5 Ways to Break-up with Stress

Stress is like a partner to many of us, who is always with us, making our lives miserable. But for some reason we are unable to Break-up with it. And you know? Stress is like a slow poison. It will kill your health, your dreams, your productivity very slowly. So let me give you five suggestions from my experience to avoid getting stressed.


1. Know Your Priorities: 
Most of the times we get stressed because we try to do everything. Accept that it's not possible. So please write down your priorities, focusing on your dreams and values. And be strict about it. Learn to say NO to less important things to say YES to more important things in your life.


2. Finish What You Start:
Another very common cause of stress is heap of unfinished projects. Lot's of SMS and Emails to reply, lots of unfinished blog posts (which you left to reply your tweet), piles of magazines and books left half-read (as you started reading another one). As the list grows, so does your stress. So make it a habit from today, to finish what you start. If something can't be done immediately keep it noted under DoItLater category.


3. Simplify Your Life: 
Wait! I am not going to advice you to be Gandhiji, to wear just loincloth. Just think for a moment, which complexity of your life makes you stressed? How do you feel when your more than one mobiles start ringing simultaneously, or all of your inboxes (as you have subscribed to every Email provider available)are flooded with mails, or you surf through 10-15 Social Networking Sites you use? If you simplify these aspects, you will feel much better. Some quick steps:

Use Single Mobile
Use maximum two Email Id (My Recommendation: Gmail + work)
Use one/two Social Networking Site (My Recommendation: Twitter, Facebook)
Get in a relationship (Lol! Otherwise it will make your life most complex)

4. Learn to Relax:
When people feel stressed, what they do is to dive into the pending works, and gets  more stressed within a few minutes. So whenever you feel stressed, stop! and RELAX! Nothing productive can be done with a troubled mind. How to Relax? Well you should find your own techniques, let me give you some suggestions:

• Pray 
• Have a walk (best if you can walk in the nature)
• Do what you love (Like painting, playing games)
• Spend time with your friends and family.

5. Remind Yourself "AALLL IZZZ WELLL!" :
People get stressed because they worry too much. My suggestion is to Stop Worrying and Start Living(as the title of the book by Dale Carnegie suggests) . As Rancho (the lead character in the bollywood movie "3 Idiots" ) says "Whenever you are in difficult situations, facing problems keep your hand on your heart and say AALLL IZZZ WELLL (All is Well). This may not solve your problem, but it will give you strength to look for the solution"

So wish you all a stress-free life. I will be coming up many more ideas on how to deal with the stress.

10 Questions – Do you have what it takes?

I jotted down 10 questions you can use to gauge whether you already have what it takes, or if you need to do a little “work” to get there.

In Jan 2010, I heard Shah faesal (Topper 2009 IAS) say that you either pay the price of discipline or the price of regret. Discipline weighs ounces…regret weighs tons!

With that said, here are 10 questions to ask yourself:

1. Are you disciplined?
2. Do you take rejection personally? What about criticism?
3. Do you bounce back quickly from making errors or failing over and over again?
4. Are you a planner or do you do things by the seat of your pants?
5. Are you prepared to take risks? Moderate or Big?
6. Do you stay focused on one thing and one thing only until the result you want is achieved?
7. Do you have the stamina to keep going long after everyone else is tired?
8. Can you delegate well, or are you the only one who can do things right?
9. Do you wait for things to happen or do you aggressively go after what you want?
10. Do you do whatever it takes to achieve your goals or just what’s convenient?

These questions are critical for you to ask yourself in order to get a true picture of your nature and behavior. What I have found is that successful people are aware of the consequences of not being efficient in these areas, and find other ways, resources or people to manage for them.