You're Managing Stress Wrong, Do This Instead

I got this question asked to me yesterday on my Instagram story, and so I'm gonna tell you the top 5 ways that I personally manage stress in my lifestyle that might be able to hopefully help you in your lifestyle manage your stress a bit better. I think my 5 things are a bit unconventional when you think about how do people manage stress, because I feel like when you hear stress management, you probably think about bubble baths, you probably think about spa days, you probably think about getting massages or doing yoga, getting into that zen And if that works for you, nothing wrong with that or against that at all. But I personally go about managing my stress a little bit differently, and it seemed to work well for me thus far. Let's dive into the top 5 ways that I manage stress. The first way is gonna be non-negotiable, bar none. I have to get my sleep. At least 6 hours a night, if not more like 7 to 8 hours per night. And I know if you're a parent with young kids who may listen to this, you might be like, oh, Eric, haha, good for you. I get it. But if I can manage to get 6, 7, 8 hours of sleep, then even if stressful things happen during my day, which I do run my own business, I have multiple coaches who work under me, we have clients, and so I do tend to live a pretty higher stress lifestyle. When those stressful things happen, I can manage them so much better. I'm much more calm, I'm much more relaxed, I'm less emotional, I'm less making decisions off of impulse, and I'm less feeling like it's very heavy. If I'm only getting 5, 6 hours of sleep, it's not that I can't still do the things I'm supposed to do, it just feels like it's so much heavier in the process. I don't know if you can relate to that or not, which even that in and of itself, when it feels so much heavier, that to me is what makes me really stressed, is when like it just feels like it's overwhelming or it's overbearing. And so that's why I get a little bit selfish and make my sleep a top priority for me because when I can get a little bit selfish, I know that I can operate at a better pace, which is then going to have all of our clients, all of my coaches, this content, everything is going to operate much better. So me being selfish, and this is for you as well, when me or you are selfish, we can take care of everything else around us that much more and that much better. So more sleep, less stress. The second way is going to be making sure it is once again a non-negotiable to get my workouts in. And this one may actually be something you thought of where you're like, oh yeah, cool. Like when I exercise, I feel so much better and I have less stress and I'm really, you know, it's a great stress reliever for me. But what happens to a lot of people, maybe yourself included, when we start to get stressed? What happens is one of the first things to go is our exercise and our fitness and taking care of ourselves because we're just so worked up and so stressed that we don't have time to exercise, for example. But yet if I'm able to get my workout in and I can go in, lift some heavy weights and push myself, it makes everything else in my day so much easier. When I'm doing some heavy Bulgarian split squats or when I'm doing some heavy dumbbell chest press, And I can find a way to get through that, there's not much else that's going to get me down in my day. So if I were you, just make sure even when you're stressed and overwhelmed and there's a lot of stuff going on and you're busy, make sure to keep your workouts a top priority. I promise you will thank yourself for it after. Third way I manage stress is going to be my nutrition. Once again, what is one of the first things that goes when you start to get stressed? Busy, overwhelmed, life starts to get to you. What's the first thing that goes? Probably your nutrition. You don't have time to make a healthy dinner. You don't have time to do your meal prep. And the way I like to view this as, if I can put good foods into my body, if I can eat high protein, make sure I have foods that give me good energy, then 2 things. Number one, I don't have to worry about that. So my nutrition is one less thing thing causing me stress, which a lot of people who are going to watch this, your nutrition is causing you a lot of stress. And so if you got that under control and you put the extra time into that, you would feel way less stressed. And then number 2, you're gonna have good energy, you're gonna have good mental focus, you're gonna have good digestion, clarity, gut health, brain health, all of these good things that can allow you to take on the stress in your life a little bit better and manage the stress a lot better. Once again, it's almost like you're paying things up front by meal prepping, making sure you have your food ready to go, which then allows you to be less stressed and operate and function better later on. I know it's hard, but your nutrition is, I believe, one of the best ways you can help manage your stress, both from an actual physiological perspective of, like I said, gut health and brain health, but also from that mental health perspective. The 4th is going to be reading before I go to bed. And I'm actually, I actually just got done reading a book on how to have a successful YouTube channel. So This is a great way to say if you want to subscribe to the channel and like the video, please feel free to go ahead. I know it may seem simple, but reading before I go to bed— I do a lot of my work personally on social media and on my phone and on my computer, which I don't mind that, there's nothing wrong with that. But because I spend so much time on the computer, on the phone, interacting with social media, all these things, I find that me personally, if I can just take 10 minutes, 5 minutes sometimes to just stop everything, turn off the phone, turn off the TV, you know, shut the lights down very low and just get a good solid 5 to 15 minutes of just reading an actual book. And I'm not going to tell you what to do. But my personal thing is if I can read the actual book, not like on my phone or on my Kindle or this, that and the other, it helps me massively just kind of like turn And flip that switch as I start to kind of end the night and head into the time I go to bed. It just kind of centers me. It allows me to say, all right, like, I did a really good job today. I was able to accomplish these things. I'm gonna wind down and get ready to recharge and head into tomorrow. And for me, it just works. It's very simple. Like I said, some nights it's literally 5 pages of a book, but it just helps me be able to get myself kind of in that better zone, which then helps me For the rest of the days. The 5th one is going to be personally, every single night before I go to bed, I pray. And I don't know what your religion is, and honestly, I don't really care. Like, I'm not a crazy maniac about this, but just what works for me personally, I pray to God every single night before I go to bed. It just helps me stay grounded. It helps me stay humble. It helps me reflect on what I am doing, what I can do better, what has been going very well, where can I improve. It helps me know I'm not alone in this journey as well. So for me personally, that's been a big thing for me as well. Again, maybe 5 minutes every single night, but it just makes a massive difference in my own mental health personally. And then one final bonus I will say is I also really enjoy going on walks outside. If it's— right now it's raining, so I don't know if I'll be walking outside, but if I get the chance, I'm going to walk outside. I have also found that be a massive help for my Mental health and stress management. Like, think about the last time you went on like a walk outside in nature. You're like hearing the birds chirping, you're getting the vitamin D in the sun. When have you ever came back from a good 10-minute walk outside and like felt worse, right? You've usually never felt worse about going to take, again, just a simple 5, 10, 15-minute walk. I don't need you like going to go out for an hour-long run. Like, go walk around the block for 5 minutes, get out of your chair, get out of your desk, get out of your house. 9.9 times out of 10, you will come back and feel way better from that. And that's it. No bubble baths, no massages, no spa days. Again, nothing against that, but the way I like to approach stress management is actually more just investing discipline into my routine and into the things that I know will pay off in the long run. Putting in that work early to make sure I get my sleep, putting in the work to make sure I get my workouts, hit my nutrition, Making sure to work upfront to be able to get the benefits from those things in the long run. That's my way I like to approach stress management. I hope this video was at least somewhat helpful for you. If it was, please feel free to subscribe to the channel, like the video, and feel free to check out this video above if you want some more help in your journey. Chat soon.