Stress Prevention: How To Get Unstuck

I feel like I'm stuck. I'm stuck because I've got so much to do that all I can think about is all that I have to do. I'm not going anywhere. Do you ever feel that way? I thought so. Sometimes you just can't get going because you're stuck on the huge to do list. Just think about your to do list. Do you feel stressed out yet? Stress prevention starts out this way. How? Having a problem to solve is the beginning to stress prevention. You'll see what I mean.

One afternoon I was working on finding ways to improve my business. The afternoon started out good. I was focused and moving along. After a while I found myself getting sidetracked right and left. I would start out researching one topic only to divert to another after a few minutes. After two hours of this I was not moving forward. What happened? I lost focus. I got sidetracked thinking about all the other things I wanted to work on. I just floated from one thing to another and pretty soon I had wasted two hours. Why does this matter to you? This happens to everyone from time to time and is a large contributor to our stress. Don't worry we can handle it and here's how.

Stress prevention starts with identifying your weak spots that cause the stress. Let's talk about getting distracted. That's exactly what happened to me. We can start our day with the best of intentions only to have the day turn into a waste of time. I'll tell you a story to explain this better. At one point I worked out of my garage. Yep, my sparkling, comfortable, quiet, spacious, cold, hot, confined, boring, dungeon of a garage. It was a love-hate relationship. Anyhow, I would be working away on my computer and I would hear my son yelling from inside the house. I would immediately go in the house to see what was wrong and if I could help my wife some how. That only made it worse. My son would then want me to play. He'd ask, "Dad, do you want to play with me now?" Of course I did. However, I would say, "I can play with you when I'm done working." That just made him act up more so I would stay in the house. This type of thing happened a lot. I mean, me going in the house to try and help some how. I ended up wasting large amounts of time throughout the day. I would be in the house trying to help but only making things worse because my son thought I was done working and I could play. Meanwhile, in my luxurious garage office my work just sat there. At the end of the day I really accomplished very little and that was a huge burden. Man, could I use some stress prevention.

I realized that stress prevention is accomplished by getting focused and staying focused. You're probably thinking, "How do I get focused and stay focused?" I'm glad you asked. Start the day with a planning session. You don't need to put on a suit for this planning session. Just sit down with a pen and paper. Write out all the "to do's". Then sort through the list and prioritize. Write out your schedule for the day, making sure to schedule in your priorities first.

You just got focused on stress prevention. How did you do that? It's simple. There is always much to do. If you always focus on all that there is to accomplish you get bogged down and really go nowhere. Planning is a key to stress prevention. Look at your schedule throughout the day to make sure you are on track. This works for stay-at-home moms, go-to-work dads, vice versa, singles, doubles, or triples. I mean it works for you no matter what your situation is. The key is, to stay focused throughout the day. Doing so will guarantee your success in stress prevention.

Map out your steps to achieve what needs to be done. Stay focused on those steps throughout the day. The result is inevitable. You will always achieve what you set out for. Sound too good to be true, or maybe to simple? Not really. Try it out for a month. Make it a part of you; own it. You will be empowered to take on the day and actually accomplish what you need to. Stress prevention is found in a variety of things. Planning your day is just one of the powerful methods of stress prevention.

Thanks for talking with me.

Sincerely,

Michael Pollak