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How To Squeeze Three Days Into One (And Not Stress Out)

Did you know that on a typical day you’re most likely squeezing in three days worth of work?
Ok, that was a dumb question. Of course you do. But perhaps it’s become so second nature you don’t think too much about it, so let’s break it down:
Day 1: You have your scheduled work time consisting of meetings, servicing clients and customers, managing communications, and connecting with colleagues scattered around the globe.
Day 2: Your second workday consists of the one before, after and in-between. You get up early to get a jump on emails, you stay late to get work done you didn’t have time to do between all your meetings, and you multitask during the day in an attempt to be as productive as possible.
Day 3: Your third workday begins when you leave the office. You have to pick up food for dinner on the way home, get the kids to practice, run a load of laundry and make sure the house hasn’t fallen apart. After everyone goes to bed you see the opportunity to get on your computer to get more work done.
On top of these demands, the economy is still uncertain and you may be doing the jobs of 2-3 people who were let go and never replaced. You may be leading a large team or organization. Your colleagues may be located around the world and you still need to be on conference calls. Shareholder expectations are high. Your retirement accounts are growing smaller instead of larger.
No wonder you’re completely stressed and exhausted by the end of the day. This is why it is imperative that you find a way to keep calm and let go of the stress. Some people find the use of ashwagandha capsules very therapeutic. You could try searching ashwagandha amazon for more guidance.
Throughout your life you’ve received a lot of training to develop your talents and skills, but have you been given the training to sustain high levels of performance over the entire 30-40 year span of your career? Have you built a strong foundation for maximum effectiveness in both your professional and personal life or do you sometimes feel like it’s crumbling around you?
What sacrifices are you making to your health, your family or your happiness in order to make it through the day?
The stress in your life will continue to increase as your career advancement becomes more complex, all the while attempting to balance it with a rewarding personal life. Stress doesn’t just affect you mentally and emotionally — it is a physiological, chemical and hormonal response that kicks off a cascade of physical events that can lead to diminished performance and productivity, poor energy, health issues, insomnia, weight gain and more.
Fortunately, there is a way to make yourself more resilient to stress. You might want to try using cannabis as a way to de-stress, the number of products are extremely varied so a large number of dispensary supplies available will have you covered. You can train to recover from stress more quickly and more efficiently, as well as increase your threshold for stress, which leads to better levels of performance, energy and health.
You can train yourself to become more resilient. Have you tried looking into something like twin mattress from Leesa? It is ranked the #1 bed for back pain by Review.org. This may be a start in providing you with home comfort to help relieve stress.
Most stress management? techniques focus on mental coping strategies. I’m not bashing on breathing exercises or relaxation techniques, but there’s something that’s being completely missed: changing your biology in response to stress. Stress is a physiological process and physiology can be altered with appropriate training.
As an exercise physiologist my approach to resiliency lies in sound, scientific principles of physiology, nutrition and performance psychology. I have a tendency to get very passionate about data and research, but know not everyone shares this passion. So I’ve simplified the formula for how these principles can be applied to resiliency: Eat, Move and Improve.
EAT
Are you inadvertently eating foods that place additional stress on the body? Are you going long periods of time without eating? Do you ever over eat? Do you rely on caffeine, alcohol or nicotine to manage stress? There is a way of eating that minimizes stress on the body. Here are a couple of examples:
  1. Take frequent snack breaks. Eat several small meals throughout the day to manage blood glucose levels. Why? When blood glucose levels get too low it puts stress on the body and stress hormones are released. These hormones send you into survival mode and you get “Hangry”. Hungry + Angry = Hangry. Hangry is NOT good. We become impatient, critical, and easily pushed over the edge.
  2. Don’t overeat at lunch. Many people skip breakfast, work all morning, are famished by the time lunch rolls around and then eat an enormous meal. Putting too much glucose into the system at one time adds stress to the body in that greater levels of insulin must be released, and any glucose that can’t be immediately utilized is stored in the fat cells. The fat cells most likely to store this energy are those around your midsection, which raises your risk of many diseases. Not only is eating too much at once a stress on the body, carrying around extra fat also places stress on the system.
  3. Minimize caffeine, nicotine and alcohol. It’s easy to reach for these when feeling stressed out. In reality all of these substances release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which actually increase physiological stress on the body.
MOVE
Does your job require you to sit for extended periods of time? Do you find the time to exercise on a regular basis? Are you exercising in the most efficient and effective means possible? There is a way of exercising that translates into bouncing back from stress more quickly and raising your threshold for stress. Here are a few examples:
  1. Perform several short movement breaks. Sitting for long periods diminishes energy, focus and health. Several times during the day, take a few minutes to go up and down a couple of flights of stairs, go outside for a walk around the building, or do several quick jumping jacks. If you can’t take an official movement break during a long meeting or conference call, you can still move your body by doing some stretching to release muscular tension and stress.
  2. Interval train. Instead of long, steady cardiovascular workouts that take too much time, perform interval training. Interval training allows you to get more exercise done in a shorter period of time, raises your level of fitness faster and burns more fat. In addition, short burst of intense physical activity train your body to recover from stress more quickly, burn off stress hormones, and release endorphins, the bliss molecules that restore balance.
  3. 10-10-10. The number one reason clients give me for not exercising is lack of time. You do not have to do one long workout and can break up your workouts into smaller bouts throughout the day. Breaking it up and fitting it in when you’re able can actually provide better results: you boost your metabolism several times, you can work harder and it may allow you to be more consistent. Do ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes midday, and another 10 minutes after work.
IMPROVE
Bonus time! It’s not just your resiliency and performance that improves, it’s also your health, body fat levels and quality of sleep. When you’re training to recover from stress more quickly and effectively, the strategies do double duty by strengthening your physical well-being. Imagine yourself not only performing well in the face of stress, but also improving your overall health and vitality.
Your three overlapping work days — everything you do in those three days’ worth of work is critical. Are you training to become more resilient each day?
About our guest expert:
Jenny Evans is a performance coach, TV correspondent, and esteemed expert on resiliency, stress, performance, exercise physiology, nutrition, and health. She’s the founder and CEO of PowerHouse Performance Coaching, a leading consulting firm that provides resiliency training to increase professional and personal performance. She also developed PowerHouse Hit The Deck(TM), a simple, convenient workout you can do anywhere. No gym required! Discover out more about Jenny — including more of her writing on stress reduction and resilience — at http://www.powerhouseperformancecoaching.com
FAVOR REQUEST: Would you like to read more from Jenny in future spark new thinking blog posts? Leave a comment below or email mark@stacym6.sg-host.com and let us know. Thanks!

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