Stress is probably one of the most common concerns among the clients I coach and businesses I work with. Too much stress can make it hard to enjoy the good things in life, and make it more difficult for us to reach our full potential – it takes up a lot of ‘mental space’ that could be put to good use elsewhere. I’ve spent over 23 years developing a range of resources and trainings to help people combat stress: here are my top five tips for managing stress and being the best you you can be.

To celebrate the launch of Evolve Online Learning, a Tier 1 membership is completely free for one month, so you can access our Stress Management Toolkit and lots of other courses for free. Sign up here.

Understand that stress is a good thing 

This might seem like an odd statement if you’re currently feeling stressed and overwhelmed – but in fact, some stress is a good thing. A little bit of stress pushes us to do our best and stay motivated; it encourages us to work hard and stay focused. If you’ve ever had a job where you were completely un-stressed with absolutely no pressure to do well, you’ll know what I mean. What’s important is finding a balance between ‘no stress at all’ and ‘so stressed it’s affecting you negatively’ – that’s the sweet spot that’ll help you achieve your goals.

Think ‘life balance’, not ‘work life balance’

Work-life balance is great, and very important – but I like to think of it instead as ‘life balance’. This takes into account all the facets that make up our lives: personal development, family, finances etc. In my Stress Management Toolkit course, we’ll work through an exercise I developed to help you evaluate what’s important to you in your life, what your life balance looks like now, and how to work towards a balance that makes you feel fulfilled.

Take time to pause 

If you’ve had a busy or stressful day, it’s really important to take time out to stop, breathe and reset. This is especially important if you’re working from home, as it’s easy for your workday stress to carry over into the rest of your time. Think of the glass of water analogy – holding on to our stresses and worries all day will make them seem much bigger than if we can learn to put them down and step away from them every so often.

Accept that you’re doing the best you can 

One of the key concepts of NLP is that we’re all doing the best we can with the resources we have available. Managing work, family commitments, and your own personal goals and ambitions can be challenging, but adopting the mindset that you’re doing the best you can will take the pressure off, and make you more compassionate to yourself and to others.

Only YOU are in control of your stress

It might seem like stress arises from external causes: too much work, a difficult-to-manage team, too many personal commitments. However, if you accept that you are in charge of your mind, and only you decide how stressed you are, suddenly you’re the one in control. It’s really empowering to consider that you have the ability to decide how you react to any given situation: you can react with stress, or you can choose to react in a more measured way that’s much easier to manage.

If you’d like help with managing stress, try our online Stress Management Toolkit course. For more focused support, we also offer one-on-one coaching – get in touch to find out more about how we could help.

We also offer business coaching and training, such as Resilience Training, a Time Management course, or bespoke business training to suit you.

We’re always on the lookout for new ways to deliver learning in a way that’s useful to learners. Taking our courses online means that they can be watched in your own time, at your own pace, paused, rewound and even played back faster or slower. We’ve filled our online academy with a range of courses, varying in length and focus: our focused Toolkit courses will deliver skills in a specific area, and our longer and more involved Personal Development courses will help you set goals, change the way you think and make real changes in your life.

We’ve recently added a new Microlearning category to our online academy. Microlearning is an approach to learning that breaks down content into small, easily digestible units. If you’ve never come across microlearning before, read on: we’ll explain what it is, why it’s useful and how it can help you get where you want to be.

Browse our microlearning courses here, where you can find short, focused bite-sized courses on topics like giving feedback and prioritising your time. 

What is microlearning?

Microlearning courses are short, focused learning units that deliver only the necessary information on a particular topic. The concept of microlearning isn’t a new one, but it’s taken off in recent years as the popularity of smartphones has changed the way we consume information: it’s well-suited to learners with busy schedules and lots of distractions. Research shows that microlearning can be really effective when used in the right setting: a study in the Journal of Applied Psychology showed that microlearning was 17% more efficient in transferring knowledge than in a standard classroom learning. 

In a world where many of us access information in short bursts – on our commute, during a break from work, while waiting for a bus – short, focused courses are a great way to take advantage of those short breaks. It’s said we check our phones an average of 9 times an hour; if you often find yourself scrolling through social media or reading articles during a break, why not dedicate that time to a microlearning course?

What are the benefits of microlearning?

It’s a great option if you’re looking to learn a specific skill, or if you’re short on time. Microlearning modules are highly targeted and specific, so it’s easy to focus on what you’re learning: the goal is to deliver key information in a way that’s easily retained.

If you find it difficult to complete longer courses, a microlearning approach may be useful: if there’s something you’d like to learn, you could always start off with a microlearning module and move on to a longer course if you need more information.

What are the limitations of microlearning?

Although microlearning has become popular over the last few years, it’s not the answer to every learning objective. While it’s great for very focused topics, it’s not as well suited to more complex learning, or courses where accountability is required. If you’re looking to set goals and work towards achieving them, a microlearning course might help with one specific area, but it won’t encourage you to stay focused as you move towards your goals.

How can you use microlearning to achieve your goals effectively?

Whether you’re looking to get better at your job (for example by improving your communication or public speaking skills, or becoming more organised), looking to move in a new direction in your career or personal life, or just working to become a better version of yourself, it’s a good idea to combine learning approaches for the most effective outcome. 

Microlearning is a great way to make the most of short periods of time, where longer forms of learning aren’t an option. It’s also a great way to help you pick up specific skills or learn about a focused topic. If you’d like to learn more about that topic and how to integrate it into your routine, move on to a longer course that covers that same topic. Our microlearning courses are designed to lead into our longer courses; if there’s a topic that interests you, and you’re not sure where to go next, get in touch and we’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.

Have a look at our microlearning courses, and the rest of our online courses, in our online academy.