they recieve, fearing that their company is announcing job cuts and that their position is at stake.

 

All of the above, plays with our emotions and causes us to increase our stress level; some people take it negatively and some people will start using humor to overcome this period. 

 

I was reading an Article in "Health Magazine" and decided to try it, and guess what?....... it has worked.....

Those 7 easy steps will help you cope with the situation and make the most out of it... at the end of the day, the situation will not last forever, and every recession is followed by growth, so lets be ready for it.

 

                       Follow these tips in the morning and leave the house with a spring in your step

 

      7. Have Vitamin C

Vitamin C is an excellent stress buster. According to Psychology Today, people who have high levels of vitamin C are less stressed and find it easier to bounce back from stressful situations. Drink orange juice or slice some strawberries into your cereal.

 

6.Add some honey to your cereals

The natural sugar can boost your levels of happy hormone serotonin. When researchers in New Zealand fed honey to rats, they found that they were less anxious and stressed. What works for rats can work for you, although not necessarily the thing about living in the sewers.

 

5.Stretch in the shower.

Hot water loosens your muscles, making stretching easier. Stretching helps prevent injury, improves circulation, increases balance and boosts energy.

 

4.Play Music

Music can fight fatigue and relieve stress, says sports psychology journal Athletic Insight. Although it might have the opposite effect on your neighbors...

 

3.    Smell the Coffee

Scientists in Japan believe that just the aroma of roasted coffee beans can alleviate stress caused by sleepiness.

  

2.    Do some exercise

It fires up your metabolism and releases feel good chemicals called noradrenalines into the brain. In a study psychologist found that interval spirits of 30 seconds could cheer you up for 90 minutes.

 

1.    Rise at 7:21

Get you before this time and you could spend the day feeling irritable and stressed. A University of Westminster study found that people who rise early had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

 For more free tips, or if you require the assistance of a Personal Development professional contact us at www.ideaspr.com