How to Reduce Stress in the New Year

Overloaded with work after the holiday break? If you are, you’re not alone. Many workers report a feeling of anxiety when they return to work after New Year’s. Some workplace productivity experts have advice for how to minimize that feeling.

At SmartPros, Jason Womack has several tips for overcoming that feeling of unease. “Most of your dread doesn’t come from the work itself — it comes from how you think about the work,” he says. Here are Womack’s tips for getting a handle on your 2012 workload:

• Delete and recycle to make room for new work
• Block out your time and focus on your most important tasks
• Change how you manage your email
• Maintain work/life balance by keeping work out of parts of your routine where it shouldn’t intrude
• Be prepared to accomplish small tasks in your down time
• Identify distractions that can torpedo your productivity
• Divide your projects into manageable pieces
• Organize your to-do list by verbs used to manage your productivity
• Assess your performance each week
• Forecast your future to organize your goals and accomplishments

For a more specific method of de-cluttering your life, check out Drew Olanoff’s tips at The Next Web. He offers several ways to organize your inbox with the goal of having ZERO unread emails.

Do you have any tried-and-true methods of decreasing stress and increasing productivity? Sound off in the comments.