1. Find out what makes you happy.

Ask someone to write down 50 things that make them happy and you will find that most people start struggling to come up with things after the first 10 or 20. If you don’t know what makes you happy then you don’t know what to work for to make you happy. Stumbling across happiness is like stumbling across a winning lottery ticket, it rarely happens. So what makes you happy?

2. Pursue what makes you happy.

Now that you know what makes you happy it’s time to start implementing a plan that will help you reach happiness. It’s great that you now what makes you happy now but information without action is useless. What actions will it take for you to be happy? A hint to doing this is making the entire actions dependant on you. If your happiness is dependant upon someone else you are on the wrong track. Don’t rely on other people to make you happy.

3. Learn not to stress.

Notice here that I said ‘learn’ not to stress. This may take some time but it’s important that you learn to not stress out over everything. Stress not only causes mental fatigue but it can also cause physical problems in your body. If necessary go to a stress management seminar and learn how to do this. The less stress that you have in your life the happier you will be.

 Posted by Schlarbaum Capital Management

Some stress is good because it enables us to push ourselves harder and work better. But this lasts only for a short period, and over time, stress inhibits our ability to work properly and leads to physical symptoms like high blood pressure, allergies and depression. We need to react to and manage stress properly in our lives to ensure it works in our favor.

Stress Management is the ability to maintain control when situations, people and events get out of hand. There are certain strategies that you can use to manage the level of stress you are under and minimize its effects.

1. Talk to friends and family. This gives you a chance to express your feelings and vent them out.
2. Understand what brings on your stress. Once you know the source of your stress, you can find ways to either reduce the likelihood of it occurring or create more effective strategies to deal with it.
3. Do not try to be a perfectionist at all times. Try and prioritize what is truly important and don’t overwhelm yourself by fretting about your entire workload.
4. Divide your tasks into smaller achievable ones. This way, as you complete one task, you will feel a sense of achievement and feel motivated to move on to the next one.
5. Notice if any of the muscles in your body are tense. One of the symptoms of stress is muscle tightening. Just noticing that will often relax the muscle. Stop and take a moment to breathe
6. Monitor the number of hours that you work in a week. Give yourself some time away from your business.
7. Do something you can feel good about. Wash the dishes, cook a meal for your family or read a book. Do something to help get your mind off yourself.
8. See if there really is something you can change or control in the situation. Change the way you see things and react to them.
9. Learn to relax – meditation and breathing exercises have proven to be very effective stress management techniques.
10. Remove yourself from the stressful situation. Take a break even if it is only for a few moments daily.
11. Set realistic goals for yourself. Reduce the number of things that you are involved in, take help from family or delegate responsibilities.
12. Get enough rest. A good night’s sleep will rejuvenate you and help you deal with problematic issues.
13. Work off stress with physical activity. Exercise helps to reduce it. So, when you feel tense, go for a brisk walk around the block, play a game of tennis or do some gardening. Start doing regular exercise every day.
14. Managing your time is an integral part of stress management. Create a list of to-do tasks and do the most important ones, eliminate or postpone those not so crucial to your business.
15. Above all, be positive. Constantly keep telling yourself how well you can cope rather than how horrible everything is going to be.

The best solution to stress management) is to acknowledge it and deal with it. Having a proper work-life balance will go a long way in reducing stress in your life.