These days people spend most of their waking hours either at their workplace or discussing work. The work environment has become competitive, demanding and constantly changing which adds to the stress.
While some jobs, certain levels of stress is normal, but when it begins to interfere with normal routine it causes physical and emotional trouble like sleeplessness, social withdrawal, fatigue, substance-abuse and health problems. This is when you need to rethink your approach to stress management.
The first step is to find the source of your work-related stress. Here is a list of most common work situations that could be making your life difficult.
Which one do you identify with most?
#1 Excessive workload
You are extremely busy in office right from the moment you enter to the time you leave. You only get few minutes to grab a quick bite for lunch and hardly take a tea break. It's a all-work-no-play situation in your office.
#2 Feeling unappreciated
You work hard but always end up feeling ignored when it comes to rewards & recognition. You burn the midnight oil but somehow someone else ends up gets a promotion or worse - increment!
#3 No friend at work
You find yourself alone in office without any trusted ally who can lend an ear when you wish to vent out!
#4 On the receiving end
This is especially true for those who work in customer-facing environment. Angry and dissatisfied customers take out their woes for someone else's fault on the customer service representatives but you are expected to act with professionalism and courtesy. This creates internal struggle causes a psychological strain.
#5 Slave to technology
With constant access to smartphones and laptops, you are expected to answer emails and work calls round the clock and even on weekends. Technology, which was once expected to ease the pressure, has now been tossed under the cause of trouble.
#6 Being bullied at work
You feel that your boss or a co-worker deliberately try to put you down in front of others by giving you challenging deadlines.
#7 Unfair workplace
You think your boss plays favourites, work allocation is not fair and management decisions are not completely transparent.
Though we might have limited control over our external environment and we can't change much at our workplaces but we can definitely alter our approach to work. Read some suggestions to curb job and work-related stress:
- Be more organized and prioritize your work commitments.
- Be more tactful and learn to say no for things that you can't handle.
- Try to communicate your needs and career goals.
- Get involved in decision making so you don't feel powerless.
- Seek training on aspects of job that you find challenging.
- Unplug every day, that is to say, between 9pm to 8am switch-off all your devices.
- Use this time to exercise, meditate, sleep and do things with your family or what you love.
- Leave work stress in office. Don't take it back home.
- Spend time with your friends. Weekends are meant to catch up on some 'me' time and not finish off pending work.
- Eat healthy food and always remember - alcohol, smoke and drugs are not the right way to release stress rather they add to it.
"Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world."
- A Course In Miracles
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