I get asked “how do you manage stress”? I’ll be honest: yoga, running, and meditation do not work for me.  And life will never be stress free. But here’s some things I do to help manage it:

1. Being really organized.

I didn’t used to be this way. For instance, now I have one of those closets where the clothes are hanging and grouped by color. It’s still a small closet, but I know where to go for what.  I don’t have clutter on top of my tables. I don’t have paper all over the place. No unpaid bills lurking with the newspapers.

What this does is gives me good line of sight for what I need and makes sure I got everything before I leave. The only time I left my keys in my apartment was when they were under the paper. When you can see what you have, you’re not searching, hunting, buying duplicates, and getting frustrated.

2. Simplifying.

Simplify what isn’t that important to you. What I wear isn’t that important to me. Black, gray, cream, and navy. I could be a librarian. Everything goes with everything else. My jewelry is the same every day with the exception of my necklace. I can get dressed in 5 minutes…I’m not looking for the skirt that goes with this top and needs this jewelry. Variety is exciting and interesting…but for me, it’s also stressful. Yes, it could be defined as boring. I’ll take boring over drama. Maybe it’s important to you…it makes you happy, builds your confidence. That’s fine….but simplify the other stuff. Having everything be complicated is too hard.

3. Being choosy.

I don’t accept every invitation, I don’t go to every event, I don’t see every movie, I don’t read every book…you get my drift. I try to only do the things that I think will be great. If I hold a high standard of what I do, I’m going to be pretty happy with my choices. Is there any worse feeling than thinking something was a waste of time?I was once working on an Internet website, and the developer I was working with had a great phrase: “we need to carefully curate.” I love the idea of being deliberate about your choices.

4. Limiting social media.

I know this is hard for some people.  To someone on the outside looking in, it feels like a lot of one upmanship. Is it going to make you feel good to know every thing going on in other people’s lives and to have to keep up? I think this stresses people out more than they realize.

5. Do it now.

That saying, “don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today”? Absolutely reduces stress. When you tackle that which needs to be done today, you progress. You move the ball forward. When you don’t, you’re just procrastinating. I have never seen a situation get better as a result of putting things off. If you feel like you have too much to do….it’s not that. It’s that you’re not prioritizing. Think…what do I absolutely have to get done today? There’s your to-do list.