How A Day Planner Can Reduce Stress & Anxiety
There are so many lifestyle changes you can make that have positive effects on your anxiety levels. You’ve learned that making changes to your physical environment, adding a nice walk to your day and even incorporating calming scents into your surroundings can lessen the tension you feel.
Taking control of your day and looking ahead to schedule time for meeting your goals is another strategy that can make a huge difference in your life. Read on to learn how a day planner can reduce stress and anxiety. Soon you’ll wonder how you ever lived without this life-altering tool.
First, you should consider the best type of agenda or planner for you. Do you prefer to write things down in a notebook or keep it all in electronic form? Would your lifestyle fit a small, portable calendar you can take with you everywhere or do you respond best to having a large visual reminder like a desk calendar or whiteboard that hangs on the wall? Give it some thought and start with what you think will work best. You can always make tweaks to your system later.
Next, you’ll want to get in the nightly habit of creating a to-do list for the following day. This routine has multiple benefits. It lets you create a “brain dump” by getting a lot of the information that’s floating around in your head out on paper. You’ll likely fall asleep faster with fewer small details cluttering your thoughts. You can look ahead and place some of the tasks in time slots, knowing you’ll be able to complete them when it’s best for you. This exercise also lets you feel confident you haven’t forgotten anything important.
Keeping a day planner adds structure to your life. We all know this is important in reducing anxiety and stress. You can add long-term goals to your agenda, as well. This step lets you feel more in control of the direction in which you’re heading and puts you in the proverbial driver’s seat, rather than feeling like you’re at the mercy of fate.
Along this line of thought, another great way to keep tabs on your time is to write down regular, mundane activities in your calendar ahead of time. Stuff like doing the laundry, preparing meals for the coming week, study time for your or your child, paying bills and exercising can be included on your weekly to-do’s as a way of easily holding yourself accountable. Stuff’s more likely to get done when it already has its own time slot.
Finally, don’t neglect adding leisure time to your schedule. Planning ahead for a night out or in, or even just sitting down to read a good book will bring relaxation and fun to your life. You can clearly see the ways a day planner can lessen your stress and anxiety. Enjoy the process and make it one that fits your lifestyle.
For more information, tools, techniques and tips visit www.SelfPathfinder.com. Please share this link with anyone you think might find this information helpful.
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