Tips for Stress Reduction – 3 Simple Steps to Get Into Action! Part 2 of 3
Welcome back! This is the 2nd post of 3 in my Tips for Stress Reduction. I created these posts when I realized that Stress is the number one epidemic in our country, which leads to many life-threatening medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity etc…
Yet, as I have personally experienced, doctors will diagnose your condition as "stress related" but then just hand you a nice little pill to take. I'm not discounting the necessity of medications in certain instances, having been in the healthcare field for as long as I have, I completely agree medications in certain patients are a necessity. But what if your condition is created in your own reality? What if the little pill doesn't cure the underlying problem?
This is the question you can ask yourself.
So in Part 1, the idea was to get you to identify that you, as a parent, need to take care of yourself first. We talked about identifying your energy levels, and slowing down your speeds. Step 1 was to bring into your awareness WHEN you noticed that you were stressed out.
Now in Part 2, we identify 3 Simple Steps to get into action to reduce your stress.
Step 1 – Do Less
What? Do less? ….I can hear all of the "yeah but" comments now. So let me clarify: Just Do Less.
This step in its simplicity can sometimes be a difficult step to reconcile to yourself because you will argue for your stress. Doing less is a simple decision you can make. Let me ask you these questions: Do you need to attend every birthday party for every child in your son or daughter's class? Do you need to have your child enrolled in every extracurricular activity leaving you running from baseball to ballet to piano lessons?
Doing less can extend to spending less money and possibly eliminating the need to work so much! Simplicity is a very freeing feeling. We were able to manage as humans in a simple world before there was money, can we not manage now? Leo Babuta writes a beautiful blog at that focuses on simplicity. Check it out, you may learn that there exists another reality about a simple life.
Doing less can also mean instead of having to take the family to the lake, or skiing, or on activities to feel like that is what proper families should do when spending time together. Doing less can simply mean, stay at home, read books, have meaningful conversations, be still and enjoy your time together.
Step 2 – When you have a lot to do, then consider Batching
Perhaps you've heard of batching as something that people do when they send out large amounts of mail. At least that's what I think of when I think of batching. I first learned about batching from Tim Ferris, author and Lifestyle designer. I have been employing the idea of batching for a while now. It is somewhat against what my mother taught me growing up, but it allows me to focus my attention and my time on productivity rather than menial tasks all day long.
Here are some examples of how you can employ batching in your life today:
- Laundry – The dreaded laundry! My mother always used to say that it was easier if I did a little bit every day, but having to think about laundry everyday was a mental drain, and a time drain. Instead we batch our laundry once or twice a week.
- Bill Paying – If you don't already have a great system set up, perhaps bill paying can be batched weekly or bi-weekly.
- Grocery Shopping – Making daily trips to the grocery store not only drains your energy and your time, but can inevitably drain your pocketbook as you are more likely to spend over your budget with frequent trips. Instead batch your grocery shopping into a weekly task.
I am sure you can come up with other ideas for batching. The concept is that you get to allow yourself to temporarily forget about a task knowing that you'll get back to it at a pre-determined time. You are not ignoring the task; you are just deferring it and instead putting your attention to getting other things done.
Stress is sometimes a product of multi-tasking. New research on this phenomenon shows that people are most effective when they can UNI-task, and their stress levels are lower. So focus on ONE thing at a time. Other, more mundane tasks can wait! So batch on!!
Step 3 – Elicit Teamwork!
I was recently coaching an overworked an overstressed mom that had 3 teenage boys at home! She says, I'm so tired when I get home, but there's so much to be done! We came up with a plan to elicit teamwork from her family so that she does not feel that all of the work needs to fall on her shoulders.
I owe this solution to my dad, a perfectionist with housework, retired Navy and raised Navy brat, he was a stickler for a clean house. When I was 9, he sat my sisters and I down, and asked us to outline every single chore that had to be done in the house. When we were done, we divided the chores into 3 areas. One was kitchen/dishes, then there was the bathroom and linens, lastly was the living area. We were then each responsible for our areas each week, and we rotated once per week. It was easy for my dad to keep track of who's area of responsibility it was that week, and then he was able to be the household manager, instead of the custodian.
Can you pull together your team? Who is your team? Your family, kids, grandparents? As the manager and leader of your household, you can elicit their teamwork. Gain their interest, ask for their involvement, and get their feedback. It is easiest to get buy-in for chores and duties when it is THEIR idea, not yours. But they will want to be a part of this great team. Team members as young as 2 can also take part in contributing to the house!!
Thank you for following along! Please feel free to post any questions or comments below! I'd love to hear how you get into action to get out of Stress!! ~Makenzie
