Not long ago one of my authors—I consider her a friend too—gave me a partial glimpse of her to-do list: editing one book for publisher A, writing proposals for new fiction that hasn’t been contracted yet, writing the marketing synopsis for the [not-quite-finished] novella coming out with publisher B this fall, getting ready to launch the novel that will release in a month with publisher C’s publicist, and currently working on a nonfiction for publisher D. She also has a recently finished novel that is being shopped by her agent.

I say this is a partial list because my friend maintains a busy speaking schedule, she’s active in her church and in a professional organization, and—hello—she’s a wife, mom, sister, friend.

But you see, right? Those projects all have tight deadlines. Sort of like an editor’s deadlines (editors, too, juggle multiple projects). Sort of like … all of us, no matter what we do for a living.

“You’re just like everybody else … Pressure!”

Tension. Stress. Pressure. It builds up. And it can and will make you physically ill, from a tendency to get colds to much more serious problems. (I have personal experience in this, and that’s all I’m gonna say.)

“But even you cannot avoid … Pressure.”

So you have to learn how to deal with your to-do list. (Pressure!) Here are my big three:

1. Don’t give up sleep in order to accomplish something. It is essential to your physical, mental, and emotional health. You need your sleep for cell regeneration, clearer thinking, and to improve your mood. So go to bed on time. The work will still be there in the morning.
2. Prioritize, then take things one at a time. Focus on the most pressing thing, then move to the next; eventually you get it all done. Years ago I had a boss who wisely said (during a period when our small department was very, very busy): “If something falls off your plate onto the floor, leave it there [until you can deal with it].” Sometimes, I have found, those things that fall off my plate handle themselves without my intervention.
3. Delegate the chores you don’t currently have time for but are creating internal pressure. I fall into the trap of thinking I am the only person who can do a thing, but I’m really not. The chore may not get done exactly the way I intended but it gets done; so I just say thank you and move on.

That’s my list. If I stick to it, I manage to stay reasonably calm. But there are other tried-and-true ways to deal with stress:

• Eat good food. Junk food and sugar are the enemies of productivity.
• You may be deficient in certain vitamins and minerals; make an appointment with a nutritionist.
• It may sound counterintuitive, but a little bit of exercise will make you feel a lot better. Go walk around the block.
• Practice deep breathing. It brings clarity, relieves pain, and releases tension.
• Consider meditation/prayer. As with deep breathing, there are a wealth of benefits to be derived from pursuing a regular “quiet time.”
• Pet the dog. Seriously.
• Did I mention sleep? Yes, it’s that important.

“Nowhere to look but inside where we all respond to … Pressure!”

Wikipedia has a transcription of an interview with Billy Joel in which he spoke about his song “Pressure”:

The pressure I was writing about in this song wasn’t necessarily music business pressure, it was writing pressure. … At the time, I was saying, “Well, I gotta write some more stuff for the album”; I was about halfway through, and I said, “Well, what am I gonna do? I don’t have any ideas, it’s gone, it’s dead, I have nothing, nothing, nothing. There’s nothing.”

Sound familiar? I know it will to anyone who writes for fun and profit. But note the sound of paralysis, demoralization, depression, note the use of words like dead and nothing. The experts aren’t kidding when they say stress kills, friends.

Get a plan that works for you so you can deal with the pressure. I have one. If I just 1) get enough sleep; 2) prioritize and knuckle down; and 3) delegate what I can’t do myself, I eventually come out on the other side and calm down again. Let me know in the comments what works for you.

* From “Pressure,” words and music by Billy Joel, on the album The Nylon Curtain, ©1982.

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