INSIDE: Part two of my A-Z guide on how to make life LESS stressful and MORE enjoyable. No matter how stressed or overwhelmed you might be feeling right now, these 26 ways to make life easier to manage are guaranteed to instantly reduce the overwhelm and help you get back on track.
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Welcome to the second part of my A-Z guide on how to make life LESS stressful and MORE enjoyable! If you wish life was a little less stressful, you’re not alone. We all have things going on in our lives that stress us out. Thankfully, no matter how overwhelmed you might be feeling, there are a few things you can do to uncomplicate life and take back control. And in this post, I’m sharing with you what they are!
In part one of this A-Z guide, we got as far as M (make spending time together a priority). In this post, you’ll find N-Z. Before we dive in, here’s a quick recap of A-M:
- A – Adopt a positive mindset.
- B – Be thankful for what you already have.
- C – Choose the less-stress option.
- D – Do it now instead of later.
- E – Eliminate the unessential.
- F – Fill your cup first.
- G – Get organised.
- H – Have fun!
- I – Identify your time suckers.
- J – Journal.
- K – Know your ‘why‘.
- L – Let the little things go.
- M – Make spending time together a priority.
How to make life LESS stressful…
So, are you ready to find out what N-Z are? Let’s dive in!
N – (Have) non-negotiables
We all have non-negotitables. Activities, hobbies and lifestyle choices that are important to us, that we’re not prepared to give up. For me, it’s not working on a Friday night. It’s having family breakfasts on the weekends. It’s monthly date nights with my Hubby, Sunday afternoon family movies and taking my youngest to Starbucks once a week to do his homework over a hot chocolate and brownie.
What are yours? And are you doing them as often as you’d like? If not, it’s time to make life less stressful and more enjoyable by making them a priority! At the beginning of the month, put them in your diary first. Plan everything else around them. Make them non-negotiable!
O – Optimise your productivity
If your diary is crammed full with appointments and to-do’s but you feel like you never really accomplish anything, it could be that you’re more ‘busy‘ than you are productive. Ask yourself how you’re spending your time. Do you focus on a task until it’s completed or do you flit from one thing to the next? If it’s the latter, it’s time to optimise your productivity!
Make life less stressful by getting clear about what’s important vs. what’s urgent. Figure out your three most important tasks for the day and do those BEFORE you get distracted by anything else. Remove distractions and try strategies like time-blocking or the Pomodoro technique to help you get as much done as you can in the time you have. Making the effort to finish the most important task before you shut down each day can really help you feel like you’ve had a productive and successful day too.
Lastly, another great way to optimise your productivity and have a more productive week is to know when you work best. When is your sweet spot? What time of day you are at your most focused and productive? Use that time to get your most important tasks done. You’ll be amazed by how much manage to tick off your to-do list!
P – Prep the night before
Just like doing things now instead of later, prepping the night before is another super-effective way to make life less stressful. Not only does it help you to start your day feeling calm and organsied, you’ll have more time to get ready and you’re less likely to forget something too.
What can you prep the night before to make your life easier? Think putting out the clothes you want to wear, taking tomorrow night’s dinner out the freezer, packing your bag ready, prepping your lunch and putting your keys, phone and shoes by the front door. It might take you a few minutes to do before you go to bed, but you’ll really thank yourself come morning!
Q – Question whether what you’re doing still serves you
When was the last time you asked yourself if the commitments you have, the habits you practice, the things you own and the hobbies you pursue still serve you? Our needs change over time and so if there’s something you said yes to 6 months ago that no longer leaves you feeling fulfilled, it’s OK to say goodbye and let it go.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, make life less stressful by freeing yourself from the burden of hanging onto what no longer serves you. Take a walk around your home and pick up and get rid of anything you no longer like and never use. Go through your diary and cancel any commitments that are weighing you down instead of lifting you up. And, when it comes to saying yes to something new, ask yourself if saying yes will serve you or make life more complicated than it needs to be.
R – Remove toxic friendships
According to Jim Rohn, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with“. So do those around you lift you up or bring you down? Are they happy, positive and supportive? Do they motivate and inspire? Or are they always moaning and no matter what they do or how much you try to help them, there’s just no pleasing them?
There will always be individuals who are happier looking through glass-half-empty spectacles. Individuals who make you feel drained after you’ve spent time with them, individuals who are full of criticism and friends you never hear from unless they want something. You probably already know who these people are and as harsh as it might sound, do you really need those relationships in your life? Make life less stressful by eliminating those toxic friendships.
S – Say no
How often do you say yes when you know you should probably be saying no? We say yes because we don’t want to disappoint and because we worry we might miss out. But there are only so many hours in the day and only so far we can stretch ourselves before we take on too much, life becomes complicated and we become stressed out.
Reduce your stress levels by setting yourself an upper limit of what you’re prepared to say yes to and take on each week and stick to it. And if saying no doesn’t come easy, remind yourself that you don’t have to say yes to everything that comes your way. The “no” doesn’t have to be a permanent “no” either, it can simply mean “not right now” too. What will you say “no” to this week?
T – Track your spending
There’s nothing worse than getting to the end of the month and wondering where all of your money went – especially when you still have bills to pay but your account is empty. If you want to make life less stressful and more enjoyable, telling your money what to do and where to go is key.
Spend a month writing down every purchase you make. Then, at the end of the month look back to see what you spent your money on. Not only will you surprise yourself at just how many unnecessary purchases you made, but you’ll also find it really easy to spot where you can cut back if you need to.
U – Understand that you can’t control all that happens to you
As Charles Swindoll says, “life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it“. We can’t always control the things that happen to us but we do get to choose how we respond to them. And so, whilst life might throw us curveballs when we least expect them and we might not have a choice about what comes our way, we do get to choose how we react.
So, how do you respond when you’re faced with a problem? Do you throw your toys out of the pram or do you take a deep breath and deal with them accordingly? Do you make the most of the situation you’re in or do you wallow in the hand you’ve been dealt? Next time something happens that’s out of your control, make life less stressful by reminding yourself that you have the freedom to choose how you respond.
Visualise the life you want
Do you spend time visualising the kind of life you want to lead or do you focus more on what’s gone before? When we direct our energy towards creating the life we want to live instead of hanging onto our past, life becomes a lot less stressful. Why? Because the past has already happened and there’s nothing we can do about it – so there’s no point dwelling on it. Our future is yet to happen and we can make it anything we want.
Create your future from your future instead of repeating your past and you’ll create a life less stressful. Spend time visualising your future. See it, feel it and not only will you feel more positive, you’ll find it easier to figure out what steps to take to make it happen too.
W – Wake up early
We’ve all hit that snooze button one too many times and then been in a mad rush to get ready. I know just how tempting it is to stay in bed, especially when it’s cold outside! But all getting up at the last-minute does is stress us out. If you’re guilty of constantly hitting the snooze button, make life less stressful by resisting the urge and make the effort to start getting up earlier.
And, if early mornings don’t come easily to you, try setting your alarm to go off five minutes earlier each day. At the end of two weeks you’ll be getting up a whole hour earlier. Put your phone or alarm clock on the other side of the room too so that you have to get out of bed!
X – eXpect the unexpected
OK, so that was slightly cheating I know(!)…but sometimes things happen that we weren’t expecting. And if we’re not prepared, the having to deal with them can really stress us out. But, taking the time to think about what might happen before doing something and putting a few contingency plans in place can help keep those stress levels down.
Say you were travelling somewhere new for the first time. Do you know what route you need to take? And what alternative routes are there if you needed to divert? Planning your route in advance, checking the traffic report before you leave and having a few snacks and drinks in the car in case you get stuck in traffic would make your journey a lot less stressful. Next time you’re planning something, think about what could happen. Expect the unexpected and have a few contingencies up your sleeve.
Y – (Say) Yes
It’s all very well saying no to things, but sometimes we need to say yes too! If we’re to make life less stressful and more enjoyable, we need to make time for and say yes to the things that lift us up and bring us joy as well as saying no to the things that don’t. Make a list of all the things that make you happy and try to do at least one of them every single day. Whether it’s listening to music, going for a walk or taking a nice long, hot bath, do one thing every day to make you smile. Say yes to time for you and watch those stress levels drop.
Z – (Have a) zest for life
Finally, THE best way to make life less stressful? Have a zest for it! Life is precious and it goes way too fast. We never know what’s going to happen…so live each day as if it’s your last. View life with a glass-half-full attitude. Look for the positives instead of the negatives, have fun and make each day count. You’ll be amazed at how less stressful life becomes!
How to make life LESS stressful…
There you have it…my A-Z on how to make life LESS stressful and MORE enjoyable! Which will you try first? Whichever you choose, remember that life will never be 100% stress-free, and that’s OK. There will always be problems, trip-ups, hassles and annoyances and things won’t always go as planned. That’s just how it is. But, follow these simple steps and life WILL become less stressful. And next time something happens, you’ll find it a lot easier to deal with too – I promise! Here they are again:
- A – Adopt a positive mindset.
- B – Be thankful for what you already have.
- C – Choose the less-stress option.
- D – Do it now instead of later.
- E – Eliminate the unessential.
- F – Fill your cup first.
- G – Get organised.
- H – Have fun!
- I – Identify your time suckers.
- J – Journal.
- K – Know your ‘why‘.
- L – Let the little things go.
- M – Make spending time together a priority.
- N – (Have) non-negotiables.
- O – Optimise your productivity.
- P – Prep the night before.
- Q – Question whether what you’re doing still serves you.
- R – Remove toxic friendships.
- S – Say no!
- T – Track your spending.
- U – Understand you can’t control all that happens to you.
- V – Visualise the life you want.
- W – Wake up early.
- X – eXpect the unexpected.
- Y – (Say) yes.
- Z – (Have a) zest for life.
Don’t forget to download the FREE cheatsheet that has all 26 ways to make life LESS stressful on it. You’ll find it plus lots of other great cheatsheets and printables in my subscriber’s Resource Library. Simply fill in your details below to subscribe.
That’s it for this post! Which step will you try first? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time…
Did you like this post? You’ll LOVE these too!
- An A-Z of How to Make Life LESS Stressful (Part One)
- How to Love Your Life
- How to Simplify Your Life to Create a Life You Love
