7/12/2010
In the midst of an economic climate that often leaves us riddled with high stress and low tolerance, it is all too easy to slip into bad habits that launch our bodies out of balance and make us vulnerable to illness, including sleep and eating disruption, high blood pressure, frequent colds, migraines and depression. Below are some tips from the Skillful Living doctor and recent Your Money Radio guest, Michael Finkelstein, M.D., on how to be more productive, and how to keep our health intact while we do the same for our wallets.
• Dealing with stress: If you are fighting or flighting, you cannot maximally focus on the work you are doing; thus you need to find a better way to manage the stress and “background noise.” The most practical way to do this, for immediate relief, is to learn a simple breathing technique—a relatively slow and deep breath that lasts 10 seconds—4 seconds in, 1 second hold and 5 seconds out. Doing this for just 2 minutes when you have any sense that things are building up, can really make a difference.
• Being more productive: Make sure you get adequate quantity and quality of sleep. Try not watching TV in the evening for 1 week and see how that works. Instead, read recreationally (a novel, memoir or entertaining magazine, as opposed to anything work or industry-related) or listen to music for an hour before you go to bed. Try to shut down completely by 10:30.
• Reevaluating how much money you need: Think about this: if you are working additionally hard to make enough money for things you don’t really need, you are working harder than you need to and wasting valuable time and energy. Anyone who has felt like they are on a perpetual treadmill knows this experience. Carefully review the things you spend money on and try to eliminate the waste. A periodic review of your expenses will improve your bottom line. Consider this same rule for your life.
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