With faster lifestyles, global workforces and 24/7 schedules, the impact of workplace stress is becoming severe on working professionals across the world.
Today, stress may be caused due to a variety of factors, not just the pressure to perform under severe deadlines. The cause of stress may result from your interaction with superiors and co-workers, personal problems such as troubled marriages or bereavement that spill into your office life, performance and teamwork issues, low self-esteem, fear of job loss, and health issues.
A little stress is actually useful because it fires away the body’s self-defense mechanisms – alertness, high adrenalin levels, etc. However, prolonged stress can do a lot of damage. For people in demanding professions such as travel, sales, hospitality and medicine, as well as self-employed professionals, stress can extract a high toll. To beat stress before it gets you down, you must recognize the early warning signs.
Things may be far worse if you hate your job. Deadlines, bosses and co-workers all become sources of stress.
Here’s how to deal with stress:
- Slow down, take a deep breath and take a good long look at yourself. First, try to identify the root cause of why you are stressed. Is it something that happened at work or at home? Is it something you are not talking about? Is it something that makes you afraid or insecure about your job? Do you feel threatened by a co-worker or a superior? Are you in the right job? Be honest with yourself and try to pin down the problem.
- Understand the boundaries of work and personal life. When you come back home, take your mind off work. Remember, it’s good to be passionate about work, but take care not to over-commit or set unrealistic deadlines. Be realistic of what you can achieve and work towards your goals.
- Take a break every few hours, go for a walk or stand upright at your desk and relax your body.
- Be realistic about the fact that certain things are beyond your control. Tell yourself that it is important to be calm and in control of your emotions and reactions, not external situations. Think before reacting.
- Overcome escapism and avoidance. Rather than avoid a situation, brace yourself to tackle it. For instance, “presentation stress” is a common cause for concern because many of us are nervous about speaking before large audience. While some are gifted at it, most are not. To overcome this mental block, rehearse your presentation before a mirror. Get help from your co-workers or friends and do a dry run. Get feedback, incorporate it and improve your presentation.
- Exercise. Stress is aggravated by a sedentary lifestyle. Exercise not only helps you burn away calories but also works off the tension and induces sound sleep. Yoga and aerobics are great to beat stress. If you feel you don’t have the time to learn anything new, just take a walk.
- Be open about your stress and speak to your manager about it. While doing so, maintain your dignity and make it clear that you are requesting his or her understanding, not a favor or a reprieve.
- Many employers offer counseling services and helplines, which you must use if your self-help efforts do not seem to work.
- If you continue to be stressed, speak to your friends or consult a doctor or a counselor.
- If all the above measures do not deliver satisfactory results, consider changing your job and take up a less demanding role.
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