3070: 4 Ways to Beat Stress For a More Fulfilled Year by Carl Pullein on Planning Ahead

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[00:00:45] This is Optimal Living Daily, Episode 3070, Four Ways to Beat Stress for a More Fulfilled

[00:00:52] Year by Carl Pauline of CarlPauline.com, and I'm Justin Malik, and we're going to jump

[00:00:58] right into another article as we optimize your life.

[00:01:06] Four Ways to Beat Stress for a More Fulfilled Year by CarlPauline of CarlPauline.com

[00:01:14] Recently I was asked what I do when I'm stressed. After much thought I realized that

[00:01:20] I'm rarely, if ever, stressed. This got me wondering why I don't experience stress.

[00:01:26] Is it something in my DNA or is it because I relentlessly organized my life both professionally

[00:01:33] and personally? Or is it something else? I concluded that it's probably a combination

[00:01:39] of all of those things. However, I know I do take steps to avoid stress and to make my

[00:01:45] life work as smoothly as possible. I exercise regularly, I know the importance of getting

[00:01:51] enough sleep, I avoid alcohol during the week, and I plan ahead to prevent any unpleasant

[00:01:57] surprises. These steps are a very powerful antidote to the stresses and strains in a

[00:02:02] person's life. So here are a few tips you too can take to avoid stress and have a much

[00:02:09] more relaxed life.

[00:02:10] Style 1 Plan Ahead This one is certainly my number one tip.

[00:02:18] If you do not plan ahead, you are going to be in a state of perpetual stress.

[00:02:22] If you have no idea what is coming up, you are going to be unprepared and all of the following

[00:02:27] tips are going to fall apart.

[00:02:30] Recently I saw this in action.

[00:02:32] My wife, who is the complete opposite of me had an event to go to.

[00:02:36] She was the lead person in this event and she was responsible for making sure the cameras

[00:02:41] were fully charged and that the tripods and other equipment needed were ready to go.

[00:02:47] My wife got home late the night before and was feeling very tired.

[00:02:51] She decided she must charge the batteries overnight.

[00:02:54] Unfortunately, she cannot find the battery chargers and spent 30 minutes looking for them.

[00:03:00] Finally, she found them and she put the batteries on charge and then she went to bed knowing

[00:03:05] she needed to be up early.

[00:03:08] She then spent 30 minutes looking at her social media feeds before falling asleep.

[00:03:13] Three and a half hours later, she woke up and rushed around looking for everything in

[00:03:17] a very agitated and stressed state.

[00:03:21] Needless to say, she ended up arriving late and leaving some vital equipment at home.

[00:03:28] As she thought about all the things she was going to need a few days before and made sure

[00:03:32] everything was in the right place, the batteries charged and ready to go, she could have got

[00:03:37] a good night's sleep before the event, moken up knowing everything was ready and would

[00:03:42] not have forgotten anything.

[00:03:45] Planning ahead is probably the most powerful weapon you have against stress.

[00:03:49] It's quite often the little things that cause the most stress.

[00:03:53] Not having a pen when you need one in a meeting.

[00:03:56] Your phone battery running out just at the moment you have to make an important phone

[00:04:00] call.

[00:04:01] All these things add up.

[00:04:03] So just plan ahead.

[00:04:05] Look at your calendar on a Sunday evening or Monday morning and see what's coming up

[00:04:10] and ask the question, do I need to prepare anything for that?

[00:04:14] If the answer is yes, I'm scheduled some time to prepare for it.

[00:04:19] If you're going to be outside, away from your office or home.

[00:04:21] Home all day, make sure you have a way to charge your phone, for example.

[00:04:26] #2 Get Enough Sleep Sleep is vital if you want to get things done

[00:04:31] to a high level of quality.

[00:04:34] I understand it's not always possible to get a good night's sleep, but it is possible

[00:04:38] to catch a quick nap when you need to top up.

[00:04:41] I do not know how I would survive without a nap during the day.

[00:04:46] I even schedule a nap, and will postpone exercise to get sleep if I need to.

[00:04:51] I know my productivity drops dramatically if I don't sleep enough, and if my productivity

[00:04:56] drops, so does the quality and quantity of the work I do.

[00:05:01] This then leads to more work later, and an increased amount of stress.

[00:05:07] If you feel tired because of a lack of sleep, take 30 minutes or so, lie down and sleep

[00:05:13] a little.

[00:05:14] The way you feel when you wake up will result in better quality work, and you'll get so

[00:05:18] much more done.

[00:05:21] #3 Have a Plan for the Year This one is a relatively new one for me.

[00:05:27] I used to find myself feeling anxious around June or July each year, and I could never

[00:05:32] understand why.

[00:05:33] I realized is because I really didn't feel I was achieving anything worthwhile, so two

[00:05:39] years ago, I started making three priority goals for the year.

[00:05:44] These were one professional, one personal, and one could be anything I wanted it to be.

[00:05:51] This year's goals are to write a book, to complete a full-course marathon, and to save

[00:05:57] up and buy a pair of Crockett and Jones Sky 3 boots in Chestnut.

[00:06:01] Because I've made sure that there's a mix of professional and personal goals, it's

[00:06:06] not only fun to focus my mind on achieving the goals, but I now race myself to see how

[00:06:12] fast I can achieve the goals.

[00:06:14] I was recently able to place my order for the boots, so I can take those off, my training

[00:06:19] for the marathon is going great, and I'm a third of the way through writing the book.

[00:06:23] I feel very stress free at the moment, and in the past, the beginning of July was the

[00:06:29] worst time of the year for me.

[00:06:32] 4. Be Healthy There's so much written about the importance of exercise and health

[00:06:37] already, but it really is important. Not only because when you feel physically healthy

[00:06:43] you have a pride in your physical appearance, but the energy you have by being fit and healthy

[00:06:49] means you can get so much more done. Exercise also gets you out of the office and your home

[00:06:55] and into a different environment. It's quiet time that can allow your mind to rest. Going

[00:07:01] out and drinking a skin full of beer and filling your stomach with Burger King Whoppers

[00:07:07] just before you go to bed is going to leave you feeling dreadful the next day. You're

[00:07:11] not going to be in the mood to do great quality work and your sense of pride is going to

[00:07:16] suffer. This will only increase the feeling of stress you have. Just don't do it. And

[00:07:23] that's it. Knowing that you have everything under control and you're prepared for everything

[00:07:28] will take a lot of unnecessary stress out of your life. Getting enough sleep will mean

[00:07:33] you make less mistakes and the quality of your work will improve. Having a plan for the year

[00:07:38] that is both achievable and manageable will give you focus for the year and by keeping

[00:07:43] your health in good shape, you'll always feel great. These four things will genuinely turn

[00:07:50] your life around and make you into a happier, more productive person. So start making those

[00:07:55] plans today. It's never too late. You just listened to the post titled Four Ways to Beat

[00:08:06] Stress for a More Fulfilled Year by Carl Paulin of CarlPaulin.com and I'll be right back with

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[00:08:43] Thank you.

[00:09:12] Thank you, Carl.

[00:09:14] These weren't terribly mind-blowing or really original, right?

[00:09:19] It was basically plan and build healthy habits.

[00:09:24] Well, there was good enough sleep in there, but that to me also fits into the "be healthy" category.

[00:09:30] It's really basic stuff, but I think you'd be surprised at how easily we forget.

[00:09:35] Sleep and hydration are probably the most overlooked.

[00:09:39] We often think of diet and exercise to stay healthy, but just as important are getting

[00:09:46] enough rest and getting enough water.

[00:09:49] And I'm guilty of not drinking enough water quite often, but the effects can be massive.

[00:09:54] And I think the older you get, the more apparent this becomes.

[00:09:58] But with sleep, with the culture of side hustles and the daily grind, productivity, and so on,

[00:10:06] it can be easy to de-prioritize it so that we get more done, or at least we think we're

[00:10:12] getting more done.

[00:10:13] If I can definitely backfire as Carl Palin was talking about in this post, getting to bed

[00:10:19] on times that you get your 8-ish hours of sleep is huge.

[00:10:23] If you find that you have trouble falling asleep when you go to bed a bit earlier, try

[00:10:27] going right outside when you wake up and get some sun.

[00:10:31] That can help your biological clock set up for the day.

[00:10:34] Plus, I find it's a nice mood booster to start the day.

[00:10:38] But again, simple things, the stuff we tend to dismiss or forget about, so hopefully this

[00:10:43] served as a good reminder.

[00:10:46] And with that wishing you a great rest of your day, and I'll see you tomorrow with

[00:10:49] a new article and where you're optimal life.