3 Powerful Tips to Reduce Stress, Frustration and Anxiety

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. – Charles Swindoll

When I was in my 20’s I experienced major health crises. In fact, I was so sick that my doctors told me that I might not make it through the day.

Have you ever been told that you might not make it through the day?

Think about that for a minute…

How does that make you feel?

Does it make you feel stressed, frustrated, and anxious? I am sure that it would cause you some level of stress. In my case, I was worried about the outcome and angry that it was happening to me.

This was not the usual stress that most of us experience at some point in our life. You know, the type of stress can ruin your sleep, create frustration and anxiety, and cause long-term health problems. This was much more earth-shattering than that. In fact, this was the day that changed my life forever.

I am not alone.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, “Nearly half of all Americans experienced an earth-shattering, stressful event last year that completely altered their lives. Nearly half of the time, these events were related to a major health problem, either their own or a loved one’s that may have ended in death.”

The chances that you will experience an illness like mine, which accounted for 43% of these major stressful events, is small. But, this study also points out that the other 57% of major stress events are caused by daily problems at work, family issues, and relationship problems.

These are the type of events that we all experience on a daily basis. It might be juggling family schedules, household tasks, or just trying to make ends meet financially.

Whatever it is, our inability to deal with the stresses of modern life can leave us stressed frustrated and anxious. Judi James, expert in social behavior, said: “”A perceived lack of control over the things in life – such as our household bills, or our professional workload – is enough to create a sense of anxiety for most people.”

But it doesn’t have to be that way…

3 Powerful Tips to Reduce Stress, Frustration, and Anxiety

I have 10 strategies that I use to manage my stress, frustration, and anxiety. I am going to outline 3 of them here and show you exactly how you can use them.

1. Know Where You’re Headed

Most of us plan our careers, our new homes, and even our vacations, but we never take the time to plan our life. As a result, we often end up with poor health, failed marriages, and broken families. It doesn’t have to be this way. Begin to live your life on purpose by taking the time to get clear about where you are going in life. For Example: While I was in the hospital, I wrote a simple one-page plan for my life. It wasn’t very detailed, but it outlined the direction that I wanted my life to go.

2. Know Your Priorities

Your priorities become clear once you know where you are headed in life. By keeping things simple, you will be able to focus on the few things that really matter to you. For Example: By outlining a simple plan for my life, I was able to see what my top three priorities were.

3. Manage Your “Big Rocks”

Your “big rocks” are the really important items that require your attention if you are going to succeed. Time management pros will tell you that identifying your big rocks first is a key to getting things done. If you focus on getting your “big rocks” taken care of first, and the rest will fall into place. For Example one of my “big rocks” was to complete my degree. I made sure that I accomplished this by creating time for my degree related tasks before adding other things to my calendar.

There you have it. These are three of the strategies that I have used to overcome my stress, frustration, and anxiety. They will help you too.

These are the strategies that helped me take control of my life and accomplish more than I ever thought was possible. I want to share all 10 of my strategies with you, so I have created a checklist just for Having Time readers. Click here to get the checklist.