Strategies to move from stress to success

Stress is an unavoidable part of life, everyone experiences it at one stage or another for varying reasons, but you don’t have to let it control you. 

We all want to be able to thrive under pressure, but let’s be frank, the reality is this often isn’t the case. 

Throughout my career I have worked with a variety of leaders who approached stress differently, some had tools and strategies to manage through it and others; well everyone knew they were stressed. 

You can easily find yourself overwhelmed by stress with competing work deadlines, personal responsibilities or when unforeseen challenges get thrown your way. 

It doesn’t need to be that way, it’s possible to not only manage stress but also thrive under the pressure and achieve holistic success. 

Don't underestimate the power of basic tools—sometimes it's the simple, foundational strategies that are often overlooked that have the biggest impact when it comes to managing stress.

If you’ve been navigating stress and want to get off the hamster wheel but you don’t know where to start, try adding these strategies into your toolkit: 

Prioritise your self care and no I don’t just mean put on a face mask. 

The first thing you probably think of when you think of self care is a bubble bath, face mask or maybe even a cheeky massage. 

When really you should be focusing on your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Identifying what you need to support you in your day to day. 

It’s not a cookie cutter approach, it looks different to everyone. 

Find what you enjoy and prioritise it. Put it in the calendar and show up for it like you would any other meeting.

Regular exercise, ensuring you get enough sleep, fuel your body with nutritious food, slowing down, meditating or finally trying pickleball for the first time.

Leveraging your wellbeing to lead you into high performance and success is underrated. 

Taking care of yourself is not selfish, it is your leverage to step away from stress; into high performance and success. 

Feel less overwhelmed by learning how to manage your time.

Looking at your to-do list, feeling overwhelmed by all of your tasks and responsibilities that you need to try and juggle, is hands down one of the biggest contributors to stress. 

Feeling like you’ve got a million things to do but no idea how you’re going to fit them in. 

Setting deadlines that are unrealistic doesn’t help with managing stress, ensuring that you are prioritising based on importance and urgency can give you a breather and remove any additional stress from self made timelines.

If you really sit and think about it, did everything really need to be done yesterday? 

We all know it, but yet probably never do it - breaking a project down into bite sized chunks to achieve each day will help you achieve it a lot quicker than spending your time procrastinating about how you’ll even start the mammoth task. 

Time is a finite resource, learning to utilise your time effectively will help you move away from the stress paralysis and back into execution.

Build resilience so you can bounce back and adapt in the face of challenges. 

Resilience can feel like a bit of a buzzword post a pandemic. 

It is your ability to bounce back from setbacks and adapt to challenges – if you want to be able to manage stress, you need to ensure you build resilience. 

As the saying goes “If you focus on problems, you get more problems” so instead of spending your time dwelling on problems when they arise, focus your attention on solutions. 

When you catch yourself thinking negatively, actively stop and spend time reframing them into more positive and constructive ones. 

Spend time reflecting on any setbacks or challenges that you face so that you can learn from them instead of reacting the exact same way next time it shows up.

Set boundaries that you stick to. 

Boundaries aren’t there to gate keep, you put them in place so that you put yourself first and prioritise your own wellbeing. 

When I speak with my clients who are stressed and lacking work life balance, the first thing we address is boundaries as they are essential for managing stress. 

Boundaries work when they are known, when someone doesn’t know your boundaries they won’t know that they are overstepping them. Be assertive about your limits and communicate them clearly to your colleagues, manager, family and friends.

Don’t just say yes to everything that comes your way, learn to say no to tasks or commitments that don’t align with your priorities or values. 

It’s ok to put yourself first, especially if you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed. 

By adding the above tangible, actionable strategies for managing stress into your toolkit, you can move away from (just) surviving and move into thriving under pressure and achieve success in all areas of your life. 

Stress in your work life doesn’t stay at the office when you leave, just like stress in your personal life isn’t reserved for just being present when you’re at home on the couch.

It impacts every aspect of your life but with perseverance and determination you can emerge stronger and more resilient than before when stress arrives. 

If you have tried all of tools in your toolkit and you are still struggling with navigating stress and need support, book a complimentary call below so we can chat about putting a plan together to help you move forward.