Overcoming Stress

This week has been a really positive week where I delivered a Mental Resilience Masterclass to Hudson Contract in Bridlington on behalf of Live and Learn and also delivered 3 Mental Resilience talks to a total of 1,000 students at a very impressive Academy.

It never fails to impact me how blessed I am to be in a position to help people overcome stress and perform better under pressure with a few powerful techniques and my personal story.

The work is worth it

I have dreamed of living a life like this for a long time where I have left the mistakes I made behind and have created a life which is making a difference to many. There were times when I found it hard to believe that this would be possible, but I stuck to it and bit by bit everything has changed.

This week I came across this article which I found to be very interesting.

Know what you want to accomplish

“Unless you plan your life and establish priorities, you’ll be pressured by other people to do what they think is important.

Every day you either live by priorities or you live by pressures. There’s no other option. Either you decide what’s important in your life or you let other people decide for you.

It’s easy to operate under the tyranny of the urgent, to come to the end of your day and wonder, ‘Have I accomplished anything at all? I used up a lot of energy and did a lot of things, but did I achieve anything important?’

Busyness is not necessarily productivity. You may be spinning in circles but not accomplishing anything of real value. Preparation causes you to be at ease. Or to put it another way, preparation prevents pressure, whereas procrastination produces pressure.

Good organisation and good preparation reduce stress because you know who you are, who you’re trying to please, and what you want to accomplish. Having clearly defined goals simplifies life.

So spend a few minutes at the beginning of every day looking at your schedule for the day and decide: ‘Is this really the way I want to spend a day of my life?

Am I willing to exchange the next twenty-four valuable hours for these activities?’ The right answer to those two questions will lower your stress level by helping you prioritise.”

Planning your day

Planning your day first thing in the morning is something which will pay huge dividends. Our natural default is to complete the easy things on our list and to also prioritise the urgent things which are shouting at us.

To beat procrastination and to be more productive you need to prioritise your ‘to do’ list with the most important things you need to achieve in the day. Not the most urgent or the easiest but the most Important.

Prioritise the tough things

It could be that difficult proposal, a tough meeting to schedule, a difficult phone call to make, a complicated report to start. Whatever it is write it down. Then stick to it until you complete it or do as much as you can, then move to the next one on the list.

If you spend just 5 minutes each morning having a look at what you need to do that day and put the 6 most important things in number order then work on those – you will be amazed how much you achieve and how good you feel at the end of the day.

Those 5 minutes can change your life. When I introduced this system into my life it changed completely.

Thoughts for the week

1. How do you work your day?
2. Do you get stuck in and work hard on random things which come to mind?
3. This week try spending 5 minutes before you start your day planning.
4. Write the 6 most important things you need to do in number order.
5. Work through the list moving from one to the next.
6. Observe how amazing it feels to achieve those things you have been avoiding.

Well that’s if for this week have a wonderful weekend and keep Believing.

Warm regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available HERE
http://www.jdmindcoach.co.uk/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/ (Special offer. Put in code 10POUND when prompted to receive a signed copy for £10 including postage and packing – UK only)