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Stress is a recognised killer and a major contributor to workplace illness. Companies are worried about stress because of reduced effectiveness; individuals can find that the impact of stress blights their health and happiness. Yet stress is a complex phenomenon. It can't be painted in black and white. We all need a degree of stress to drive us on to achieve. Neither total lack of stress nor stress to excess is good for you.

The ideal is to be able to understand your response to stress and to have an armoury of stress removal techniques and stress defences to employ when the going gets tough. Doing this in small doses can be helpful - suffering from stress usually means that there is pressure on time. The ability to take a gradual approach to stress management that helps modify your attitude to life without becoming an irritating chore is very appealing. Stress management also suffers from being associated in some quarters with alternative lifestyles and airy-fairy concepts - by stress management is, in reality, a straightforward, business-like proposition.

We've asked hundreds of people for tips on reducing stress. Here's are some of the best:

Little successes
Self-esteem is an important contributory factor to stress and stress management. If your self-esteem is low, you are much more likely to succumb to stress-related illness. One of the undermining factors that keep self-esteem low is the diminishing spiral that says 'I never achieve anything', so you feel bad about not achieving, so you get stressed and achieve even less.

This is a very quick exercise that can have a surprisingly powerful effect on self-esteem. Spend a couple of minutes jotting down a handful of small achievements you have made in the day. However bad a day you've had, you should be able to find something positive to say - force yourself to generate at least three; don't take no for an answer. Repeat this exercise each day for a week or two.

Capture ideas
Ideas are strange things, popping up at the most unlikely times and places. People have them in the car, in the bath, while walking, while sitting dreaming in a field, on the toilet, in bed … but hardly ever at the desk (and certainly not under pressure).

Leaving ideas uncollected is a bad move. Not only do you miss out on your inspirational gems, it generates stress. You will try to hold the ideas in memory. So for the next few hours you will be muttering 'I just need to remember X', or 'what was that idea, now?' Because idea generation often happens in the mental state between waking and dreaming, it's easy for the detail of an idea to fade quickly. Leave it longer and you may still be trying to remember the idea as you go to sleep, disturbing your night. And you may forget it entirely.

Carry around a notebook, small enough to keep in your pocket, or a voice recorder. When an idea occurs, jot it down. On a regular basis - at least weekly - revisit your notebook and turn worthwhile ideas into tasks.

Stress workout
Regular exercise is not just good for your health, it is an essential part of a stress reduction programme. This section isn't about exercising - that takes two or more sessions a week of at least half an hour - it's about planning. Most people who suddenly decide to take exercise don't keep it up. Try this three point plan.

1. Self-motivation. Find a driving reason to exercise (go for the gut, like staying alive for your children). Make sure it is at the forefront of your mind when you decide how to use your time.
2. Choose something you enjoy. This may seem self-evident, but many people choose a form of exercise that's trendy (the gym) or that's career boosting (golf). Find something you really enjoy.
3. Add value. Get together with friends and make it a social event, or choose an activity where you can wear a Walkman and listen to music or speech radio or book tapes or learn a language.

Breaks
We've all been in the situation. You are working under pressure. Time is short and there is a huge amount to be done. So you work long into the night, steaming open your eyelids with cups of coffee, hardly stopping. Stress grows and grows as the deadline grows near.

 Unfortunately there is overwhelming evidence that this is not a great way to get the most out of your brain. The amount of information retained and the quality of your output drops off after time working at the same task. By taking a series of short breaks, much more can be achieved. There isn't a magic length for the chunks of time, but most people find between fifteen minutes and an hour, with breaks of around five minutes will overcome the deterioration.

Take a task you have ahead (or invent one as an exercise) and rough out a schedule of chunks and breaks. Then make sure you use your schedule.

Rage
Rage is everywhere in the media. It might be that old favourite road rage, or newer manifestations like PC rage or airport rage. In fact, according to recent studies, rage is nothing new, but something insidious is happening. The media's use of the label has made us all conscious of the existence of the phenomenon. And like it or not, that label has given rage a certain legitimacy. These outbursts are somehow more acceptable because we know what it is.

Generally rage results from over-stimulation. Driving is a classic example, where there is a constant underlying stress brought about by the need to concentrate on the road and cope with busy traffic. This leaves the driver too near the edge, ready to be pushed into a major stress reaction by a small incident.

Such rage is bad for both your health and your performance. If you feel anger welling up, take a couple of slow breaths and put the matter into context. For instance, when someone pulls in front of you while driving, think how trivial this would be on the pavement - why is it different in a car? Don't get angry, laugh at them. Imagine the other driver sitting on the toilet. Mock their vehicle. Alternatively, put yourself in the other person's position. This can be particularly useful in circumstances like delays at an airport. The poor person at the information desk hasn't caused the delay - why get angry with them? Think how they must feel. Finally think of your own benefit. You'll get a better response if you are nice - don't rage, smile. Smiles are the enemies of thoughtless rage.

There's only so much we can put in a web page - but you can find out much more from this book, available now from Amazon, and as an instant download:
 

Instant Stress Management by Brian Clegg. Over 70 exercises and techniques to enhance your time management skills. Good value and effective. Available as printed book from Amazon.com [click here] (Americas/Pacific) and from Amazon.co.uk [click here] (UK/Europe).

Want to see what it's like? You can download the contents, introduction and a sample technique for free. Just click here to download the sample.

Instant Stress Management Download - all the content of the printed book available for immediate download to your PC as an Adobe Acrobat version , paying in dollars, pounds or euros:

Buy Instant Stress Management (Adobe PDF format) £4.99 IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD - you will be able to pay securely using a credit card or PayPal. Select Return to Merchant at the end of the transaction to get to the download page.
Buy Instant Stress Management (Adobe PDF format) $9.99 IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD - you will be able to pay securely using a credit card or PayPal. Select Return to Merchant at the end of the transaction to get to the download page.
Buy Instant Stress Management (Adobe PDF format) €7.99 IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD - you will be able to pay securely using a credit card or PayPal. Select Return to Merchant at the end of the transaction to get to the download page.

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