Have you ever found yourself feeling like your to-do list is getting longer by the second?
Work stuff, personal stuff, family stuff. medical stuff, house stuff.
The list just goes on!
And yet somehow you don't end up missing critical doctors' appointments or a phone date with a friend.
The problem is, most people, myself included, take their schedule very seriously. But they treat their to-do list like a dynamic, moving target.
If something is really important, don't put the task on your to-do list but assign a time for it on your schedule.
The same applies for you if you want to reduce your stress levels.
The one thing you MUST do if you want to stress less
Forget everything anyone has ever told you about how to manage stress. Forget those deep breathing techniques. Throw the veggies and yoga poses out the window. Because if you don't do this one thing, none of that matters.
Pencil it in. Put it on your phone calendar. Write it in your day planner.
If you want to stress less, you have to carve out time in your schedule to do it. (Tweet that!)
The only way to see improvement in your stress levels is to dedicate a specific time to work on lowering it.
Think about it.
How is being the member of the best gym in town reducing your stress if you never go to exercise there?
What good does it do if you know the most effective breathing techniques, the top 10 super foods or every trick in the book on how to change your thoughts if you don't have time to do any of those things?
Knowing stress management tips won't lower your stress. But implementing them will.
Why your to-do list fails
Let's face it. You're busy. You've got family, work, school, friends, household chores, travel plans. Man you are swamped!
Adding one more thing to your to-do list seems impossible. And you're right!
Adding stress management to your to-do list is only going to make your to-do list longer and your stress probably a little bit worse!
More urgent to-dos will come up and you will forget. We all would.
So don't add it to your to-do list and add it to your calendar.
Find a specific day and time and book yourself to lower your stress.
Make that time nonnegotiable just like you do for your work meetings, your doctors' appointments or even your favorite TV shows.
Eventually you want to add a block of time for stress management every day. But once a week is a great place to start.
Adding stress management into your routine is the only way you will start to see your stress levels come down.
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