Page 10 - Psychology Course Study Manual

The answer is to write down all the events that are currently causing you stress. Next step is to

see how you can eliminate your stress either by learning how to manage them, or by changing

how you perceive them which is really what is making you stressful.

Let’s look at a just one example of how to cope and manage a stressful situation. Let’s say you

are feeling overwhelmed because you have too much to do and too much waiting to be done.

How can you manage this stress? Try and organize the workload by writing down everything
you need to get done. Then assign priorities to each task and then assign dates YOU can get

them completed by. Organizing automatically reduces stress because now you don’t have to

worry about forgetting something important to do.

If trading is a priority for you, then you must schedule your “to-do” items around trading so
that your trading is always number one. Knowing you have accounted for your trading in your

scheduling will again reduce stress. Be sure to schedule time off daily and try and do some

activity that is totally unrelated to your work and do something you enjoy that is fun. This will
clear your mind which reduces stress. This could be exercising, taking a walk, playing your

favorite sport, etc.

You do not want to get to the burnout phase, which means you went past a reasonable stress

point and you now cannot cope. Basically you will need to take time off, and that means
stepping away from all organization and structure and totally relaxing until you recover. If you

are burned-out you will need to do this or else you will get worse, and the next stop maybe a

nervous breakdown! So listen to your body and acknowledge the stress while it is still
manageable.

Next, take your list of events that could possibly cause future stress. Try and replace the worry

associated with these events with positive thoughts and actions, but think and act in total

awareness. Be aware but don’t dwell. We usually create or manifest the very things we try and
avoid sometimes because we are always thinking about them! And usually our thoughts are