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Are you a workaholic? Tips to organize your way to less stress and more peace

Are you trying to ease your work stress while still being productive? I’m sharing some things I’m doing that have helped.

Non-stop work has been my only vice for my entire life. I often worked 7 days a week. I was proud of this until a few months ago. I had a major health scare and ended up in the Emergency Room. The doctor gave it to me straight – get rid of the stress and learn to relax, or I was likely to die sooner rather than later.

With that incentive, I looked at my life to figure out how and where to make effective changes. I worked to create a system that I could (and would) follow.

Here are the changes I have made:

Quitting time: I end my days at 3 pm or earlier every day. I have insomnia and start work when I get up for the day, sometimes as early as 2 am.

Take all breaks: I used to sit for hours without a break. Now, I use the Pomodoro Method and take breaks after 25 minutes.

Walk regularly: I diligently try to walk at least 5 minutes out of every 30 minutes. Basically, after each Pomodoro Break.

Sabbath Day: It’s not just for Christians. We all need a weekly day of rest.

Artist’s Date: This comes from author Julia Cameron, who advises taking an Artist’s Date each week. Rules are: be alone, for at least an hour, doing anything that sparks your curiosity.

Practice Heart-Centered Breathing: I do this at least 3x each day for at least 3 minutes.

Done List: I write down every task as I finish it on a sticky note on my computer.

Daily Wrap-up: At the end of every day, in a designated notebook, I note all my finished tasks for the day. I then write what went well, what could have gone better, and what I want to do next time, or the next day. This puts a nice successful period on the end of my day.

There are a few more things I do daily, but I find these are key. I’m still tweaking my system, but I’ve noticed a definite difference in my blood pressure and how I feel. You will too.