Stress Series: What causes stress?

You might think that writing about what causes stress is to reinvent the wheel but I don't think so. I will summarize my experience of stress and try to give a clear picture of what causes stress - and equally important, what does not.

Stress is caused by things that you care about.
Obligations
Responsibilities
Expectations

If you don't care about it, it will not make you stressed.

Stress is not caused by having many things to do. Yes, you will be more likely to be stressed if you have many things to do but it does not have to be that way. One thing that is almost certain to cause stress is to care about more things than what is physically possible to accomplish.

First tip: Try to have a defense mechanism handy when your project presentation is on the same day as a ceremony that you are expected to attend.

Sometimes there just is no compromise and that means the only constructive thing you can do is to defend yourself from the disappointment of others.

I find that the most common reason for stress is that there are many things to do that are nothing but a nagging thought in my head. I follow the GTD task organizing system which is a way for me to change every nagging thought into something on a paper that I only have to care about when I want to.