#10 of the 101 Ways to Love Your Job

Stress and Simplicity, Part I

According to bestselling author Elaine St. James (Simplify Your Life), you can only have three priorities in life. If you work, that's one. If you have a family, that's two. What is your third thing? Working out? Church? Volunteering? You have to get rid of four, five, six (and so on) if you want to be truly excellent in this life. You can't do everything well.

Some of my own suggestions:

1. Get rid of clutter.

Visually it's a stressor. We seem to take a deep breath and lower our shoulders a notch when we can survey our work area and find it in order. Not to mention that most of us spend on average almost 30 minutes a day searching for something we've misplace in the clutter.

2. Stop being compulsive about email.

Set certain times during the day to check email. The inbox doesn't have to be empty before you can relax and focus.

3. Life is not a race---slow it down.

This will lower your stress levels and your error rate.

4. Learn to say "no."

Remember the "top three priorities" (St. James suggestion above) and only say "yes' to those.

More stress management tools are available (and free) on my website Work-Stress-Solutions.com.

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