Stress-Busting Ideas by Tom Hopkins

Let’s face it, on a list of high-stress careers, selling has to be up there with tightrope walking. Haven’t you had days when you felt that you actually were on a tightrope? I know I did.

To survive, and, more importantly, to maintain a healthy balance in life, we need to be proactive about releasing our daily stress in creative ways.

For some people, exercise is the best way to relieve stress. Physical activity is a civil way to release pent-up frustration without risk of causing harm to yourself or others.

Another idea is to schedule a brief decompression session each day. Go somewhere calm and peaceful where you can simply relax with no further demands on yourself. Once you’ve taken a few deep breaths and calmed yourself, this is when you’ll renew your dedication to your goals, your uniqueness, your purpose, and your faith in your ability to perform at peak levels. This could take as little as five minutes of your time to have a positive effect.

A third idea is to take up a hobby — something that uses different parts of your body or your brain. If you’re a parent of young children, I suggest a hobby that you might be able to share with your children. Or even better, make your children your hobby. Find out about something they’d like to learn, and learn it together. This method serves two purposes: you learn something new, and you create wonderful memories with your child.

Insulate yourself from the killing pace of change. Granted, we have to keep up when it comes to business, but do we really need to strive to have the latest and greatest in all aspects of our lives? My answer is no. We don’t have to be trendy in every aspect of our lives to keep up. On the contrary, you’ll find it easier to run at the front of the pack if you keep your life simple, and if you keep in touch with who you are and where you’ve come, rather than what you own.

Train yourself to look at time as a precious resource rather than a merciless taskmaster. I am a firm believer in time management — managing to enjoy my life while conducting business, rather than filling in every gap with a meeting or project that will get me further ahead.

Hang out with people with whom you have fun. Seek out and make friends with people who accept and affirm your worth as a person.

Accept your human nature. You’ll never have the perfect answer to every question. Don’t lead yourself or others to believe you do. Make a habit of searching for challenging new concepts and opinions contrary to your own to help you develop a better understanding of your world and how to live well in it.

Develop your own list of things that make you feel good. Keep that list handy and apply at least one item to your life on a daily basis in order to keep the negative effects of stress at bay.

-- Tom Hopkins