Can You Say Yes To Less Stress

A little stress is good for us until it becomesoverwhelming! Here are my top tactics to saying yes to lessstress.

Don't go without protection. Just as we put sunscreen on usto protect against the harmful rays of the sun, we sometimesneed to protect ourselves from people, places and things.You can't stop other people from being negative or livingtheir lives from one drama to another, but you can stopyourself from being sucked in by them.

Look inside yourself. Although there are many dangers aroundthat can cause us to feel stress, many of these dangers arelurking inside us. It may not be possible to eliminatestress altogether. However, it is possible to try to controlthe level of stress you feel.

Take life in bite-size chunks! There may be only so muchthat you want to change in your life to make it lessstressful. You can't do it all at once! But no matter howsmall a step you take each day, over a year that will add upto 365 daily actions. Start wherever you are and take onestep at a time - that is all you can do!

Begin with yourself. Most of us find it is hard enough tochange ourselves. It is even more difficult to changeothers. So if you find yourself stressed by the actions ofothers, change how you react, rather than expecting othersto change.

Stop worrying. Realise that there are many things in ourlives that we don't have control over. Let them go.Instead worrying about what you can't change, focus yourthoughts on what you can change. The antidote to worry isaction.

Put yourself first. Take care of yourself first. It's notselfish - it's necessary, because if you are burned out andrunning on empty, you have nothing left to give to others.You cannot give away what you don't have. Put yourpriorities first and make sure you have the energy andattitude to help others.

Take a break. If you are doing something that is reallyfrustrating, you need to take a break. Step away from thesituation for a while. The more stressed you are, the lesslikely you are to be effective in solving a problem.

Say No! Don't take on more than you can handle. Say 'no'to other people, especially when it will make your life morestressful than you want. Take responsibility for what youcan and can't cope with. Say 'no' and don't take on morethan you can manage.

Don't give up too soon. Refocus! If you find you areslipping away from reaching your goals, STOP! Take a breakand refocus your actions on the bigger picture. Any changecan be difficult. But what is the cost of not changing?

Carolyn Matheson is a nationally recognized Coach,Speaker and Author of "Yes to Less Stress."

Carolyn is a Master Certified Coach, and works with executives and their teams across theworld. She has pioneered an innovative approach to coaching,combining many years of high performance coaching with aholistic approach to work/life balance and has coachedhundreds of leaders and their teams. Her experience as apresenter, both nationally and internationally, spans 20years, with clients currently in Europe, Australia, theMiddle and Far East, and the USA.

Her new book, Yes to Less Stress is available online at from http://www.areustressed.com