Relief for stress at work, at home and in your daily life is essential for a healthy lifestyle.

At work, high workloads, tight time scales, difficult work colleagues and demanding customers can be extremely stressful and leave you feeling overwhelmed with the pressures of your working day. You may no longer look forward to the daily treadmill and envy your work colleagues who not only welcome the same pressures but seem to thrive on them!

Much is written on how to find relief for stress at work but this is just trying to manage a situation after it has developed. You know the stuff - deep breathing, meditation, going for a walk and so on. Far better to plan how to prevent stressful situations arising that cause workplace stress in the first place.

So how do you identify the best way to be effective, efficient and in control whilst ensuring stressful situations do not take root? Here are some essentials.

First, Take Control of Your Working Area.

Is your work space cluttered? If it is, to achieve relief for stress clear everything away, leave only your absolute essentials. Now you have no excuse to stop focussing properly on your workday priorities.

Second, Take Control of Your Phones.

Too many people drop everything to answer the phone. Remember it is only a communication medium - a hugely disruptive medium! If your mobile is your main phone then switch it to answerphone, check it once an hour and prioritise who you are going to call back - if any.

If your land line is your main phone, get an answerphone - they are cheap - and will transform your working day. Ensure calls go direct to answerphone, listen to any callers leaving a message and YOU decide if you want to pick up. Now you are in control and your concentration is not distracted!

Third, Take Control of Your Work.

Look at your In tray, what are your priorities? If you do not know, then go through the whole tray and prioritise into Urgent, Routine and Unimportant. Which ones can you delegate? Should another colleague more properly be dealing with a certain subject? Store the Routine and Unimportant in a drawer but do not forget about them - check them daily.

Take your remaining In tray - now your Urgent tray - and divide into Urgent today and Urgent this week. Now complete your To Do List in order of priority for today. Set deadlines when particular projects have to be completed. Now you have simply organised your day for maximum productivity benefiting yourself and your organisation.

Every morning, check mail in, review, prioritise and update your daily To Do List. You are now in control of your work, repeat every day until it becomes second nature.

Fourth, Examine Your Time Management.

How organised are you really? It is amazing how time seems to melt away during the working day. When you arrive at work how focussed are you? Do you immediately get down to work or do you spend time chatting with colleagues, finding excuses not to settle down.

For one week, record truthfully everything you do in each 15 minute period. You will be surprised at the time spent chatting, dreaming, being away from your workspace completing non-essential tasks. [This is purely for your own benefit no work colleagues should see it.] Manage your time to the best of your ability and you will find time to cope with your day comfortably.

Look Ahead - Plan Ahead

Stress wears you down. It is insidious, stressful and can take over your life so do not let it happen to you. Plan to work in spurts of high concentration when you are highly motivated and can achieve much. Then relax and be proud of what you have achieved in providing relief for stress at work. Your whole approach will become much more positive with just these few changes.