Some stress in the workplace is normal, while excessive stress can impact your emotional and physical health, as well as interfere with your productivity. The way you handle this stress can ultimately be the difference between success and failure. Although you may not be in control of all aspects of your work environment, it does not mean you are powerless, even if you are in a difficult situation. Adapting to workplace stress is not about making vast changes or considering career ambitions; rather it is focusing on the one thing that you are in control of, yourself. Now let's find more answers to how to deal with stress at work.
1. Get Positive in the Morning
We all have "those mornings" where we have to scramble to get the kids off to school. And gulping down your morning coffee while dealing with the urge to rage on the road as traffic is despicable. Often it makes you come to work already stressed. So you should not be surprised by how much more you react to stress when your morning is already stressful. So the first solution to how to deal with stress at work is to start your day with a stress-free morning. A healthy breakfast, a positive attitude and prior proper planning will make a significant difference.
2. Arrange Your Tasks Well
If you are not a naturally organized person, planning ahead to keep things organized can dramatically reduce your stress at work. Dealing with stress at work will be far easier by organizing your time. It will require less rushing in the morning so you are not late and not having to rush at the end of the day to leave work on time. By keeping yourself organized you will find that the negative effects of clutter will be avoided and you will work more efficiently.
3. Stick to One Task at a Time
In our fast paced world of work you may often hear people claim that they multitask. But multitask does not help improve efficiency. If you break everything up into chunks of information and time, then the more chunks of time you devote to a specific task, the shorter start-up time you will use. This not only saves you time, helps you concentrate, but also relieves your stress and delivers better results.
4. Shake off Perfectionism
In this busy world, dealing with stress at work and being a high achiever is great but can be difficult. Being a perfectionist; well, only makes it harder. It is fine to be a perfectionist in your own life and on your own time, but in the work place just shake off that perfectionism. Striving to do your best every day and on everything and then congratulating yourself on your efforts is a good strategy.
5. Set Clear Boundaries Between Work and Life
For how to overcome stress at work, it's a must to set boundary between work and life. In the world of instant communication, people are easy to get sucked in the gray zone between work and personal time. You can separate from the work in the following ways:
- It may help to set time boundaries of when you start and stop work, try not work before 8 am and not work after 6 pm every day.
- On the weekends disconnect yourself from work. If you are in a position that requires a company issued cell phone, check it once every 24 hours and only respond to actual emergencies.
- Do not be the email addict, check your email once a day on the weekends and if it is not an emergency, let it wait until Monday.
This may be difficult at first but it will make a huge difference in your personal life and is a great method for dealing with stress at work.
6. Relax and Recharge Yourself
Make sure to schedule time to do those things you enjoy. Be it arts, playing with your children, reading whatever you enjoy and making time to do it. Remember if you do not schedule it, it will not happen.
Another way in learning how to deal with stress at work is to listen to music on the way home. Music soothes the angry beast or so the saying goes, it is true that it helps relieve our stress when we listen to our favorite music.
7. Know What to Do
Then how to deal with stress at work when the requirements of your job seem to be changing frequently? If you find that you are in this cycle of never knowing that you are doing or what is expected of you, talk to your supervisor. Make sure to address the issues that are causing this confusion and have him/her clearly lay out what is expected of you and review some strategies to meet these goals. This will not only relieve your stress but will also assist your supervisor in ways to help you and him/her.
8. Talk to Your Boss
Studies have shown clearly that healthy employees are more productive. This is a great incentive for your boss to create a healthy work environment for all employees. Have an open conversation with your supervisor and make sure you have made a list of identifiable stressors that keep you from performing more effectively. Make sure to get positive feedback from your supervisor like making needed resources available to you, offering you more challenging or meaningful tasks or making some changes in your physical work-space.
9. Seek Help
Asking for help may be very difficult for some people. But it helps in dealing with stress at work. It is possible that your company has stress management resources (employee assistance programs or EPA's) in place. If you feel that you need to talk to someone out of workplace because you are overwhelmed by stress at work, you can talk to friends and families or you may want to contact a psychologist. These professionals will better help you manage stress and change unhealthy behaviors.