stress management
Since my only goal for 2019 was to manage my stress I figured I would share my official plan. Writing things out helps you achieve your goals right? My stress levels have come to an all time high and I had a few breaking points this week that made me realize I have to establish a plan and stick to it. This week I completely blanked and missed a big meeting at work, left Oslo locked outside for 20 minutes in the cold without realizing it, and proceeding to triple book weekend plans with three different friend groups. Before I started this new job, my last job had the flexibility to handle some personal items at work like paying bills or making phone calls to schedule appointments. With my new job I get to work, sit in meetings all day, then immediately look up and its 5:10pm. I decided it's time to set some goals to make sure each day I get accomplished all I can in terms of work and my personal life so thing stop slipping through the cracks.
1) Work off one calendar - Rather than half writing things on the fridge calendar and trying to remember dates in my head, along with a work calendar I have decided to combine everything in my Outlook work calendar and then set reminders on my phone. That way if I have a yoga class in the evening or an 8:00am call at work I get reminders in real time on my phone. Now the only question is....how can I get Zach to be able to view my Outlook calendar after 5pm so we can sync up with all our events? If you have any suggestions let me know.
2) Wake up no later than 6:15 - Yes ideally, I would like to wake up at 5:30am and workout but that is not realistic for each weekday. If I am up by 6:15 that gives me enough buffer time to pick things up around the house, actually get ready and still get to work early. I would put eating breakfast in the morning on here but I just can't bring myself to be that committed yet. The below sunrise alarm clock we got off Amazon and has been such a lifesaver. The LED strip around the outside slowly turns on and gets brighter 15 min before your alarm goes off. Then when the alarm time comes, the brightness is so bright it is like sun shining in through your window and it plays music. If you snooze the music the light still does not go off making it impossible to sleep through.
3) Write out the day in my planner & my daily MUST DOs - I know I will only have my electronic Outlook calendar but that doesn't mean I can use an actual planner to write out my daily schedule, dinner plans, and most importantly the main to dos that I have for the day. If I set time aside in the morning to write out the 5 most important things to do for the day whether that is finishing up a business plan for work or driving to the library to pick up our book club book if it needs to get done that day it has to go on the top 5. I get overwhelmed when I see my work task list has 45 items on it and narrowing that down to the must dos that day will help. Writing things out and checking them off a list has also been proven to be therapeutic. Love the below Erin Condren planners but I ended up getting this cheaper version off Amazon.
Trying to keep the list small so I can actually focus on doing these things to eliminate stress. I will of course try and eat healthy, not get over hungry and work out 5 times a week. But I was trying all those things already and things we still falling through the cracks. Let me know if you have any other tips for managing stress!
