20 Simple Ways to Avoid Stress

The following is a guest post from Randall Davidson of Audio Transcription.

1. Wake up without an alarm clock.
2. Wake up to calm music.
3. If you’re going to use an alarm clock, use one that wakes you up by imitating the sun (i.e. it gradually gets brighter and brighter). This is far less jarring than a piercing sound.
4. Meditate daily. Here’s how.
5. Practice yoga daily. Here’s how.
6. Exercise daily (even if it’s just taking a walk).
7. Before any major event, rehearse.
8. Always plan ahead. No matter what the context, always have a flexible plan.
9. Fill your office with happy images. You could hang photos of family, images of picturesque nature scenes, etc.
10. Hire a virtual assistant to free up time and perform your less desirable (and more stressful tasks). You can hire a freelance virtual assistant through a company like oDesk.com.
11. Stop procrastinating. It’s much easier than it sounds, but here is a website that has some great tips. Additionally, there is a website called Stickk.com, which is based on behavioral economics research and allows you to put a contract on yourself (i.e. you’ll lose $50 if you don’t write at least two pages of your essay at least three days before it is due). Many people use Stickk.com to stop procrastinating.
12. Save money. A lack of money causes stress. To that end, check out these massive articles about how to make money and how to save money.
13. Go on regular vacations.
14. Automatically pay your bills. If you worry about paying bills on time, set them up so they are automatically paid out of your bank account.
15. Don’t eat and work at the same time. Lunch at the office is the perfect opportunity to give yourself a break because you don’t stand to lose much productive time in the process. Though you might get a little bit more work done in a day if you work through lunch (and that’s arguable), it’s a marginal amount. For instance, someone who is very productive might get 15 minutes of solid work done for every 20 minutes he or she is in the office; however, the same person while having lunch and simultaneously working for 20 minutes might only get 1-2 minutes of solid work done. If that’s the case, wouldn’t you rather get a 20-minute break instead of getting an additional 1-2 minutes of work done? Many would argue, as well, that a 20-minute break is rejuvenating to the extent that you’ll be far more efficient in the afternoon (so that increase in your overall output for the day will exceed the 1-2 minutes of extra work you could've completed over lunch).
16. Declutter. Clutter not only clogs your home, but it is inherently frustrating. For help decluttering, see these productivity blogs, many of which discuss organization strategies.
17. Clear your office desk of all clutter before you go home at the end of the day.
18. Bring your dog to work. Ask your boss if you can bring your dog to work with you (some offices allow it). I've always found that having pets around makes situations less stressful.
19. Telecommute. Ask your boss if you can work from home a few times a week.
20. Leave work at work. Try to complete all work-related business at the office. That way, when you leave the office to go home, you won’t bring any work-related stressors with you. This means getting everything you need to get done at the office (stay late if you have to) and not checking your work email at home.

Randall Davidson is the lead project manager at Audio Transcription, an innovative company that offers audio transcription services, including interview transcription services. Randall believes it is extremely important to do everything one can possibly do to avoid stress, both at work and at home. He writes about how to relieve stress and other personal development topics on the audio transcription blog.


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