How do you manage stress while juggling program and project deadlines?

To manage stress, presence of mind matters. Look for priority in your to do list and take support of your manager for non urgent tasks to do next day so that you can focus entirely on one project/work which is important for the day.

I manage stress by allowing myself to have a "downtime". This is a moment wherein I do not have to do anything. It is usually during Sundays wherein I spend time in worship by being in the Church with my family and to just do nothing. It also helps me to listen to music while I do stressful activities especially when catching deadlines. Being prepared and to really plan out activities so ahead of time truly helps me manage my stress because most of the time, the cause of stress are those activities that are not planned ahead. So, I tend to avoid stress by planning ahead. You can do it, too!

I will identify the stressors as mentioned in this article. Some projects may face challenges with project team members lacking the right level of expertise, while others may be challenging due to their own complexity and multiple regression impacts. I always gather feedback from similar projects and establish governance based on the identified stressors. This is part of the risk management aspect of a program/project manager's role.

Balancing program and project deadlines can be overwhelming, but I find solace in prioritizing tasks and breaking them into smaller, manageable steps. Taking short breaks, deep breaths, and reminding myself that it's okay not to be perfect eases the pressure. Seeking support from colleagues and celebrating small victories adds a human touch to the process, making the journey more collaborative and less daunting.

In my experience stress builds as milestones and deadlines get closer but this creates an opportunity to put things in perspective and to motivate to achieve the desired results. I achieve this by taking a walk with a coworker or coworkers to talk about other things and to just let some of the stress out with calm. Even an untimely coffee break or just having time to discuss other topics let you get refocused to tackle problems and achieve the milestone that is critical to the business. Then it’s important to celebrate your success with the team!

I meditate in the morning for half hour, I go on a nature walk for an hour in the evening or morning, while listening to a podcast. These activities help me plan my projects and deadlines in a very calm and composed manner.

This, for me personally, has helped the most. I ensure I take power breaks where I can reset and re-engage with full focus. On days when nothing seems to be working, and all hell breaks loose, sometimes a short walk or a coffee break helps reorganize my thoughts and get back to work. It helps to shut down the laptop, step away, and take a 10,000 ft view of what's going on, to get clarity on what to do next, reprioritize, and get down to business. Even the most powerful, well engineered F1 race cars need to take 2-3 pit stops in the middle of a race - why shouldn't you?

Prioritizing the most important and urgent tasks is important. But it's also helpful to include "easy wins" in the to-do list. These could be small tasks that require minimum effort and time expenditure. Placing them on top of your daily to-do list can be a good motivation boost that kick starts your day.

There are so many techniques I can share with you, simple one, DO NOT REACT IMMEDIATELY, never, no matter the situations, no matter how you do believe you are right, take a pause. Brief in, brief out, count till 10, 100, sometimes 1000...

Time mgmt. and remaining energetic throughout the project depends on how defined your tasks are, how perfectly you have allocated the tasks to suitable resources, how well are you tracking and being proactive to overcome any roadblocks. By doing so, you don't feel exhausted and time will not be a constraint

That's definitely useful as long as this tools and the notifications that might come along, are managed in a way that don't exacerbate your stress. It's important to cut out some time during the day when work notifications are completely off. When possible, using different devices for personal and professional tasks is also helpful.

Gantt charts, backward and forward pass, waterfall charts, risk mitigation plans or alternate plans, escalation Matrix and above all lessons learnt from previous projects not repeating in current projects. These are some tools which for me are key apart from other tools.

This I learned from making mistakes. I used to think of asking for help as a sign of weakness - huge mistake! I learned that folks in the organization, especially your management, wants to see you succeed. By reaching out to them and asking for help, guidance or even a quick word of advice can go miles in stepping out of the haze and moving ahead. Even Superman needs Lois Lane to help him out at times. We are just human :)

One thing I've found helpful is joining virtual communities. There are not necessarily communities of practice with peers who share similar interests or professions. It could also be a community built around common values, goals, or challenges. Sometimes, getting feedback from someone "outside your field" can be just as valuable.

Prayer and meditation. I start the day with it and end the day with gratitude. Making a do list and prioritizing tasks has always helped me feel centered as well communicating all updates with key stakeholders. Stress only rears it’s head when you start believing your out of options. Reaching within your team to share thoughts, concerns, wins or barriers can yield great results from collective collaboration.

Timely escalations and seeking timely intervention of SME or leads to get out of pause helps to avoid timeline lapse and avoid delivery delinquency

Thinking on the feet, thinking out of the box, thinking 2 steps ahead of customer is quintessential qualities to be prepared for the next step and keep moving forward

Another thing that worked for me is free writing. It can be done indipendently, or as part of a guided group. The important thing when practicing self-care, is choosing activities that you feel comfortable with.

Slow Down! Take a step back! Reflect on the limitations, resource available and ground reality. Draw the insights. Chart out the potential course of action. Reach out to peer, mentor and team to get their views. Incorporate their feed back Finalized the course of action . Then go full throttle!

Seriously, there are no 6 steps to manage stress, do nor stress yourself if you followed all 6 of them but stress is still with you or pressure even increased. Giving advises is easy, I know, listen to yourself, find the thing, little one, fixing which, or getting read of which will help you improve your state of mind a little bit. Brief.