Imagine you're at the doctor's office, and he tells you that your blood pressure is out of control. He can prescribe some medicine, but making changes to your daily life is really the only way to get it back in line.
Specifically, you'll need to reduce your stress level drastically or die.
With this sort of ultimatum — reduce your stress or die — it's a pretty easy choice. No one want to go before his time, so you'll find a way to cut out stress.
Everyone should know this next bit already, though most of us act as though we don't. Even if your doctor hasn't told you, excessive stress is harming you. I say excessive because some stress is necessary, even good. Without any stress, you aren't likely to be bothered with going to work, or paying your bills.
Excessive stress, on the other hand, tires you out and drives your blood pressure through the roof. Since high blood pressure runs in my family, I need to be careful not to make it worse.
Starting this past Tuesday, February 8th, I've made a conscious goal to reduce stress. I'm going to give it a full 30 days, and see how things have changed. My goal will be to cut out all non-essential stress in my daily life.
My work will see the biggest change. I won't worry about pending deadlines. I won't worry that Project X is due Friday and needs a ton of work. I won't worry about stuff that doesn't matter.
I'm just going to work.
Project X will get done. Why? Because instead of worrying about it, I'll be busy working on it. The deadlines will be kept, because I'm working instead of freaking out. No problem has ever been solved by stressing about it. No situation has ever improved because someone stressed over it.The only way to solve a problem is to solve it. The only way to ship Project X is to finish it. No amount of worrying and stressing is going to get it done any faster. So why, then, do we worry so?
Cut the stress. Stop worrying about what isn't yet done. Get to work instead.