But that’s not true of all managers.  Some people are born to be good managers.  However, even good managers sometimes struggle with all the responsibilities.

I recently ran across the following article by Brian Tracy.  If you haven’t heard about Brian, you should check out his many books and programs relating to personal success.  He is an excellent motivator and a guru when it comes to setting and meeting goals.

Here is his article on managerial stress:

Dealing With Overwhelm

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time
The most common form of stress that managers experience is the feeling of being overwhelmed with far too much to do and having too little time to do it in. In fact, “time poverty” is the biggest single problem facing most managers in America today. We simply do not have enough time to fulfill all our responsibilities. Because of budget limitations, staff cutbacks, downsizing, and competitive pressures, individual managers are forced to take on more and more work, all of which appears to be indispensable to the smooth functioning of our company or department.

Become An Expert
The solution to this problem of work overload is for you to become an expert on time management. There is probably no other skill that you can learn that will give you a “bigger bang for the buck” than to become extremely knowledgeable and experienced in using time management practices.

Be Open to New Ideas
The most foolish manager of all is either the manager who feels that he has no time to learn about time management or, even worse, the manager who, while being overwhelmed with work, feels that he already knows all that he needs to know about the subject.

Never Stop Learning
The fact is that you can study time management and take time management courses for your entire business life and you will still never learn everything you need to know to get the most out of yourself while doing your job in the most efficient way.

The Keys to Time Management
The two indispensable keys to time management are: 1) the ability to set priorities; and 2) the ability to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing at a time.

Since there is never enough time to do everything that needs to be done, you must be continually setting priorities on your activities. Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, “what is the most valuable use of my time right now?”

The Best Question of All
This question, “what is the most valuable use of my time right now?” will do more to keep you on track, hour by hour, than any other single question in the list of time management strategies.

Start With Your Top Tasks
The natural tendency for all of us is to major in minors and to give in to the temptation to clear up small things first. After all, small things are easier and they are often more fun than the big, important things that represent the most valuable use of your time.

However, the self-discipline of organizing your work and focusing on your highest value tasks is the starting point of getting your time under control and lowering your stress levels.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to get your time under control.

First, make a decision today to become an expert on time management. Read the books, listen to the audio programs, and take a time management course. Then, practice, practice, practice every day until you master time management skills.

Second, set clear priorities on your work each day, before you begin. Then, discipline yourself to start on your most important task and stay at that until it is complete. This will relieve much of your stress immediately.

Brian Tracy is the most listened to audio author on personal and business success in the world today. His fast-moving talks and seminars on leadership, sales, managerial effectiveness and business strategy are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that people can immediately apply to get better results in every area. For more information, please visit Brian on the web at: www.BrianTracy.com

What to do?  They are many tactics you can use to help relieve office stress.  Remember our ABC Model?  You may not be able to change your activating events, but you can change your beliefs.  And your consequences will change as well.

Following are some tips you can use to help change your beliefs about your workplace stress.  Implement some of these tips, and you’re bound to have different consequences.

• Make a plan for the day.  Either start you day planning what you want to accomplish or do it at the end of the day before.  Having a roadmap will keep you from wandering on activities that don’t get you to your destination at the end of the day.
• When you’ve given the boss a full 8 hours of productive work, stop.  Really stop.  Don’t stay a few minutes more to finish up something, and certainly don’t take the work home.  As hard as it may be in this economic work environment, you need the time to unplug from work and rejuvenate yourself.  Give your family and personal activities your full attention.  You’ll be more productive the next day if you do.
• While at work, focus on only one activity at a time.  Multitasking is not productive.  It’s just doing many things poorly.  Actually this single item may be the biggest contributor to office stress.  Making progress toward completing several tasks through small incremental steps is not satisfying, and it keeps your mind continuously switching gears to get back in sync with each new activity.  Focus on one task, complete it, and savor the feeling of accomplishment.
• Use a to-do list.  Unload your subconscious mind of all the tasks it’s trying to remember to do.  Write it down.  There are several good time management programs around that can help you manage your workload.  Use something.  Anything.  But get it all down on paper or a computer.
• Work hard for a little while, then take a break.  Our minds can’t focus on a single task very long before wandering.  So instead of fighting that natural tendency, go with it.  Look outside, take a walk to the restroom, refresh your cup of coffee.  Do not read your email or browse on the internet.  These are each tasks that should be on your to-do list that you schedule specific time during the day to attack.  You’ll be sucked into either one if you start now and you’ll find yourself an hour later wondering where all the time went.
• When you do take a break, have something nearby that you can focus your attention on.  Family pictures, souvenirs from a recent vacation, even pictures for your next vacation all help to remind you of why you’re working.
• Finally, have something fun that can give you a little physical relief from the tedium of work.  Nerf waste basket hoops, squeeze balls, USB toys, or even a few chair exercises can help to give your mind a little rest and your body some new positions to experience, other than the one in your chair.

Office stress, especially on a long term basis, can cause numerous emotional and physical issues.  Don’t neglect the fact that your work environment could be causing issues at home or with others.  Take the time to evaluate your office environment to see if you’ve overlooked just how much stress you may be experiencing.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of your vacation:

• The best way to take a vacation is to get away from your familiar surroundings.  Even if the destination is a few hours away, it can help to take your mind off what you’ve been doing.  The relaxation and rest will be good for you.  People get so engrossed in their work that it’s hard for them to see the forest from the trees.

• Go somewhere different than where you usually go for vacation.  Look for somewhere that’s unfamiliar to you.  There are lots of places to choose from.  If you’ve never been on a nature trail, there are many parks that have them.  I highly recommend vacations around nature.  When you’re in a city or amusement park, the stress of lines, people, and money just seem to take away from the experience.  If you’ve been stressed, you need to feel calm and uplifted.  Get those feelings from nature.

• The key to enjoying vacations is lists.  “Lists, you say?”  Yes, lists.  I know for a lot of people, the work you do to get ready for a vacation is stressful.  Making sure your work is caught up at your place of employment, making sure the mail and newspaper are stopped, making sure you have your hotel reservations, and on and on.  You need to get these details out of your head and onto a list.  Then the tasks at hand are in front of you and you’re not stressing because you imagine those tasks are bigger than what they are.  Methodically set dates for tackling those tasks so that the day before you leave is quiet and stress-free.

• And don’t forget lists for getting back home.  No need to spend time relaxing and relieving your stress, just to get back and have to deal with everything you need to do to get ready to go back to work.  Use lists.  They work.

As Americans, we probably work more than any other country.  We need vacations to rejuvenate ourselves.  It’s really important to use them to unwind and relax.

Stress left unmanaged leads to harmful effects in our physical, mental and emotional aspects. A person who is in stress tends to be short-tempered, thus leading his/her family members, co-workers, friends, or significant others to be hurt. Some people are likely to be violent while some lose their sanity when they have high levels of stress. It happens when people are not willing to help themselves handle those concerns.

Hurting someone just because you are stressed is never a justifiable reason. As much as possible try to cope with stress, manage your stressors and choose to loosen up while doing your daily activities. Here are 3 tips to treat stress:

1. Bodywork and manual therapy – This therapy involves body movements. Manual therapy is a form of massage, bodywork on the other hand makes one execute different body movements to realign the body parts, especially the muscles. After a long day’s work, you will probably feel pain in your waist, butt, shoulders, and neck areas due to incorrect body positioning while you were at work. Bodywork and manual therapy will release stress from your muscles and stretch them back to their normal position wherein it will make you feel relaxed and give you a soothing feeling of peace.

2. Humor – This therapy allows the person to release anxieties, resentments and, of course, stress. Study shows that laughter changes the brain chemistry and enhances our immune system. Try to smile most of the time and laugh often. Indeed, laughter is the best medicine.

3. Guide your thoughts – All your senses are being used here to direct your imagination into a relaxed state. Your mind and body connects, that is the reason why your body responds to what you are thinking. For example, when you are thinking about strawberries, your mouth starts to drool, then you start to crave for them. This is how our body reacts with imagination. Achieving a relaxed state could also be attained by visualizing that you are in a beach, a garden, a waterfall or in any of the beautiful nature spots. You then will start to divert from stress and be in a positive mood, relaxing and happy thoughts fill up your imagination.