How to Avoid Stress: Live With Margin
Like it or not, stress is probably here to stay. And a lot of stress can reduce the quality of our life as well as the quality of our relationships.
That’s why it’s important that we learn how to avoid excessive stress.
I believe that one key to accomplishing this is to live with margin.
Margin is the difference between our maximum capacity and the capacity we use.
Living with margin means living below our maximum capacity.
Think of your life as a bucket of water.
If you fill the bucket to capacity, then even a small shock can cause the water to spill out. But if there is enough space between the surface and the top of the bucket, the water won’t spill out.
Your life is similar. If you fill your life to capacity, then even a small disturbance can stress you out. But if you live within margin, you can remain calm even when problems come.
How then do you create margin?
There are two ways to create margin:
- Increase your capacity, and
- Reduce your load.
Increasing your capacity is like having a bigger bucket, while reducing your load is like putting less water into the bucket. Both can create margin.
Increasing your capacity means increasing your ability to handle responsibilities.
Some ways to do this are:
- Exercise to create your physical energy (oops, I’m not doing well with this one),
- Have a “quiet time” with your spiritual routines to strengthen your purpose, (my 20 minutes 5 times a week of meditation time is helping),
- Nurture relationships that can support your productivity (my sister is a great help!),
- Gain knowledge of better ways to handle situations (I’m reading a helpful book called Creating Moments of Joy).
Reduce your load means reducing the burden of your responsibilities. If you are stressed and want to create margin fast, this is the way to go because it’s easier to reduce your load than to increase your capacity.
Some ways to do this are:
- Use the 80/20 rule to eliminate the less profitable activities (I’m still working on this one!)
- Delegate if someone can do something 70% as good as you (My sister is a great cook!),
- Organize and build systems to make life simpler (I put up a chart to deal with the increased variety of meds and their timing).
To avoid stress, living with margin is key. Don’t fill your life to capacity; spare some white space instead.
And enjoy a life of more balance and less stress!
3 Comments
“White Space”… I love it!!
Good stuff-actually great stuff! I need a bigger bucket. The Seahawks lost! Some thing to learn. Good talking to you, Pat. Have a greater one! G.
George, that bigger bucket sounds great! I know that “and it came to pass” is a great mantra when we realize it means it DOES pass! (even the Super Bowl)