I had grand plans of starting this article with powerful ponderings about the value of networking and the massive impact it can have on your career but something else overshadowed that intention which was much more important to address and could have the same level of impact on your career - although not quite so positive...

Every now and so often I am reminded with a bolt of lightening about the fragility of life.  Today was one of those days.

A close friend's husband was found dead in his hotel room on Thursday - no warning, no reason and no explanation.  It was not suicide, he was not on drugs and was a healthy and happy individual.  So far it seems that a heart attack has claimed the life of yet another young victim.  His legacy is a devoted wife, 6 year old step son and a very young baby.   This is the second shocking and unexpected death of a father at my son's school this year - the last one was a victim of asthma and left behind a wife and four young children.

Life is so incredibly precious and we all take it for granted at some stage.  We work all the hours in the day, stress about our deadlines and scream at people we shouldn't.  And where does it get us'  All it does is distance ourselves from those we love and create a chemical reaction within our bodies that has the power to kill us.

Try these tips to deal with stress - worked for me and may just save your life.

Identify the stress triggers in your business.  Is there something that regularly annoys you and raises the blood pressure'  Maybe keep a journal for a week or two and diarise where you react and what causes that reaction - I am sure a pattern will emerge.

Keep it Simple.  No-one has time anymore for complicated activities - keep your management style, business and business offering simple and clutter free - your staff and your clients will thank you for it.

Try putting systems in place to deal with repetitive problems or outsource the problem to someone who enjoys it.  Do deadlines get the better of you'  Maybe revisit why you are in business in the first place and try to find the passion again. 

Go with the flow. Getting stressed is not going to achieve anything better, faster or easier - just the reverse.  Let's face facts - you may not be here tomorrow.  Treat hurdles as learning opportunities and an integral part of life.  How you deal with a problem quite often determines the outcome.

Live your life.  Take up a hobby or meditation and make time for those close to you.

We have the choice to take back control of our ridiculously busy lives - we just need to make that choice to do so.  How we react to stressful situations is often the key to much less stressful life in fact more stress can be created by our reaction to things rather than by the situation itself.  As I said, we just need to make that choice.  I have - will you?