The workplace is full of things that can trigger your stress. Learn to manage your frustrations and anxieties while on the job.
Among all the things that can bring about stress, work is probably the most common. No matter how confident you are in your own skills that got you the job, there’s plenty to make any professional stressed out on occasion. Maybe your boss has unreasonable expectations for your performance. Maybe a busy time at the office has you scrambling to meet deadlines. Or maybe you’re just having the average bad day. But if you feel those bad days adding up and you find your stress levels rising, try some of these tips for managing your stress at work.
Visualize yourself tackling your to-do list.
The stress of a new workday can kick-in fairly quickly so try your best to stay ahead of it. One effective approach is to take a few moments in the morning to literally visualize how you’ll handle the day’s workload. Put yourself in a mindset of how you’ll be most productive with the day. What’s the first thing you’ll tackle once you get into the office? What is top priority and what can be set aside for another day? Getting a head start on the day will help you be more prepared should any issues arise.
Get to the office early.
Do you find that as soon as you get to the office the stress of the day’s work is immediately upon you? It’s a pretty overwhelming feeling to come to work and right away finding yourself bombarded with assignments and it will start the day off on a bad note. To avoid this, come to the office early—nothing crazy, 10 minutes will make a world of difference. This will put you in a better position to start the day off in a calm, quiet manner and stay ahead to the work. To give away 10 minutes of your morning routine might seem like an impossible task, but giving yourself this extra time to get yourself prepped will help you ease into the workday more painlessly.
Focus on solutions rather than problems.
While it cannot be denied that anyone can experience great stress due to a number of circumstances, stress can also be caused by how a person reacts to an unexpected development. No matter how efficient of a professional you are or what level you’ve climbed to in your organization, not every day will go the way you wanted. Dwelling on every roadblock will make them that much harder to overcome. Put your mind to work on finding solutions rather than letting the frustration take over.
Don’t look for problems where there aren’t any.
The mind is a funny thing. Stress can put your mind in an unpleasant space which is not easy to escape from. You encounter a stressful situation and the frustration of it convinces you that there are problems at every turn and the world seems conspired against you. You put yourself into a mindset in which you’re missing simple solutions to small problems which adds more stress. See the situation at hand clearly and keep your mind from making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Delegate responsibilities and ask for help.
You have your own to-do list but sometimes it’s too much for you take on by yourself. Why stress yourself out with so much burden when you do have to go at it alone? People often put themselves in stressful situations because they can’t seem to understand that they can delegate certain tasks to others. It’s something that can’t be taken advantage of but an office functions together, not on the basis of individual work. Next time you’re over your head with work, ask someone to toss you a lifeline and be sure to return the favour some day.
Enjoy your breaks.
When you’re stressed out from your workload, it’s very reasonable to think, “If I keep working non-stop I can get ahead of it all.” As reasonable as that kind of thinking is, it’s not a very effective way of working or of managing your stress. Constant work without a break will only add to your stress as well as cause you to feel exhausted. Your work can suffer and you’re worse off than you were before. Don’t neglect your time off. Take coffee breaks, lunch breaks, weekends—a heavy workload stays at work and you can return to it the next day with a rested mind.
Prepare for the next day.
So you’ve had a stressful day from the moment you woke up until the moment you left the office. You don’t want to even think about work until tomorrow morning. While it’s extremely important to escape work in the evening, don’t shoot yourself in the foot in regards to the next morning. Prepare for the next day the night before. Make a lunch, organize your papers, leave your desk in a clean state and help yourself start the next day off on a smoother foot.