Stress Management: Declare Your Freedom To........................

1) Create the life you desire

Two of our most underdeveloped muscles are our choice muscles and decision muscles. Begin to exercise these muscles by making decisions and choices that serve to create the life you desire. If you don't, who will?

2) Do work that you love

Some of the happiest people I know are those who get up in the morning, get to do something they love and also get paid for it. What do you love to do? How could you make a living at it? If you are not doing work you love and know you will have to be doing it for a while, what can you find in your job that you could love to do? What could you get really good at in this job that you could use later on in a job you love?

3) Keep it simple

Complicated is not better. Simpler is better.

4) Risk and make mistakes and even fail

I've heard many people say "I'd like to do so and so, but I'm afraid I'll fail." So!? Failure is not the end. Failure is simply feedback. Learn from any failure. Then take what you learn to increase your chances of success the next time.

Hockey great Wayne Gretsky said "you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take." So do your research, decide on the best plan of action, and take your shot.

5) Slow down and relax

Some time during the past two decades we began to believe that the faster we go and the busier we are, the more successful we are.

We've turned into a nation of frantic people scurrying from one place to another trying to get it all done.

Stop. Sit down. Don't do anything. Or if you simply must do something, just do one thing at a time. Just for five minutes.

Billy Joel once sang "slow down you crazy child, you're so ambitious for a juvenile."

It's good advice.

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