By Leo Babauta

There isn’t a freelancer alive who doesn’t get stressed out, trying to juggle projects, trying to meet deadlines, trying to deal with difficult clients, trying to have a life while working multiple jobs.

Today, let’s look at ways to deal with stress. You’ll never eliminate stress completely, at least not while you’re alive, but there are ways to keep it manageable:

Don’t overcommit. We often take on more than we can actually do. That leads to overwork, stress, and missed deadlines. Take on only as much as you can handle without too much stress.

Learn to say no. In order to avoid overcommitting, we need to learn to turn down projects and requests. Many of us have problems with this. Practice makes perfect. Turn down as much as you can afford to.

Work on small tasks, not large projects. Tackling large projects can be overwhelming. Instead, focus on one small task within a project — something you can easily do in a short amount of time (10-20 minutes is perfect, but a little longer is OK). If a task takes longer than that, break it down some more. Now just focus on that little task.

Don’t try to control others, or the world. This sounds obvious when written down, but in reality, we often try to do both. You cannot control other people, and trying to do so will only result in frustration. So will trying to control everything around you. All you can control is yourself — focus on that, and you’ll stress out less.

Take breaks. Obvious, sure, but how often do you really do this? Set a timer to remind yourself — say, for 20 minutes — allowing you to focus on a small task, and then take a break. Stretch out, walk around, get a drink of water.

Don’t try to be completely stress free. It’s impossible. Trying to completely eliminate stress will just frustrate you and stress you out.

Drink water. Drinking lots of water can reduce stress. It also forces you to go to the bathroom, which is a sort of break. Fill up a good-sized bottle and drink all day long.

Self-massage. When you take a break, try massaging your own shoulders, lower back, and head. It feels good, and you can feel the stress melting away.

Take a walk. This is my favorite type of break. I go outside, take a walk around, get the blood circulating, reflect on my day and my life, and often come back in with lots of great ideas, full of inspiration and recharged to do better work.

Don’t tell yourself to relax. Constantly telling yourself not to stress out doesn’t work very well.

Bring beauty into your daily life. Some flowers, a nice desktop picture, greenery.

Eliminate clutter. I like to clear my desk, leaving only what I’m working on. Also clear out anything stacked on the floor, you slob.

Block out distractions. When you’re going to work on a task, turn off email notification, IM, your phones and anything else that might interrupt. Interruptions serve to reduce your productivity and increase your stress.

Focus on the important. If you can focus only on what’s important, and eliminate most of the rest, you can work less and be more effective.

Be comfortable. Wear comfortable clothing and shoes, and have a comfortable chair. Being in an uncomfortable position or wearing painful shoes will stress you out.

Exercise. Exercise is one of the best ways to relieve stress. A daily jog or walk or swim or bike works well.

Lose weight. Easier said than done, but being overweight is a major source of stress. Eat healthier, gradually, and add some exercise to your life to lose the excess pounds gradually.

Eat, work, and drive slowly. Be more deliberate in what you do, conscious of how you do it, and less rushed. If you eat slower, not only is it less stressful, you’ll end up eating less too. Driving slowly turns a stressful event into something soothing.

Take vacations. Freelancers don’t take vacations as much as regular employees, mostly because if we don’t work, we don’t get paid. But it’s important to take a couple weeks off work. Focus on getting ahead enough that you can take at least a week off. Then forget about work for that week.

Exchange massages with a partner. If self-massage is good, a massage from another person is excellent. If you have a partner, offer to take turns massaging each other.

Try Yoga, Tai Chi, meditation, or Pilates. Any of these (along with other techniques) is good for stress relief. You might really enjoy these activities.

Yell or laugh. Sometimes you just have to let it out. Get outside and yell. Laugh at jokes. It melts away stress.

Reduce caffeine and sugar. Both of these stress you out. You probably don’t want to go cold turkey (that’s stressful), but you should gradually reduce consumption.

Think positive. Learn to recognize negative self-talk. Then replace it with positive thinking. It sounds corny, but it works.

Get outside. Go outside, enjoy nature. Water, such as the beach or a river or a lake, works well. So does greenery.