Dealing with Stress at Work
Prevent Workplace Pressure From Escalating with These Tips
Ways to deal with stress at work. By knowing and practicing them, you become more productive and make your day enjoyable.
At work, we try to adhere to time management techniques for effective and efficient use of our days.
But how can we control pressure when it swamps? Deadlines slipping. Difficult work mates. Unrealistic deadlines imposed. Even unreasonable bosses. Not all situations can be controlled, but there are some ways heat at work can be turned down rather than wait for it to explode.
Ways to deal with stress from work pressures:
- Prioritize
Apply time management by prioritizing tasks. Create a daily realistic 'To Do' list. From you list, set your priorities by coding your 'To Dos' with 1,2 and 3 - '1' as your top priority. Therefore, do the '1' first, followed by '2' and then '3,' your last priority.
Handle each piece of paper that comes in contact with your hand only once, at least try.
Do it now!
- Stop comparing yourself to others
'If only I have as much money as …,' 'Why is the boss soft on her and hard on me…,' 'I should have gotten that raise instead…'
Often we don't realize that a great deal of unhappiness we cause ourselves is caused by constant comparisons we make. We say, "if only I have a big house like she has…", "if only my husband is as rich as hers…", "then I should be more comfortable and happier as …"
The only comparison that counts is the comparison between where we were and where we are now. By all means, admire others and be proud of their achievements, but remind yourself that only you can decide the standard you want to set for yourself.
- Stretch your tolerance and not be judgmental
Practice tolerance and not be judgmental. If you haven’t given this much thought before, think how often you find people getting stressed and agitated by the judgments they make about others. It might even be that you are impatient with your workmates. In a meeting, how much is your tolerance if your ideas aren't carried out? Are you heated up and boiling mad when a colleague forgets to meet you at the appointed time? And so on.
If we think that people are 'unreliable', 'lazy', 'always late', and so forth, in a way, these are judgments we set on our own, and not necessarily by which others choose to live their lives. For one thing, it may not necessarily make any difference to the actions of the other person.
- Stop procrastinating
The inability to make a decision and get started adds considerable pressure to our daily life. This is the serious burden of the 'will do, ought to, should, might …' that we so often carry around with us. Eventually, you may do the thing you have procrastinated about, but frequently, it means that you are operating with a tight deadline resulting in much stress or pressure. Therefore, the quality of your work often suffers. Other times you get burnt out. Sometimes it's too late to rectify.
- Learn to say 'no'
How many times have you found yourself taking on a commitment that you really didn't want, merely because you didn't have the ability to say 'No'? As your 'No' increases, so does the pressure in your daily grind. You just have to learn to say 'No' politely.
- Take a Short Break and Relax
As in anything, you need a break to re-energize. Stand up and stretch, or close your eyes and take few deep breaths. Use your discretion and common sense, depending on your deadlines or scheduled activities.
- Turn off your Mobile Phone for a Short While
We have become a society of SMS, texts, of instant responses. We have become extremely impatient. Turn off your cell phone for a couple of hours before getting back to some issues. Again, use your common sense, don't do it if response is important and needed urgently.
There you have it - ways to exercise better control over the pressures at work. Next time you feel confronted with a stressful situation, these tips might just be what you need.
