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Effective techniques for managing stress

We are working with expert career coaches at Talking Talent to put together a series of articles on lifestyle balance and advice to working parents. The third in the series focuses on how to make sure you have the necessary techniques to deal with stressful periods in your life.
 
When we have got a lot of different things to think about, our tolerance for one extra thing is low. We are often already thinking about work commitments, our work relationships, the house, bills at home, children and childcare, our social and community commitments.... So there is not a lot of extra capacity for anything extra. One extra thing can send us into a stressed space. How we deal with this is critical to feeling in control and making sure we resolve it as quickly as possible.
 
Remember, for most of us, stress at work and at home normally comes in waves and will pass in time. It is difficult when the waves come together and are longer than expected.
 
It is really important to try and make sure you have some extra capacity to deal with times of extra stress. It may be important to make sure you have a good support network in place at work and at home to help you cope.
 
Why? Managing stress helps us protect our health and wellbeing, and promotes better efficiency and performance.
 
Tips:
 
·         Remind yourself that “this will pass” when you are going through a bad patch
·         Ask yourself “what can I do?”, “how can I influence the situation?” and let things go that are outside of your control.
·         Check your body language. Drop your shoulders, unclench your jaw and smile.
·         When you feel overwhelmed, exhale slowly for 3 breaths – let the in-breaths take care of themselves
·         Figure out what support you need; do you need to vent to a sympathetic ear? Do you need coaching to help you clarify solutions? Do you need practical help around the home to free up your time, so you can recharge your batteries?
 
Questions to consider:
 
·         Where do you feel stress physically? What impact does this have? How can you minimise this – through considered posture, a relaxing massage, exercise classes?
·         If you were able to remove one cause of stress from your life, what would it be? Focus then on how you can address this and look to minimise the stress in this area if you are not able to remove it completely. Often, identifying it and addressing the impact it has can already create improvement.
·         What support do you need, so that you have the capacity to deal with that one extra thing that can tip the balance? Is it help at home, flexible working, changing deadlines, more support from your partner or friends?
·         On a scale of one to ten, where are your stress levels? Some stress is helpful to drive us, but where do you want your stress levels to be?
·         What is the biggest contributor to stress?
·         Who can you speak to for support?
·         How have you handled stress before?
·         How easy, on a scale of one to ten, do you find it to say no or to ask for help? Addressing this last point can be a crucial factor in managing the stress in your life.
 
Talking Talent is an innovative coaching and consulting company helping their clients attract, retain and maximise the potential of their talented workforce with a focus on talented women. They run a variety of coaching packages:
  • Organisational Coaching – Talking Talent is at the heart of innovation in organisational policy and practive around feale talent attraction, retention and optimisation. That’s why some of the worlds leading institutions choose them to develop competitive advantage through their talented women
  • Manager and Talent Development – they run a range of manager and talent development programmes, both in-house and as open programmes
  • Executive Coaching for Women – their range of high impact coaching packages increases retention of talented women and helps them realise their full potential
  • Maternity Coaching – Talking Talent provides a range of highly flexible coaching packages for talented women making the transition through maternity and return to work.
 
Visit their website for further details www.talking-talent.com and for information on their latest book – Top Tips for Talented Working Parents.