It should be easy to reduce stress in your life. Although modern life is full of all sorts of conveniences and luxuries that would have been completely unimaginable in the recent past, surveys consistently find that people are feeling more stressed than ever before.
Life can be naturally stressful at the best of times, and it might be that you’ve recently had to contact legal experts such as Best Law Firm to resolve a messy dispute, for example. On top of that, the world is currently in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which is certainly not likely to be very good for people’s general sense of ease and stability.
Nonetheless, many of the things that promote a state of chronic stress are actually rooted in the mindsets you are likely to carry with you on an everyday basis – and as such, can be adjusted accordingly.
Here are a few mindset shifts to reduce stress in your life.
Let go of the need to be totally productive and in control for every minute of the day
The writer Celeste Headlee, author of the book “Do Nothing,” argues quite convincingly that a major source of stress in today’s world is the fact that the “cult of productivity” has infiltrated not only the workplace, but personal life, as well.
If you find yourself constantly trying to structure all your free moments to be as productive as possible in one way or another – such as by meeting your daily language learning targets, hitting new PRs in the gym, working on assorted personal projects, and so on – you might be ensuring that you never really get time to “rest” in any meaningful sense at all.
Well, it’s good to do worthwhile things, and to live in a way that is fulfilling to you, it can be very positive to let go of the need to be totally productive and structured for every minute of the day.
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Allow yourself to just “do nothing” sometimes – or at least, nothing “productive.”
Instead of trying to do it all, focus on identifying the few activities that will have the greatest overall positive impact.
“Pareto’s Principle” is the name given to a certain heuristic that is very popular in the entrepreneurial world – and it states that 20% of your actions will account for 80% of your results.
While this isn’t an ironclad scientific maxim, it is generally the case that there will be certain high-value activities that will have an outsized positive impact in your life, with the rest of your planner typically being filled with “busy work” of one sort or another.
Instead of trying to do it all – and subsequently having a “to-do list” that’s a dozen pages long — focus on identifying the few activities that really count, and cut out as much of the rest as you can. Trying to do too much during your day can really make stress a larger factor.
Get enough sleep, and take steps to get out of “fight or flight” wherever possible
Sleep deprivation is endemic these days, according to the sleep scientist Matthew Walker – author of the book “Why We Sleep.”
The thing is, when you’re sleep deprived, not only does your immune system suffer dramatically, but your stress hormone levels skyrocket, your cognitive function deteriorates, and life simply becomes a lot more tense and exhausting than it should be.
Simply focusing on getting enough sleep – and taking regular steps to get out of “fight or flight” mode wherever possible, can make a tremendous difference.
Among other things, that might mean relaxing Epsom salt baths, reducing your caffeine intake, and switching off your electronic devices by the late afternoon.
These are just a few ideas to help you Reduce Stress in Your Life. These days our worlds are a bit out of order and who knows when things will get back to a form of normal. Relaxing and enjoying this time where you can focus on what really matter will help you Reduce Stress in Your Life today and beyond.