Stressed due to work pressures? Don’t worry you are not alone; almost 65% of Australians reported that they thought work contributed considerably to their levels of stress. Stress is one of those unavoidable things that affects all of us throughout both our personal and professional lives. It is a matter of how you deal with professional stresses that will enable you to work effectively throughout your business career.
There are a number of tips that can help cope with stress in the most positive manner. These include recognising warning signs of excessive stress at work, reducing job stress by taking care of yourself and by prioritising and organising both your personal and work life. Stress can be reduced by improving emotional intelligence, breaking bad habits, and by learning how managers or employers around you can help you deal with job stress.
If is of great importance that people are able to recognise when their body and mind are coming under increased levels of stress. Feeling anxious, irritable or depressed are clear signs that you may be under too much stress at work or that you are not coping with it in the most effective manner. Some people have problems sleeping or experience headaches and muscle tension. Fatigue and difficulty concentrating are also signs that the pressure of your workplace is affecting you in a negative way. It is important that individuals recognise these signs and take active steps in reducing their stress levels or coping with them more effectively.
One way to reduce workplace stress is to focus on taking care of you; yes yourself. When people are stressed at work their ability to perform in their position drastically decreases. For this reason it is in the best interest of the business (and more importantly yourself) that you are taking proper care of your health. Your physical and mental health needs to be monitored and taken care of in order for you to cope with stress in the best possible way. Regular exercise, healthy food choices, appropriate moderation of alcohol and getting enough sleep are all ways in which you can better take care of yourself thus increasing your resistance to stress as a whole.
Workplace stress can also be reduced through prioritising and organising appropriately. There are a few ways in which you can attain a stronger control over your work – creating a balanced schedule and not over committing yourself – leaving for work a little leave earlier in the morning and planning regular breaks are ways in which you can do this. Also be sure to prioritise tasks, break projects into smaller steps, delegate responsibly and be willing to compromise. These are all highly effective ways you can regain control over your work schedule and stresses.
By focusing on your own self awareness, self management, social awareness and relationship management you can better cope with workplace stresses. High emotional intelligence is extremely important in monitoring and managing yourself healthily in a work environment.
Job stress can also be reduced by breaking ‘bad’ or non supportive habits. These can include the need to resist perfectionism, cleaning up your act, curbing your negative thinking and stop trying to control the un-controllable. Through following these simple steps anyone can make progress in becoming less susceptible to workplace stress.
Finally, learn from others; as cliché as this may sound, learning how other managers and employees reduce their own stress can greatly assist you. This can be achieved though improving communication, consulting your employees, and cultivating a friendly social climate. If this open communication can be achieved, all employees are able to share their knowledge of stress reduction tools and techniques and it also makes sure that workers understand that they are not alone.
Stress is a part of life and can’t be totally eliminated, but can be managed. As the workplace is a major source of stress to most adults it is of vital importance that all workers have the tools and understanding to appropriately and successfully cope with workplace stress.