Author: Lisa Hopp

Seven Tips On How To Stress Less At Work

Posted on August 9, 2017January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

1 – Control Your Reaction To Stress

Controlling your reaction to stress is the first tip on how to stress less at work. Your body’s natural reaction to stress is the fight or flight response. Internalizing this reaction to stress has major health implications. Have a plan of action to ensure a healthy response to stress. Take deep breaths and relax your shoulders to reduce body tension. Practice meditation and relaxation regularly so it’s easy to implement when needed. Take a walk as you brainstorm your response to a stressful situation at work. Working off some of the stressful energy helps reduce the impact of stress on your health. It’s also effective in clearing your thoughts helping you to resolve the issue.

2 – Maximize Your Calendar To Stress Less At Work

Identify the main projects and deliverables you are responsible for and block time on your calendar to focus on them. Ideally, schedule a recurring meeting with yourself to repeat every week. If your manager schedules over it or another meeting or project takes precedence, you are able to move the calendar entry to another time or day. Blocking your calendar also controls when you are available for meetings with your colleagues. Structure your day around when you are focused on your responsibilities and leave open the times on your calendar you prefer to attend meetings. Calendar blocking helps you to be more proactive with your responsibilities and increases your feeling of control which reduces stress.

3 – Start Your Day Earlier

Productivity experts such as Brian Tracy, recommend making the first hour of the day laser focused on your most important activities. Arrive at the office earlier than everyone else to have focused uninterrupted time to work on projects, deliverables, and training. It isn’t required to be in the office for this to be effective, consider setting aside an hour at home every morning to get a head start on the day.

4 – Take Breaks To Stress Less At Work

Although it feels as if you are getting more done, skipping breaks leads to burn-out and distracting activities such as checking your phone. Take time away from your desk. Try taking a ten minute walk, eating lunch in the cafeteria, or sit to read or listen to music. Consider using your lunch break to work on a hobby. It will help you to feel balanced working in an activity that is important to you earlier in the day.

5 – Improve Your Skills

If you are frustrated with your current position or feeling stagnant, learn a new skill. Find an online course or a class to improve an area you struggle in. Set aside time to read up on a certain subject. This is also a great way to use the hour you’ve set aside in the morning. Use the hour allocated every day or even set aside just one or two mornings for improving your skills.

6 – Prepare The Day Before

Prepare and organize the day before for the next day. Know your top priorities you’ll focus on the next day. Review your calendar for any new meetings you may need to prepare for. Draft out a plan for the next day to ensure maximized productivity.

7 – Establish Clear Priorities With Your Boss

If you are juggling multiple initiatives, you might be struggling with completing everything expected. Discuss your assigned initiatives with your manager to prioritize your initiatives and set expectations with your manager on when they’ll be completed. For recurring tasks you’ve performed for quite a while and aren’t sure they are necessary, consider researching if they are still needed.

Employee Health Fair Planning Guide

Posted on April 22, 2017January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

We have over fourteen years employee health fair experience in multiple companies throughout the country. In this post, we combine our experiences in these events with our project planning and business process expertise to help you plan a successful health fair for your employees.

Leadership Supports Employee Health Fair

Gaining support from company executives and management will increase the success of the employee health fair. Run the date of the event past them prior to finalizing the date to identify any potential conflicts. Request meetings are kept to a minimum on that date. For work environments where it is difficult for employees to leave their workstations, ask leadership for creative ways to ensure proper coverage and still allow employees to participate.

Employee Health Fair Committee

Extend the health fair planning and advocacy responsibilities beyond the human resources team. This approach not only helps spread the responsibility and manage tasks it also fosters different ideas, needs and view points of the various departments within the organization. Regardless of the size of the organization identify and recruit potential health fair committee members to help.

How To Recruit Employee Health Fair Committee Members

Take into consideration your organizations structure and culture to decide how to build your health fair committee. Some approaches may include representatives from various departments, work shifts, site locations, levels within the company, and ensure there’s a good balance of male and female representation. With these approaches in mind, begin to reach out to those you think are a good fit for the committee. Approach leadership within the organization and request they assign a committee member from their respective departments. Consider employees looking for stretch assignments and/or more visibility and networking opportunities. If available, consider employees previously vocal about their recommendations and ideas for future employee health fairs.

Responsibility of the Employee Health Fair Committee Members

Schedule regular meetings with the entire health fair committee. In addition to advocating and promoting the event to their colleagues, distribute other tasks among the committee members. Give responsibility to each committee member to find and invite a vendor to participate in the event. Identify members with the skill set to help write communications, create flyers, etc. They are the liaison with key leaders within the organization to keep them updated and supporting the event. On the day of the health fair, members can assist with the information table, vendor set-up, traffic flow, run various activities, etc.

Determine the atmosphere of the event – music playing, raffles and prizes displayed, event theme, etc.

Develop Your Health Fair Project Plan

Keep the team on track with a health fair project plan. Share this plan during health fair planning meetings to develop a plan, identify new tasks, and keep the team on track. We have a FREE Health Fair Planning Checklist to help you get started:

Vendors To Invite To Employee Health Fair

Fun activities and educational vendors will draw employees to your company health fair.

Chair Massage Therapists

The number one reason companies call us to provide chair massage for their health fair is to help get employees excited about the health fair and attend the event. Chair massage is a great fit because it is well received by employees, is health oriented, and provides a reward to the employees. We provide national chair massage services and we’d love to help you with your event. Some examples of areas we provide chair massage are Atlanta Chair Massage, Chicago Chair Massage, New York Chair Massage, Houston Chair Massage, Detroit Chair Massage, and All Other Chair Massage Service Areas.

Meditation Instructor

Have a small private area set-up and allow employees to participate in short meditation sessions throughout the day. The sessions can be a combination of meditation and/or learning about the different meditation methods and benefits of meditation.

Fitness or Yoga Instructor

Fitness or yoga instructors can provide mini versions of the classes they teach. They can answer questions about fitness goals and exercise plans. Demonstrations of stretches employees can do in their work space is also popular and helpful.

Nutritionist/Chef

Educate employees on healthy eating and nutrition with a demonstration of healthy food and recipes. Provide employees with simple tips on how they can eat healthier. Examples of simple dietary changes employees can make for a healthier diet.

Health Screenings

Glucose testing
BMI
Cholesterol testing
Blood pressure check

Fire Department

Fire departments can offer safety education tips at their table.

Local Associations or Hospital

Check with local associations and hospitals on their availability to send an educator on their topic – American Heart Association, women’s health and men’s health, etc.

Benefits Suppliers

Include representatives from each of the company’s benefits suppliers to provide the opportunity for employees to learn more about the benefits available. This is also a good time for employees to ask the representatives questions they have on their benefit plans.

Home Health Care Company

Many employees are handling aging parent issues. A home health care company can educate your employees on these issues and the types of services available to help. Your local Area Agency on Aging may be able to assist as well.

Fun Activities Employee Health Fair

Team Sports

Inspire some healthy competition and exercise by creating teams and participate in some games such as softball or volleyball.

Game System

Set-up a station with game systems with health and fitness games such as bowling, tennis, dance, etc. Ask a couple of the employee health committee members to manage the station and assist employees with the games. Consider setting up mini-competitions with the employees to encourage participation and increase the fun.

Raffle Prizes For Attending Employee Health Fair

Offer a raffle for prizes for employees attending the employee health fair. Prizes can include extra vacation days, company promotional items, gift certificate for restaurants in the area, gift certificates for services in the area, etc.

Serve Lunch or Snacks

Offering lunch or snacks

Communicating Employee Health Fair

A strong communication plan is critical to ensure a great turn out for your employee health fair. Begin communications for the date of the event at least thirty to sixty days in advance. Determine the best communications methods for your company.

Calendar Invite

For those employees regularly working off their calendars, a meeting invite might be the most effective. This avoids confusion and depending upon employees to remember the date and time. When scheduling meetings, it’s also serves as a reminder to avoid scheduling meetings during that time.

Email Campaign

Consider an email campaign to build excitement for the event. Send out emails with the agenda for the day, vendors participating, activities, raffles, presentations, etc. Emails containing a focus on a specific vendor or activity employees can expect to see at the event. Emails provides more depth on what to expect, raises awareness and keeps the event top of mind.

Intranet

If your company has an intranet site, develop a page dedicated to the employee health fair and add content similar to the email content.

Health Fair Committee Advocates

Encourage your employee health fair committee members to share information about the health fair with their colleagues during meetings, during conversations, etc.

Flyers

Post flyers throughout the building and at all sites promoting the event.

Space Planning For Employee Health Fair

Begin planning your space to hold the event well in advance to ensure enough space is available, rooms are reserved, and to develop a clear picture of the vendors and activities you have room for.

Where To Hold The Employee Health Fair

Companies hold employee health fairs in many locations and often use a combination of spaces inside and outside of the office building. Cafeterias, conference rooms, and offices are popular choices. They’re easily accessible and visible to the employees. Employees will stop and visit the health fair when walking by from a meeting or on their way to lunch. Warehouse, garages, and gymnasium spaces are also popular in manufacturing or school environments. When weather is more reliable, many companies choose to set-up tents and hold the event outside. Outdoor events often include BBQ’s, outdoor games and have a more relaxed feel.

During a large employee health fair event, we suggest you keep all activities in open and visible areas as much as possible. It’s a lot for employees to take in and they might miss some things. Consider having employee health fair committee members directing traffic throughout the day to the various locations of the vendors and activities.

Vendor Set-up Needs

Ask each vendor their set-up requirements to provide the best experience for your employees. Don’t assume every vendor just needs an eight foot table. For example, our chair massage therapists each need a minimum of a 4×4 area plus a small table for supplies.

Activity Set-up Needs

Consider the activities available for the day. How much space is needed for each activity? How will the traffic flow in the space? Where will employees line up to wait their turn to participate? These are just a few questions to think about when setting up the activity spaces.

Additional Set-up Needs

Other items to consider having available the day of the event include signs to clearly communicate to employees where the vendors and activities are located, chairs, power strips, tape, scissors, rubber bands, tie downs, table cloths, garbage cans, paper towels, cleaning products, staplers, stapler removers, pen, note pad, etc.

Managing Employee Health Fair Event

After weeks of planning, the event day is finally here. It’s going to be a fun and great event. Remember to enjoy the day yourself, too.

Cell Phone Numbers Provided To Vendors

This is probably the most often over looked detail of the event. All the planners and employee health fair committee members are away from their desks assisting with the health fair set-up. Vendors need to easily reach organizers the day of the event with questions, directions, etc. Please provide a couple cell phone numbers and have your cell phones with you for these emergencies.

Employee Health Fair Committee Members

The employee health fair committee members are critical on the day of the event. Initially, they will help ensure vendors are set-up and ready to go. Have a couple committee members dedicated to greeting vendors as they arrive at the main door, ensure they have no issues checking in, and to help navigate them to the event location. After that, some will work shifts at some of the activity stations, prizes and raffle stations, help with traffic flow and other miscellaneous needs that come up during the day of the event.

Their main role for the day is event cheerleader. They can round up their teams and encourage them to join them at the health fair. Employees love to attend in groups and experience the event together. They can talk up some of the fun activities and get others excited about the event. Your employees are looking forward to the event and might be waiting for the encouragement and permission to attend and enjoy the day.

Employee Health Fair Clean Up

After the event, have a team of volunteers ready to help with clean up. With enough people, this can go quickly and easily. Have large garbage cans available. Fold-up all tables and put away chairs. Some organizations have conference room set-up teams to manage this for you. Collect extra materials and information from each vendor to display in shared areas for the employees to continue to encourage what they’ve learned the day of the event or for employees who were unable to attend. Give vendors a survey to complete prior to leaving for feedback on the event and recommendations for future events. If known, communicate the date of the next event.

Employee Health Fair Post Activities

Immediately collect information from employees and leadership on the event. Send a survey to the employees over email or have employees complete the survey at the event. Meet with the employee health fair committee and gather their feedback as well. Ask the team to collect feedback from their leadership as well. Identify what worked well, areas for improvement and new ideas for the next event. Plant the seeds for next steps for the next event and secure the committee members to help for next year.

How To Design A Kitchen Command Center

Posted on January 26, 2016January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

Organizing important papers and keeping the clutter in the kitchen under control seems to be a never ending quest. To resolve this, an organized “command center” where everything is one place and everyone in the household knows where to place and find important papers is one solution that works for many homes.

But how do you design a command center for your home? Read on to find some tips and solutions to design your own. We’ve also included images for many other functional and decorative solutions we’ve found.

Step One: Identify Your Needs

Look around your kitchen and nearby rooms to determine what is “dumped” in that area and could use a home. Consider the members of the household and their needs – do they need a mail slot or a basket of their own? Also, considering mail slots or baskets, are there other categories that’d be helpful – magazines, coupons, etc. What other items do you need a home for – family calendar, school schedules, important phone numbers, lists, keys, etc.

Step Two: Determine Your Preferences

Do you want the space visible or tucked away unseen? Do you prefer to have papers push-pinned, secured with magnets, etc. or do you prefer a neater look and would like to use a variety of picture frames to hold long-term papers. Do you want a system on the wall or do you prefer keeping things organized in folders? It’s important to pick a solution that can be maintained.

Step Three: Pick Your Design

Search for design ideas and where you can buy the items you need. We have several ideas listed below to help you get started.

Bodywork Alternatives Onsite Massage, LLC provides on-site chair massage services for corporate and personal events such as employee corporate wellness health fairs, employee appreciation, customer appreciation, bridal parties, birthday parties, and more. Call us for your next event!

Chair Massage Austin, Chair Massage Boston, Chair Massage Charlotte, Chair Massage Chicago, Chair Massage Columbus, Chair Massage Dallas, Chair Massage Denver, Chair Massage Detroit, Chair Massage Houston, Chair Massage Indianapolis, Chair Massage Jacksonville, Chair Massage Memphis, Chair Massage New York City, Chair Massage Philadelphia, Chair Massage Phoenix, Chair Massage San Antonio, Chair Massage Seattle, Chair Massage Denver – Click here for all chair massage service areas

how to organize your life to reduce stress

How To Organize Your Life – Reduce Stress

Posted on January 2, 2016January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

Learn how to organize your life to reduce stress and gain control. Having control is the solution to stress management. Creating a plan and systems to organize your entire life will reduce stress, reduce the overwhelm and keep you feeling in control. This control plan is a living document which you can continuously adjust and tweak to adjust what isn’t working and to evolve with you as your life changes.

Learning how to organize your entire life is a continuous work in progress. Give yourself time and patience to create the best systems that work for you. Setting aside one weekend or several days over a week to develop the foundation of your plan will create a structure for you to achieve your goal and feel in control again. This plan can be followed for both work and home.

Below are the steps on how to organize your life:

Define Your Life Purpose – This simply means be clear on what you want. This will allow you to plan your time on what is important to you. For now, define what you want to achieve over the next few weeks or months, so you can keep yourself on track and organized. You’ll focus on setting priorities, current obligations, and personal fulfillment.
Develop Weekly Planner Template – This is your guide on how you will spend your time during the week to help you plan and maximize your time.
Develop Master To Do List – Write down everything you want to accomplish and prioritize. This is your master list to organize your life.
Implement Your Life Organization Plan – Start following and tweaking your plan!

It’s important to know this is a continuous work in progress. Focus on having the foundation of these tools in your life. The content you place on these tools is ever changing as your life changes and grows. You may start with what feels like a draft of this plan. Implementing the plan is the most important part. With more soul searching, learning what works for you and life changes the plan will become further defined.

Are you ready to get started to organize your entire life? Let’s start with Define Your Life Purpose..

Benefits Of Chair Massage

Posted on November 27, 2015January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

Benefits Of Chair Massage At Work

The benefits of chair massage on your company’s wellness program, employee engagement and employee retention ensure it is a benefit worth investing in. Chair massage reduces stress levels, reduces muscle tension, improves circulation, sleep and flexibility. Companies may find chair massage reduces absenteeism, improves retention & engagement and decreases health care costs.

Chair massage therapists use a specially designed chair taking the pressure off the lower back, opening up the neck, and relaxing the arms. Stress melts away the minute the employee sits on the chair. They know this is their time to relax and they look forward to how great they will feel after. They look forward to the reduction of muscle tension possibly causing headaches, teeth grinding, aching arms and hands. Research shows 71% of employees want stress breaks such as chair massage.

Chair massage is easy to set-up on a monthly or weekly basis, for your company health fair, or an employee appreciation event such as Customer Service Week, Administrative Professional’s Day, Nurses Appreciation, Teacher’s Appreciation and sales incentives. The chair massage therapist(s) each require a 4×4 area and a small table to set their supplies on. Popular locations to set-up chair massage are within a conference room, office, cubicle or a common area during large events like health fairs. Your employees can sign up in advance or can participate on a walk-up basis.

The length of the chair massage varies based on your company needs, time frame, and number of attendees. The benefits of chair massage are most realized in a fifteen to twenty minute chair massage, however five and ten minute chair massages are also very popular. We can provide one chair massage therapist or several to meet your event needs.

We can help you plan and organize chair massage services for your company or event.

WHAT IS A CHAIR MASSAGE

Posted on November 27, 2015January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

WHAT IS CHAIR MASSAGE

Chair massage is a type of massage performed in a specially designed chair. This chair allows the client to kneel in the chair, lean onto a chest pad, and place head into a face cradle. This chair opens the back and neck, relaxes the client, and positions the client for the massage therapist to massage the neck, shoulders, back, arms and hands.

Chair Massage Therapy Techniques

Chair massage therapists use a variety of techniques during a chair massage. The techniques are selected based upon the client’s needs. The techniques a chair massage therapist may use during your chair massage include:

Swedish Massage – This is the most commonly known massage technique.
Trigger Point Therapy – This technique helps release tight muscles. The chair massage therapist applies pressure to the “knot” or tender point in a muscle and holds for several seconds.
Stretching – Chair massage therapists will incorporate gentle stretching in a chair massage to help release tension and balance the body.
Reflexology – While massaging the hands, the chair massage therapist may use reflexology. The hands have several nerve endings linked to parts in the body. For example, the chair massage therapist may use reflexology to release tension in the neck.
Myofascial Release – This technique focuses on the connective tissue throughout the body. The chair massage therapist will use deep pressure with long strokes to help stretch and release the tension in the tissue.

How Is Chair Massage Performed?

After meeting the therapist, you will sit in the specially designed massage chair. You will sit in the chair by kneeling onto the knee pads, leaning forward to place your chest against the pad, place your arms on the arm rest, and place your face into the face cradle. The therapist will adjust the chair to ensure you are comfortable.

Chair massage typically starts with the larger muscles throughout the back. The chair massage therapist will most likely start with basic Swedish massage. If the therapist notices knots in the back, they will probably apply deeper pressure and/or use trigger point therapy to release the tension in that area. Throughout the massage the chair massage therapist will check-in with you about the pressure used. At any point in the massage, please tell the chair massage therapist if the pressure is too light or too deep. You don’t have to wait for the therapist to ask. The chair massage therapist wants you to be comfortable.

After the back, most therapists will move on to the neck. The neck holds a tremendous amount of muscle tension and typically will relax once the back muscles are relaxed. The therapist might also incorporate stretches to help stretch the chest and shoulders. The therapist will also massage the arms and the hands.

BOOK YOUR CHAIR MASSAGE EVENT

We can help you plan your chair massage event.

Benefits of Magnesium

Posted on October 18, 2015January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

If you’re experiencing stress and aches and pains – magnesium just might be the mineral you are looking for. Not only does magnesium offer many health benefits, you can utilize it in many ways. Magnesium is found in many delicious foods, you can soak in epsom salt baths, or you can take supplements.

Benefits of Magnesium

Magnesium helps with calcium absorption and Vitamin D absorption
Reduces the risk of diabetes
Helps with the health of muscles and nervous system
Reduces PMS symptoms

Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency

Achy muscles
Anxiety
Fatigue
Sleep disorders
Irritability
Insomnia
Low blood pressure

Eat It

There are many foods to incorporate into your diet to increase your magnesium.

Dark chocolate
Dark leafy greens
Nuts
Seeds
Fish
Bananas
Beans
Yogurt

Soak In It

Soaking in epsom salts is a great option to draw toxins out of the body, soothe the nervous system, reduce muscle aches and pain from magnesium deficiency or exercise, and reduce stress. Have fun with it! Add essential oils for more benefits or for aroma.

Supplement With It

Of course, there’s always the option to take a daily magnesium supplement. Speak with your doctor about the appropriate dosage for you.

Create Your Own Outdoor Oasis

Posted on June 4, 2015January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

Have you dreamed of a space to unwind and decompress during the summer? You can create your own outdoor oasis by following just a few of these tips. We’ve collected pictures of a few spaces to inspire you to create a great space to enjoy.

Lighting:

What is it about lights and the way they make a space seem so inviting. Simply add some stringed lights and tiki torches to your patio to create a space to unwind in the evening hours.

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Colorful Fabrics:

Simply add some colorful pillows and cushions to your furniture on the deck or patio to create a more inviting and relaxing space.

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Keep It Simple:

Create your own private sanctuary in the corner of your yard. This idea is simple with a few pieces of lawn furniture, potted plants and screen for decor and privacy. Can you imagine relaxing with the feel of grass beneath your feet?

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Water Element:

Consider adding a water element like this adorable miniature personal spa. But if a spa isn’t your thing, you could add a fountain or pond to enjoy.

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How have you created a Stress Free Space: Outdoor Oasis of your own?

recognize what you can and can't control dealing with stress

Recognize What You Can And Cannot Control – Stress Management

Posted on May 31, 2015January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

We’ve identified Control Is The Solution For Stress Management. However, it’s just as important to recognize what you can’t control. Sometimes there are things that are simply outside of our control. Have you ever tried to control other family members? Whether it’s trying to control their messy habits or their life decisions? It just leaves you drained and frustrated doesn’t it? This also can create quite a bit of stress in our lives. How do we handle these situations?

The first step is to recognize what you can and can’t control. The second step is to accept you cannot control it. You’ve heard the Serenity Prayer:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference”

Very infinite wisdom. There’s also another saying:

“There’s my business,

There’s none of my business,

And there’s God’s business”

Both of these have the same message. You should only burden yourself with the things that are your business or that you can control. The rest of the time you are creating stress for yourself that isn’t logical. You have no control, you can’t change it, it’s not your business, etc. Learn to let these things go and you’ll reduce your stress.

In the previous blog post, you thought about recent events that triggered stress. Eliminate the things that are truly out of your control. The only thing you can control in these situations is your reaction to them. You can lend a listening ear, you can offer sympathy and support, however don’t carry the burden of trying to fix everything for everyone else.

You may be thinking, but how am I to develop a control plan for the entire family if I can’t control them? Of course, there are some ways to control the family if your children are younger you can set rules and instruct your children to follow them. Then there are older children, husbands, and other family, friends, church demands on your schedule. How do you control that?

You can start by sharing your new plans with the family and encourage them to help with ideas and provide input. However, they may not want to box themselves in to a new way of doing things.

The only way you can control is to control yourself. You can lead by example and you can be true to your needs. Initially when you are building the control plans you will need to be somewhat flexible and test out what works for you and your family and what doesn’t. However, you will also need to stay strong to your new management and systems. Over time, you may be able to influence others in your lives to follow along.

For example, if you set aside a certain time in the week for your exercise and stick to it maybe other family members or friends will join you or will adjust their schedule around the time you’ve scheduled. Or the new systems you put in place to be more organized they may notice the difference and start to pick up some of those habits as well.

Next, we’ll start to build your Schedule Control Plan.

control is the solution for stress management

Control Is The Solution To Stress Management

Posted on May 31, 2015January 8, 2020 by Lisa Hopp

STRESS.

What is the image you see in your mind when you see that word?

Is it a person buried under piles of paperwork at their desk? Or maybe it’s the vision of a face all twisted up with their hair tousled around as if they were about to pull it out?

Maybe you envision yourself driving around from work to home, to errands, and back to work again.

Regardless of the image you see, there is one thing we all have in common and that is desperately seeking the solution to manage stress. We all seek out the solution to stress looking for that magical answer. How many articles, presentations and books do you see on the topic of stress?

But before we can learn to manage stress, we need to understand what stress is. If we do not understand the underlying cause of stress, we cannot learn to manage it. So let’s take a look at what stress is:

Stress is an organisms response to a stressor such as an environmental condition or a stimulus.

Stress is your reaction.

So to manage stress, you must have control. Control is the solution to stress management.

Stress is a good thing. It triggers our fight or flight response. This is critical in a life threatening situation. But in our day-to-day lives, stress itself typically becomes a life threatening situation as it causes trauma to the body. This article is talking about how control can help us to avoid stress in our day-to-day lives. This helps with dealing with stress at work and at home.

There are two ways to control stress. You can control your response to stress or you can control the events that trigger stress. Let’s take a look at a few scenarios:

Scenario 1 – You have a presentation due for a meeting that’s starting in thirty minutes. You forgot about this presentation and now you have to think quickly and whip together the presentation in record time.

Scenario 2 – You’ve just returned home from work and your daughter has dance class. You are rummaging through the refrigerator trying to figure out what to prepare for dinner. After dinner, you are looking through your daughter’s closet trying to find her dance shoes and you’re becoming frustrated and angry. You may even be quick tempered and become short with or yell at your daughter.

Scenario 3 – You’re at work and a colleagues isn’t performing their part of the tasks on time causing your part of the work to be late. She also makes comments you find disrespectful to you in meetings. Overall, the two of you aren’t working well together and it’s causing you quite a bit of stress at work. You are irritated and frustrated and dread going to work each day.

Can you relate to any of these scenarios? Do you experience something similar? All these scenarios can cause strong feelings, increasing the heart rate, knots in the stomach, feeling angry and very reactive in this situation right?

How do you think you can gain more control in each of these scenarios? Let’s look at some ways to have more control:

In the first scenario, the first thing you can control is your response. Although you are in an intense situation, you can learn to control your breathing, take a few moments to calm the body and mind to reduce the impact of the stress on your body and your mood for the rest of the day. Another area you can control is not to forget about the presentation in the first place. Maybe learning better time management techniques will help you to avoid these situations in the first place. A control plan for your to-do list and work calendar can help avoid these situations. We will build a control plan in future blog posts.

How about in Scenario 2? This scenario has two areas of control opportunities. The first is a control plan – meal planning and activities. Within these control plans, you build systems to know what’s planned for dinner ahead of time and have a designated location for dance shoes. The second area again is your response. Yelling at your daughter isn’t going to make this situation any better. In this blog we will share techniques to help in this area as well.

In Scenario #3, you might feel there isn’t much you can do to control a co-worker. However, in this situation you still can control your response to the situation. You can also learn conflict resolution skills which might empower you to resolve this situation. Or if it fits, you can learn new skills and seek out a new opportunity removing you from this situation entirely. We’ll share more in this blog on both of these as well.

If you implemented these ideas how much different do you think these situations would have made you feel or which situations may not have occurred at all? How different would your life be if you were able to gain control over these areas in your life? On this site, you are going to learn how to gain control. You’ll learn to develop control plans giving you time management techniques to deal with stress at work and at home.

For now, take some time to look over the past week and identify the moments you were stressed. Ask yourself why you were stressed. Ask yourself why several times until you get to the root cause of the issue. Also, identify your response to these stressful situations. You’re looking for opportunities to improve your control in these situations as we did in the above situations. Where could you have had more control and been better prepared for the tasks at hand or where could you have been more in control of your response reducing the impact of the stress on your body?

Next – Recognize What You Can And Cannot Control