If you have to deal with a horrible boss, unreasonable working hours, and demanding clients, you may experience work-related stress. But whatever your career demands, Vance Fundora gives a few tips on how you can balance stress and a demanding career.
If you’re not happy with your work, it can compromise your performance. The truth is that stress and a demanding career is a common plea for many employees. Sometimes, you must weigh whether you’re ready to sacrifice a fulfilling personal life for the sake of a job. In this article, were going to look at ways to protect yourself from the damaging effects of stress and bolster your well-being as you pursue your career. Read on and learn more!
Exercising and Physical Activity
According to Vance, working out enhances your mental and physical health. When you exercise a few minutes a day, you stimulate the release of endorphin (good-feel chemical) that improves your mood. This release, in turn, reduces stress, which can trigger other health conditions like depression and anxiety. The serial entrepreneur shares with us that whenever he feels anxious, he adjusts to the cause of stress.
What’s the connection between exercise and the mind? When you exercise, you pump blood in the brain, which helps you to think clearly. In addition to that, the nerve cells in the brain increase the connections which improve your memory. Also, the size of the hippocampus improves (the part responsible for memory).
This brings us to the next question, how much exercise do you need? Vance recommends that you allocate at least 30 minutes a day. You can also combine 10-15 minutes sessions of moderate and intense training. As you exercise, be sure to practice mindfulness.
While it might seem counterintuitive, working out makes you feel calm. He suggests that you find a local gym and exercise in a stress-free environment. But most importantly, make sure you do something that you enjoy. To ensure you stay on track, you should ask your friends and family members to motivate you. Despite his tight schedule, Vance takes care of his body daily.
Implement a healthy diet
When you’re overly focused on your career, you can easily forget about nutrition. Vance believes that when you take a healthy diet, you’re stronger and more resilient to work-related stress. What you eat in the morning has a significant impact on how you’ll feel for the rest of the day. To maintain energy and focus, you should eat small healthy foods.
To start with, you should avoid eating foods that can affect your moods like Trans-foods, caffeine, and foods with high levels of chemical preservatives. If you have to start your day with coffee, you may want to try the decaffeinated versions. While you may crave baked foods and sugary snacks, they can quickly lead to a crash in the mood.
So, what comprises a healthy diet? Vance Fundora takes at least six servings of fruits and vegetables every week. He also recommends that you take omega-3 fatty acids like mackerel, salmon, herring, sardines, etc. It would help if you too focused on foods rich in vitamin B, C, and Magnesium. These nutrients help you cope with stressful situations.
Get Plenty of Sleep
If you want to have a successful career, you should make self-care a priority even if you feel like you don’t have time, Vance advocates for a good night’s sleep. Lack of enough sleep compromises your creativity, productivity, and problem-solving skills. But when you rest, you can cope with work-stress and job responsibilities.
The best way to improve the quality of sleep is to stick to a sleep-wake cycle. It would help if you had a schedule for going to bed and waking up every day. Also, be smart about what you eat. The last thing you want is to take caffeine a few minutes before bed. You should aim for 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
If you’re used to sleeping as you watch your favorite movie, its time you make some changes to your sleep environment. You may want to turn the screens off and keep your smartphone away. Sometimes, the light emitted by screens can suppress the production of melatonin (a hormone responsible for good night sleep).
Vance avoids stressful situations like catching up on work. Before bedtime, he focuses on soothing activities like listening to soft music or reading a book while keeping the lights low.
Final thoughts
Although the above tips can help to balance stress and a demanding career, they complement each other. You may want to start with what resonates most to you and then add the other until you form a habit of success. Just like Vance Fundora, you should not let fear hold you back. Always remind yourself that you can handle whatever changes come your way.
