Stress Management

Project Management, as some of you out there might know, is a job for masochists. Basically you volunteer to be a punching bag for every senior manager in the firm and, to boot, you, must smile through it all and try and motivate the poor bastards working under you who bash it out for 18 hours a day.

To help reduce the everyday stress, and make my life more livable, I have adopted several stress management routines that I have learned to perform over the years at seminars.

To help start my day in a serene fashion, I perform the following routine every morning while drinking my first cup of lukewarm office coffee.

First I picture myself all alone, sitting by a beautiful stream surrounded my snow covered mountains.

As I listen carefully, I can hear birds softly chirping in the cool mountain air. This is my secret place. Nobody but me knows about it. I am as one with nature, truly secluded from the hectic lunacy of the office. There is a waterfall nearby and the sounds of the falling water enhances the serenity. The water is`crystal clear. It is so clear that it is easy to make out the face of Alexander, my boss,, whose head I am holding under water. I can hear someone calling me.

"Steve, come on, you don't want to be late again for the status meeting."

"Coming Alex” I answer, the smile still evident on my face.

See. You're smiling already.