Managing Stress for Optimal Productivity
All that’s certain in life are death and taxes. And stress. There’s definitely stress.
Whether you’re working full time, hustling your way to financial independence, or balancing a family life with making ends meet, nothing ever goes quite as planned. More often than not, you get to the end of the day with a longer to-do list than when you started, and while that’s great for job security, it’s not always great for mental health.
Unchecked, stress can cause a variety of physical and mental health problems that could impact you for the rest of your life. While pushing through the tasks and “just getting it done” might seem like the most logical solution, it could be costing you your productivity (and your sanity). As counter-intuitive as it seems, the most effective way to manage your stress and increase your productivity is actually to take breaks. Setting yourself up for success with realistic expectations, stress-management techniques, and a little kindness will go a long way towards keeping your brain happy — and upping your productivity.
Evaluate Your Expectations
The first step to being a happy, productive human is to make sure your expectations are in line with reality. This doesn’t mean to stop dreaming big or pushing yourself, but rather, take time to learn your limits, understand what a realistic workload looks like, and makes decisions that support your best work.
If you’re constantly exhausted, sick, or feeling run-down, then chances are you’re overextending yourself and something’s got to give. You might be working too many hours, or expecting too much of yourself in the hours that you are working. In the UK, bosses reported that productivity actually rose when hours went down. If you cut your day from 8 hours to 6, you may find that you are better able to stay focused. If you’re still not seeing the results you want, check your time management expectations.
To get an idea of how realistic your expectations are, try a simple exercise. Consider your average day-to-day tasks; write them all down. Then, next to each task, write down an estimate of how long each takes. Over the next two weeks, time yourself as you work through each item and average out your times after two weeks. Were you consistently under-budgeting for yourself? You might need to reevaluate what you can get done in a day or a week, and adjust the work you take on accordingly.
Manage Stress Proactively
Even when you’ve got your workload and personal expectations on lock, stress is going to happen. In fact, stress isn’t always a bad thing. A lot of people tend to treat stress like a dirty word, but that’s not the whole story.
Stress is our body’s way of coping with a threat of some sort. Our fight-or-flight reflexes kick in and blood cortisol levels rise, preparing us for confrontation of some sort. While that may have served our ancestors when they were deciding whether to fight an apex predator or high-tail it out of there, it’s a different story when you’re stressing about a work presentation or how you’re going to make enough extra cash to make your loan payment.
Short-term, stress can be beneficial. It heightens our senses, gives us an extra adrenaline boost to get things done, and even temporarily improves our memory. However, when under chronic stress, the body reacts very differently. You may find yourself acting irritable, getting sick more often, and feeling distracted and unable to sleep. Under long-term stress, the body is at a higher risk for stroke, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
Being able to manage stress is essential to both your health and your productivity. Here are some tips for proactive stress management:
- Give your brain a break. Even the best and most efficient brains need to relax and recharge. Take up meditation, try your hand at crosswords, or make standing trivia night plans to help keep your brain happy and healthy.
- Move your body. Getting up and getting your blood pumping wakes you up, improves physical health, and benefits your memory, as well as giving you permission to not think about projets while you get your work out on.
- Celebrate your victories. It’s important to acknowledge when you’ve accomplished something big. If you don’t take time to congratulate yourself, it can be easy to get bogged down in everything that you still have to do.
- Plan your weeks consistently. Variety is important for both innovation and combating boredom, but if you never know what’s coming next, things can feel out of control. Try planning a week in advance and blocking out goals or focuses for each day, rather than blocking out every hour or never making a plan at all.
- Indulge your sense of humor. Laughter really is the best medicine, especially when it comes to stress. So, queue up some Youtube videos, find an open-mic night, or call up that friend that makes you laugh until you cry; it’s good for you.
Plan for Overwhelming Days
You’re going to have days where your stress management doesn’t work, your peace of mind is out the window, and your to-do list is way too long. When that happens, circle back to evaluation: do you have the capability to accomplish everything you’ve laid out? Honestly?
Answering “no” to that question doesn’t make you weak, disorganized, or unproductive. It just means you’re human. Sometimes, you can look at a daunting list, put your head down, and sprint to the end. Other times, it’s going to be an anxiety-inducing battle to scratch the surface. For days where it’s all too much, give yourself a breather.
Write out the minimum number of things you have to accomplish today — but be realistic and honest with yourself. This is not a time to push yourself through a long list; this is about prioritizing things that absolutely must get done today, and not a task more.
Once you’ve got your list, work your way through it, focusing on one task at a time. If you start to get overwhelmed, take a short break to walk, do some stretching, or just breathe. If you have an animal around, go give them some love. Take a minute to reset your anxiety levels by grounding yourself and come back to your task refreshed.
Chances are, once you hit your stride, crossing tasks off your list will actually help control your anxiety and lend you a sense of purpose. You might even find yourself ready to tackle more projects by the end of your list. If you don’t, that’s okay too. When you finish your last task, make a list of jobs for tomorrow, and then cut yourself some slack. Take a bath, read a book, talk to a friend, or exercise. Do whatever you need to do to be ready for tomorrow.
Make It Sustainable
It may feel like this article was all about taking breaks. In a way, it was. Being productive and utilizing your time to the best of your ability is always the goal, but remember that you’re playing the long game. You can’t just think through the end of the week; you have to look at the bigger picture.
If you slave away and force yourself into overproductivity, you’ll invariably burnout and suffer down the road. Research has consistently shown that taking breaks, having fun, and getting exercise improves our mental health and cognitive abilities. Scheduling time to relax should be one of your top priorities. Use your time management skills to make hard work and productivity a sustainable norm, rather than a task to push through. As the adage goes, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
