
Stress reduction
By Tash Hughes
of
Word Constructions
Whether it is a common
feeling or an occasional experience, most of us feel
stressed with the amount of things we feel we have to
do. Some stress is ok and even beneficial - for
instance, the stress of having no income keeps us caring
for customers - but continued and extreme stress are
harmful.
There are ways
to keep your stress under control, and many are cheap
and quick. Here are some examples to start with:
-
move away from
your desk/workplace to get a different
perspective
-
learn to delegate
- and find someone to delegate to
-
don't create a
habit of taking work home with you - or working your
business out of the hours you set yourself
-
give yourself time
to learn anything new, and consider taking a class
to save you the time of bumbling through. Don't
start using a new tool the day before a major
project is due
-
practice being
assertive so you can say no to extra work without
causing further problems
-
use any travel
time (eg in the train each morning, when driving or
on the plane for business trips) for yourself. Read
a book you enjoy, daydream, imagine your next
function or holiday, listen to some music, watch the
scenery going by or chat to someone. Take this time
as a gift of work-free time
-
have a set time to
tidy your work area - clear space and knowing where
to find things is less stressful
-
make sure you move
around at least every hour or so. Walk around the
office, do some stretches or do some serious
exercise to clear your head and keep your body
active.
If you can't or won't
avoid stress in your life, you can make sure that you
have regular breaks from stress so that your body and
mind can regain the energy and motivation to continue
effectively. In this case, the breaks must be for more
than a few hours and must be a complete change, such as
taking a weekend away or spending a day watching your
favourite sport with some friends.
Many
companies have long contended that stress in the home
causes productivity loss in the market place.. and it
does. But research now reveals that stress on the job
causes stress at home. In other words, they feed off
each other.
Zig Ziglar

A
combined project by Word Constructions and Web Graphics
by Email
How tolerant are you?
By
Tash Hughes
Intolerant: Not accepting, allowing or enduring
something/someone to exist without interfering,
complaining or hindering. For instance, a racist person
is intolerant of other races living in their country.
Intolerable: A situation that can't be endured or
continued. For example, after time a worked may find it
intolerable to work 100 hour weeks and be criticised by
their boss.
Think of the two words like this: He is not able to
tolerate a situation but the ant chooses to be
intolerant.
Busy Busy
By Tash Hughes
of
Word Constructions
When is
the last time you just sat and did nothing? Or watched a
sunset in a quiet place? Or stopped and really listened
to a piece of music?
Unfortunately, doing things like that is uncommon in our
busy lives. There are so many things we believe we
‘need’ or ‘have’ to do that we don’t take time to
recharge ourselves and just stop occasionally.
It’s not
just at work that we are busy, either. Even our children
are busy with various activities around school and
homework, and then we also fit in physical activity and
some sort of a social life.
But
shouldn’t there be more to life than rushing around and
doing things every second of the day?
Being
overly busy results in us being tired and less creative,
it keeps pumped up and without time to reduce the
pressure. Business fills our minds and we get
overwhelmed and lose track of where we are going as we
are so caught up in the tasks at hand.
And all of
that builds into stress. Sure, a bit of stress in our
lives is healthy and keeps us to deadlines, but
continuous stress is exhausting and unhealthy.
When we
are stressed, we become focused on only a few aspects of
our lives – whether it is finishing a project, earning
more money or dealing with a difficult relationship.
Being so focused makes it hard to see the wholeness of
life, and this can also mean missed opportunities.
You can
read a bit more about busyness
here.