subject: Sales Stress? Journal It Away! [print this page] Too much technology raised our stress level - sometimes it's helpful to simplify things once again and use good old-fashion pen and paper
And one of the wonderful and simple things you can do - and it's very "low tech" - is by keeping a stress journal.
A stress journal is simply a personal diary in which you note how you're feeling throughout the day. For example, if you wake up in the morning and feel "tight and anxious and exhausted," then you'd write that down. And later that day, if you found yourself really stressed out after working, you'd note that down in your stress journal as well.
The point of doing all of this is simply to help you identify stress patterns, which may give you incredible insights as to what and when you get stressed out. For example, you may not be a "morning person" after all - even though you thought you were. Or you may discover that something in your business is really getting the better of you, and having a much more serious, stressful impact on your life than you realize.
After just a few weeks of keeping a stress journal, you'll easily start to notice these patterns. And that awareness alone will actually help reduce stress, since it won't be able to sneak up on you and catch you. For example, if you're aware that that work is stressing you out more than you realized, the next time it creeps up on you, you can say to yourself: "aha! There you are. Where have you been? You're late today"
The other great thing a stress journal can do for you is to help you identify stress triggers. For example, you may think that a person at work is really stressing you out. But your journal may reveal that when you wake up in a good mood, or when you take the time to exercise in the morning, that this same person has a limited or maybe even no real negative impact on you.
By noticing these things, you empower yourself to make minor adjustments in your life that can have a MAJOR impact on your ability to manage stress. Even something as simple as waking up 30 minutes earlier - or going to be 30 minutes earlier - can literally transform your life in a way that a three-week cruise vacation never could!
