In this difficult economy, many of us are finding it harder than ever to cope with stress in the workplace. Regardless of occupation, seniority, or salary level, we’re spending more and more of our work days feeling frazzled and out of control, instead of alert and relaxed.
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It may seem that there’s nothing you can do about your stress level. The bills aren’t going to stop coming, there will never be more hours in the day for all your errands, and your career or family responsibilities will always be demanding. But you have a lot more control than you might think. In fact, the simple realization that you’re in control of your life is the foundation of stress management.
Managing stress is all about taking charge: taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems. The ultimate goal is a balanced life, with time for work, relationships, relaxation, and fun – plus the resilience to hold up under pressure and meet challenges head on.
Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in your life. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Your true sources of stress aren’t always obvious, and it’s all too easy to overlook your own stress-inducing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Sure, you may know that you’re constantly worried about work deadlines. But maybe it’s your procrastination, rather than the actual job demands, that leads to deadline stress.
Work can be a stressful place, wherever you earn your living, whether in an office, a factory, or a school. Some stress is good. It motivates us and makes us stronger. Too much stress is bad. It makes us irrational and it can, quite literally, kill us. Fortunately, there are specific things you can do that will help you reduce your stress at work and better cope with it.
Improve your time management and organization skills. Of the many things you can to in this area the best ones include getting a to do list that works, learning to say "no", asking for help when you need it, and stop setting unrealistic goals for yourself.
Whether you are feeling overwhelmed by the amount or work you have to do or if someone is "in your face", a good thing to do is to "breathe through your nose". You can't get as worked up if you force yourself to breathe through your nose. Your body simply can't maintain the same level of energy without that extra oxygen you get when breathing through your mouth.
Take more breaks from your work. Even a five-minute break will help. Get away from your desk. Go for a walk - outside is better, but up two flights of stairs and back down is good too. Getting more exercise in general will help you reduce your overall stress levels and that will make it easier to reduce your stress level at work.
Smile more. We all know laughter reduces stress. You will be amazed at how much more pleasant the people around you are when you make an effort to be pleasant yourself.
Learn to listen better. Rather than getting upset when others disagree with you, listen actively and find the areas of agreement. Be assertive and stand up for yourself, but don't be rigid.
Fix your environment. Make whatever adjustments you need to the lighting, temperature, noise level, and other controllable factors in your office.
Don't sweat the small stuff. Realize that there are some things that just aren't worth worrying about and there are some things you just can't change. Don't waste time stressing over the things in either category.
Get more sleep. This is another of the things you can do to reduce your overall stress that will have benefits at the office as well. In addition to reducing your stress, it will increase your energy level and your ability to concentrate.
All of us, whether in our business lives or personal lives, are under stress to produce, abide by rules and to exist compatibly on the job and with others. It is expected of us to interact with co-workers, supervisors, friends and relatives. We are to do this without causing hardship to ourselves or others. Each day brings new, stressful situations we must deal with in our business lives and our personal lives.
Stress is not confined to upper management and the people that make the major decisions. Stress is found at all levels of life. The anxiety of stress shows in our lives as a negative situation. What we need to do is teach ourselves how to stay positive about job and personal life situations. We need to learn philosophies in critical situations to prevent burn-out, depression, and anger.
A survey of medical tests estimate that as much as 50-80% of all disease is stress-related in origin. Doctors Holmes and Rahe, pioneering researchers in the field of stress, proved conclusively that the greater the number of life-change events people experienced in a two-year period, the more frequently they became physically ill. With health care costs skyrocketing, the financial impact of stress-induced illness and lowered work productivity are major drains on the economy, as well as on our personal pocketbooks.
General stress is increasing. There are many factors outside the workplace which contribute to the normal pressures of doing any job. In workers’ compensation areas, stress claims are on the rise, in some cases dramatically. Many companies are ill-prepared to deal with stress claims, or to prevent stress from becoming debilitating.
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