Stop the World I Want To Get Off! Advice For Workaholic Adrenaline Junkies…
 

If your workload or career is pushing your stress levels up, then what follows is a simple guide to how your brain works. I know because, being a borderline adrenaline junkie, I’ve had to learn some of these strategies myself to stay balanced. Believe me, this stuff really works!

That’s because before the age of 10, children primarily use the right hemisphere of their brain - the creative side. The creative right side of the brain produces Alpha waves, and when you meditate, your brain produces more Alpha waves. In Alpha we naturally have a better command of life, our health and our moods. We are able to think more clearly, can consider responses and perhaps make more creative decisions, with better long-term results. Alpha thought waves help us to access that part of the brain responsible for more enlightened, sophisticated thinking.

Long-term stress will have disastrous consequences for your health.  As you get older, your body will find it harder and harder to cope and where some people are suddenly struck down with chronic conditions such as arthritis, chronic fatique, IBS, High Blood Pressure, and raised levels of cholesterol.  The short-term solution is treatment with convential drugs, when in fact the long term and ultimately the best solution is to give your lifestyle a complete overhaul.

Not paying attention to your stress levels and lifestyle, affects your body, your energy levels, and your resistance to stress.  Therefore your ability to rationalise and memorise, and your performance at work will suffer.
If this rings any bells with you, then it’s time to balance your brain

Early signs of stress include being a bit tetchy, food cravings, mood swings, feeling extremely tired or hyped-up leading to sleep problems caused by too much Beta brainwave activity and stress hormones racing around your bloodstream.

 Activating Your Alpha Brain Waves

Scientists have established that creative people operate in Alpha and Theta states far more frequently than the rest of us.

15 Top Tips For Getting Into The Alpha State

 1. Listen to ‘Alpha Music’ www.silenceofmusic.com
2. Go for a long walk and switch off at least three times a week.
3. Watch a film that makes you laugh.
4. Learn to meditate or try Reiki.
5. Have a massage.
6. Have a soak in the bath.
7. Get yourself organised and delegate.
8. Shift down a gear and get away from your computer and meet someone for coffee - schedule some ‘me’ time.
9. Start saying no to unreasonable demands, and don’t turn up for events that you just don’t want to attend.
10. Schedule time for ‘naff’ activities – e.g. tidying up. Apparently Margaret Thatcher used to sort out the laundry cupboards and do low level activities to reduce stress.
11. Start a hobby, i.e. golf, tennis, dancing, singing.
12. Educate yourself in good sleep ‘hygiene’ i.e. going to bed at a reasonable time and allowing yourself to wind down for half an hour before you go to sleep.
13. Don’t keep a computer or a TV in your bedroom.
14. Build a strong network of supporters around you who you can share your concerns or worries with.
15. Don’t watch TV (especially horror movies) late at night. In fact, limit TV altogether.

“Bullied Workers Suffer Battle Stress“

Listen To Your Language

Listen to your language for a full day.  How often do you use and hear reactive language i.e. if only, I can’t I have to

Identify an experience you might encounter in the near future, where, based on past experience, you would probably behave reactively.  How responsible are you, and how could you respond proactively?

Take your time and picture yourself responding in a proactive manner.  Remind yourself of the gap between stimulus and response (MIND THE GAP!)  Make a commitment to yourself to choose.

Select a problem from your work or personal life that is frustrating you.  Identify if you have control and identify the first step in your circle of influence and then take it.

_________________________________________________________

 20 Top Tips For Working More Efficiently

1. Sort your post daily: five minutes a day may be easier to find than one hour a week.  Separate between ‘action pile’ and ‘naff pile’.

2. Deal with any urgent bills or issues straight away, and then file. Make a space for all ‘pending’ items - a place on the bureau or a file in the kitchen - and make sure it is checked every day.

3. Group meetings or visits to customers together so that you aren’t wasting travelling time.

4. Organise your business cards – buy a big A4 diary and every time you meet someone new, staple the business card in the diary, with a little note next to it. This might seem a bit old fashioned but my friend Brett swears by this one!

5. Clearly label files and folders for all your projects, and colour code them if that helps.

6. Clear your desk at the end of each day.

7. Colour code your activities in your Outlook Calendar or use a day planner.

8. Always prepare bags, documents and directions for the following day, the night before.

9. Use a task list. I use an A5 workbook and write down my tasks for the week every Sunday evening. Each day I use a different coloured highlighter pen for those tasks. I cross through everything completed and usually most things get done. It’s a great feeling!

10. Divide larger tasks into smaller ones and prioritise.

11. If you find it hard to stop when you get going on a project (even to eat), use a timer to beep when time’s up, rememeber if you’re hungry and thirsty, you won’t think straight.

12. Organise your domestic arrangements if you work from home, to maximise the most of your time.  Don’t be a slave to the ironing, or try to be a domestic goddess by insisting that you do things the same way you always have.

13. Ask yourself, what’s more important for me to be doing right now? Get a cleaner or hire someone to clean your oven for instance, instead of doing it all yourself.

14. Think – is this the best use of my time and will it help me reach my objectives?  If not, delegate it to someone else if you can afford to.

15. Schedule your shredding. Organise a shredding basket, but have a designated time to shred, or shred daily rather than leaving it all to pile up.

16. Tear off the address panel from letters and instead of shredding the whole letter, just shread the address!

17. Designate a ‘recycling facility’ in your garage which sorts the paper, tin, bottles, cardboard, paper, newspaper and plastic for you. 

18. Use only one diary, better still use an electronic diary that synchronises with your computer on a daily basis – i.e a Blackberry.

19. If you’re having trouble sleeping, rather than lay there feeling anxious, switch the light on or get out of bed and do some planning, write an article, do some lists, brainstorm.  You’ll soon send yourself back to sleep

20. Use a “save up” or “wish list” for projects that you can’t start straight away using a concertina folder which is close at hand so you can review this often.

More Hints and Tips on Reducing Stress Can Be Found

In My New Book

“Discover Yourself On the Yellow Brick Road - 7 Core Principles of Career Success”