Guest post by Life and Career Coach Julie Morris.
When you are a career-minded person, a certain amount of stress is normal and even healthy. But when that stress gets out of control it can take a toll on your mental, physical, and emotional health. Too much stress causes headaches, heartburn, and stomach pains. It increases your risk of developing mental health issues like depression and chronic anxiety. Excessive stress also causes rapid breathing and high blood pressure, increasing a person’s risk of developing heart disease. Furthermore, it can have serious negative impacts on people’s sex drive and sleep patterns, which just makes them feel more stressed!
Signs You Are Too Stressed
- Bruxism (teeth grinding)
- Difficulty learning new things
- Auditory and visual hallucinations
- Severe allergy attacks
- Overeating and weight gain
- Excessive sighing
- Increased clumsiness
- Skin problems
- Bad dreams
- Overspending
Out of all these common signs, overspending likely stands out from the rest for business-minded people. Overspending can make it more difficult for you to meet your professional goals, which only results in more and more anxiety. That’s why it’s so important to be budget-conscious when it comes to stress management. Here are some budget-friendly tips to help relieve that anxiety without doing damage to your wallet.
Break a Sweat
Regular exercise and physical activity are crucial when it comes to stress management. Exercise releases feel-good neurotransmitters while also regulating hormones including cortisol. Taking time out of your day to work out also gets your mind off problems that contribute to high stress levels, and overall it’s a healthier way to manage stress for mental health. Career-minded folks are often drawn to playing sports as a means for exercise because it improves their teamwork and leadership skills. Try playing golf, tennis, basketball, or another sport for a physical and mental boost at the same time.
Try Meditation
Many of the world’s most successful people credit daily meditation as a key to their prosperity and overall happiness. Meditating allows time for self-reflection and mindfulness. A regular practice trains the mind to take that mindfulness with you the rest of the day. Furthermore, it can help with your career as meditation improves concentration and focus. Meditation also slows the aging process, improves the immune system, and promotes a healthier lifestyle overall. Best yet, mediation is a stress-management technique that doesn’t cost you a penny — unless you decide to spend a little money on your own meditation space at home.
Eat the Frog
Considering excessive stress makes it more difficult for you to be productive at work, it’s important to implement effective time management tactics that prevent that. Eating the frog is a term drawn from a Mark Twain quote: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
When you arrive at work every day, immediately do the one thing on your to-do list that you hate. That way, the worst is out of the way as soon as possible and you can proceed with the rest of your duties without that particular task looming in your periphery, still needing to be completed. It’s a simple concept, but you might be amazed at how effective it is as reducing the amount of stress you take on at work.
People who own their own businesses or are simply very career-driven need a healthy amount of stress to motivate their success. However, too much stress can lead to health problems and bad habits like overspending. To reduce excessive anxiety without putting too much strain on your finances, implement successful stress-management techniques that cost little to nothing. For instance, get more exercise by playing a sport that also improves your leadership and teamwork skills. Copy your role models and begin a daily meditation practice that contributes to happiness and health. Finally, do the thing you hate doing first thing every day as a way to reduce daily stress and increase productivity.
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