Feeling a little stress is a normal part of the working day but when stress gets to be too much it can affect your judgment causing you to make rash decisions. Or, it can affect you physically causing tension in your muscles, increased heart rate, or aches and pains.

The key is to keep stress at a manageable level. One way to do this is with a simple breathing exercise.

• Sit still in a relaxed position with your back straight.

• Clear your mind as much as possible.

• Breathe in slowly, for a deep breath.

• Hold, but only as long as is comfortable.

• Breathe out slowly.

• Hold.

• Breathe in.

• Hold.

• Breathe out.

• Hold.

Repeat as necessary. Take a few seconds here and there and use this simple breathing exercise on a regular basis to help lower your stress level.

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” –Etty Hillesum

We all face some amount of stress in our lives. Some stress is caused by situations beyond our control, making it all the more important to do what we can to reduce stress in the circumstances we do control.

One thing within our control is our level of organization.

While on the face of it, organization may seem to have little to do with stress levels, a lack of organization will prove otherwise in a stressful situation.

If you’re under pressure to find an item in a stressful situation, imagine how much more stressed you will become when you cannot locate it.

As you shuffle through papers, folders and drawers, your frantic searching may cause further disorganization, setting the stage for a later repeat of the situation. If instead, you can quickly locate what you need when you need it, your stress levels will be lower than they might otherwise be.

Naturally, the first step is to do a thorough cleaning, eliminating clutter and organizing everything that is needed.

• Make sure you organize everything in a manner that makes sense for you, using a system you will remember and stick with.

• Once you get organized, stay organized.

• Each day, set aside a few minutes to get your work area back in order.

Ideally and when practical, follow a pattern where you handle each item only once. For example, when you get a new document or piece of mail, read it and then act on it, file it or recycle it. Eliminate the “I’ll do it later” items as much as possible. Too often, later never comes because of other more pressing needs. Additionally, you won’t suffer the stress of seeing a growing stack of “I’ll do it later” items sitting on your desk. You can better focus on the job at hand rather than being frustrated by the amount of work left to do.

Being better organized will not eliminate stress, but it can help keep it at reduced levels. Plus, it makes for a better and easier workplace, so there is no downside. Get organized and reap the benefits of increasing your productivity and reducing your stress level.

Often changing your own outlook and attitude makes all the difference…much more is good than is not good…keep your mind on the good.

The importance of career choice in the “Finding a Career” department at CareerSparksClub.com.

There’s a difficult time between where you are now and where you want to be that must be managed when you are changing careers. One thing that helps is to focus more on what you want next rather than what you don’t like about where you are currently because that makes the current day-to-day very difficult and keeps a negative vibe going in you. So during times of change, its important to focus on the excitement of what is coming but with an ability to be appreciative of where you are now and how far you’ve come.

• Ever notice that often you’re trained to do tasks that aren’t on the job description?

• It seems that often one only gets “meets expectations” for doing what is outlined in the job description on annual reviews.

• One thing that is kind of neat is that often the highest praise and potential for advancement comes when taking charge of something that is not on the job description.

Morale of the story: Don’t take a job description too literally —and use that to your advantage to customize a job to best match your strengths.

I encourage you to spend more time tracking your accomplishments than your goals. Accomplishments are actions you have already taken. Goals are actions you intend to take. Make it a habit to log your weekly accomplishments and turn them into bullet points for your resume and power stories for reviews, networking, and interviewing.

You may also want to add a space on your accomplishment log to mention how you felt while working toward each accomplishment. Say a 1 to 5 star rating, 5 being the best. This will help you recognize what activites juice you up so that you can make arrangements to do more of those.

The beginning steps to getting to the next level in your career.

1. Identify what the next level looks like.
2. Track your accomplishments.
3. Identify your personal brand.
4. Start talking to people and thinking often about what you are wanting.
5. Plan your networking.
6. Be on the lookout for the right opportunity.

It all begins by knowing yourself. That is not to say that you will choose one career for life, no, it is an ever evolving process of making more and better distinctions of who you are and what you want to accomplish in your lifetime. It is about, learning, researching, and talking a little everyday about potential and opportunity. It is not in obsessive thing though. It is more about going with the flow in a productive manner yet always honoring when you are right now in the process.

We have all heard the statistics about setting goals. Those who write their goals down are more likely to reach them. For me, writing down main goals in several categories on an annual basis is the best way to go. I use the time around my birthday each year to inventory which goals were achieved and which were not, as well as to set goals for the next year. I pick the most important ones to me and break them down to smaller steps to be accomplished each month or quarter along the way to my next birthday.

Goal setting is a very personal thing, though. We all have to take time to learn what works best for us and stick to that. If a technique sounds good to you, try it for a month or so. Check your motivation and results at the end of the month to determine if that system is a keeper for you. Finding what works best is simply a trial and error exercise. The important thing is to keep trying.

When there is a goal you do not reach on a given year or time period that you established, it is time to reassess whether it’s important enough to keep it on the list for the next year. If it is important to you still, no harm done, you just guessed wrong about when you could get it accomplished. So put it on the list again and spend time reviewing the reasons why it is important to you still. Then try again. If the goal is no longer relevant or important to you then let it go without worrying about it any further. Turns out that goal was just not important in the grander scheme of things.

Living in the moment and being fully present is also an important idea to remember when goal setting. Sometimes it can be easy to be distracted with anticipating a future goal or accomplishment that must be achieved before you can move on. But, there is no need to be unhappy seeking a time in the future when all is accomplished. Even though it is important to outline goals and work towards accomplishments, it is also imperative to learn to enjoy the process!