Productivity in the New Year: Managing Stress Like a Boss

The dawn of a New Year brings hope, hope for the future, and fresh starts. But unfortunately, it can also bring stress. The same problems you had on New Year’s Eve are probably still there on New Year’s Day.

If only you could discover a way to find more time in your day to enjoy yourself with your family or to work on personal pursuits. Maybe you would not be as stressed as you are if you could spend quality time doing something you love.

It is time to start managing stress like a boss. We all have the same twenty-four hours a day, but productivity can help you tackle important tasks during your workday and lower stress so that you have more time for the fun things in life.

Tips For Managing Stress

Managing stress starts with organizing your life and preparing to save time in the future. When you have some sense of control, it lowers stress. By combining managing stress with increased productivity, you work smarter and get more done, but not necessarily harder.

The following tips will help ramp up your productivity while lowering your stress.

Set goals

When you set a goal, you need to break it down into smaller tasks. Working on these tasks and getting closer to achieving your goal can be enough motivation to lower cortisol and flood the brain with endorphins, effectively managing stress. To benefit from the natural effects of endorphins, give yourself lots of measurable tasks to see your progress.

For example, if you want to wear a smaller size in six months, you might break the goal into various tasks such as tracking your food, going for walks every morning, and following a weight-lifting program. Now you can see your progress as you stay within your calorie range, record the miles walked, and heavier weights.

Even before you reach a smaller size, you will begin to see a change in the shape of your body and probably see muscles develop. When you fit into a smaller pair of pants or dress, your brain will reward you with a release of chemicals to make you feel happier.

Get an accountability partner

Accountability will keep you on track when motivation wanes. No matter how excited you are about a goal or how desperate you are to increase productivity, if you do not have someone to report to, then there is an excellent chance you will give up.

Accountability partners remind you to take time out for yourself. They will call you out on your negative self-talk and ask about your plans. They can also remind you to take time out for yourself when they see stress taking a toll.

Choose a partner who understands the industry or has already reached your desired goals. You want to work with someone who will know when to pull the punches and when to push you a little further than you are comfortable with. If you don’t know someone in your circle, consider contacting a counselor who can meet weekly to strategize stress management and productivity suggestions.

Try yoga, tai chi, meditation, or stretching to relax

Stress hinders productivity. When stress and anxiety overwhelm you, it can make it difficult to think straight and make good decisions. Practicing relaxation activities can help ease the tension and free your mind to think clearly.

Try beginner’s yoga or stretching exercises to loosen tense muscles, improve flexibility and balance, and increase blood circulation. Deep breathing is a part of these exercises and as you move through the poses and flows, concentrate on your breath, breathing deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth.

To connect with your breath better, consider trying meditation. Most meditations are only a few minutes long and can be done sitting in a chair or lying on the floor or bed. The narrator will walk you through relaxing each body part and visualizing calming scenarios. Challenge yourself to try the practice every day for one week to see if it helps you feel less stressed.

Create to-do lists and prioritize tasks

Why should you create to-do lists? First, they are fun to check off as you move through your day. Second, when you complete a task, you feel more in control of the situation and less stressed. However, adding too many items to your to-do list can overwhelm you.

Try prioritizing the tasks you need to complete. What are the top three things that must be done? Do those first. Are there any tasks you can delegate to others or delete? We often underestimate how much we can get done in a day. Move tasks around to other days if possible.

Use blocking as a time management tool. Are there any tasks you can piggyback onto one another to fit into a block of time? For example, schedule all your in-person meetings on one day, Zoom meetings on another day, and phone calls for a two-hour block daily.

You can use the same method as a stay-at-home parent. For example, you can assign Thursdays to run all errands and Mondays for vacuuming and mopping the floors. You can also use time blocking to remember to do specific tasks, such as your birthday month for annual health screenings.

Take one action today

Do you want to feel less stressed today? Take one action toward your goal. That is just one action on your list of tasks that will move you closer to your goal. For example, sign up for a certification course today if you want to get certified as a Project Manager. Research online courses if you need to learn Spanish to qualify for a promotion.

Taking action motivates us to keep going. It spurs us on and makes achieving our goals possible. Can you break your goals down into small, bite-sized steps? Can you make it so that the tasks only take about fifteen to thirty minutes?

Some tasks might only take you five minutes. For example, do you want to know how to start a business in your state? Maybe a five-minute phone call to your city’s Chamber of Commerce could get you started.

Make a list of the tasks and write out an estimated time it will take you to complete them. Commit to doing one action daily to move forward. How many tasks can you complete in thirty days or ninety days?

Break bad habits

We waste a good amount of time engaging in bad habits that could be used more productively. But how do we break bad habits and replace them with good habits? In James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, he offers several suggestions.

One of these suggestions is to attach a good habit to another already-formed habit. For example, if you want to work out in the mornings at 5 am, attach that habit to another one, like brushing your teeth.

You could brush your teeth and then put your workout clothes on. Brushing your teeth would trigger the need to put your clothes on to exercise. Once that outfit is on, you will likely go to the gym or another room to work out.

A counselor can help you break bad habits that keep you from reaching your goals. Unfortunately, some patterns are engrained in us, which may be ones we have practiced for decades. Working with a professional to replace these with productive habits can be life-changing.

Getting Help

Managing stress like a boss means seeking out advisors when you need help. Even royalty and great leaders sought out the wisdom and training of others. Ask for help from a licensed counselor who can offer suggestions for managing stress and workload while balancing family and personal life.

Make this year different. You are a priority.