Combatting Workplace related Stress
Stress is a common phenomenon at present times. You can’t find a single working individual who is not stressed out. Some of our workloads can produce severe stress on our mind which might affect our physical and emotional well-being. To preserve the latter, and to make a perfect work-life balance, one needs to understand the techniques of stress management. Because our success and failure depend more or less on how smoothly you can handle your problems.
There are some common issues at workplaces which directly affect our stress level. Meeting the deadlines, keeping the standard of work high to meet expectations of the boss and getting the promotion on time or even the fear of getting laid off are some of those issues which create stress. If you are still not sure about your stress level then you can check out the symptoms of a stressed person.
Anxiety, irritability and eventually succumbing to depression are some of the common signs of a stressful person. Apathy and loss of interest in work are also very common due to workplace stress. Muscle tensions, stomach problem, and headaches are the physical manifestations created by stress. Sometimes people bring their stressful experience to their home and eventually end up having less sleep at night.
To fix the issues pertaining to workplace stress, the first step should be identifying what is causing the stress. Some of these problems are very easy to solve; while others are really complex in nature. One must not forget that almost all the problems in our universe have multiple solutions. If you don’t know it, then someone else might do and seeking help from that peer is no bad idea! Discussing with a colleague or friend who is cooperative and sensitized about our issues would help us get a new perspective and find means to put an end to the agony.
Your time management also plays a vital role in your professional success. Most of the stressful people have poor command over their time management which makes them fail to meet the deadlines. When you are not organized enough it is a very natural process in our mind that the pending works will create some sorts of invisible pressure and that sense of extra burden will hamper your mental wellbeing. To organize your life you have to make a checklist and you have to write down your daily work schedule on a sticky note and try to finish each task on time!
Physical exercise is another way of reducing your stress level. Physical exercise boosts up your energy level, enhancing your mood and relaxing your body and mind. Walking, running, yoga or heavy weight exercises on a regular basis are good for burning extra calories. To get the maximum output from regular exercise try at least 30 minutes full of workout every day. Besides doing meditation can soothe your senses and help you focus better!
Research has shown that your food selection impacts our mental health. To keep your metabolism perfect, medical science has suggested eating small, frequent and healthy meals. It helps to regulate our blood sugar on safe limits and keeps our energy consistent to remain productive over a long period. Sugary snacks, baked foods, and fast foods might give momentary pleasures but in the long run does more damage to our heart, brain and propagates ageing.
High consumption of caffeine, alcohol and trans fat foods should be avoided in terms of keeping your mental health perfect. Smoking seems like a smart choice for stressed-out corporate but it has a negative impact in terms of controlling your anxiety. To boost up your mood you can try consuming more omega-3 fatty acid. Salmon, herring, anchovies are great sources of fatty acids. Seaweeds, flaxseed, and walnuts are also recommended by medical experts to boost up your mood. Almost all super shops in Dhaka now have all these ingredients.
Lack of sleeping is another menace that can take a heavy toll on our mental wellbeing. Poor sleeping habits will lead you to lack of productivity, creativity, problem-solving skills at your work. Due to lack of the aforesaid things, a professional can end up performing less than his peers, and face the fear of social pressure at his or her workplace which further enhances the stress level. For an adult, 6-8 hours of sleep is mandatory to maintain good mental health and sound brain activity.
Stress is a psychological problem which we create for ourselves. Most of the stress generating issues comes from negative thinking. When you over think about a simple problem it starts producing stress in your mind. Surround yourself with positive people and people with high energy. This is a great way of building a positive mindset. When you hang out with positive people, their thinking process will encourage you to think in a better way and eventually will upgrade your mental abilities.
There is no point of crying over the spilt milk. Even a CEO at times cannot stop an inevitable doom from happening to the company. In organizations, we have people coming from different backgrounds to achieve a common goal. If you can’t adjust with your family members on different issues then do not expect that people from different backgrounds will set their thoughts in line with yours.
Try to look for humor in critical situations. It will reduce your stress level and divert your mood from anger to relaxation. Smile has a strong effect on reducing stress. Your smile might reduce other persons stress level and the whole ecosystem will benefit the entire team of your organization.
Emotional intelligence (EI) is another way of controlling your stress. This is smart thinking process which helps your mind to take any incident easily. Renowned psychologist Daniel Goleman described four parts of Emotional intelligence, which can help us in dealing with our stress. There are four parts to EI: self-awareness, self-management, empathy and social skill. Self-awareness can help us notice when we are becoming stressed, which in turn make us better able to calm down before our reaction builds to an unmanageable level. Empathy and social skill allow us to be more effective in how we express ourselves–including knowing how and when to be candid. But these skills need to be learned.
Last but not the least stress is a problem which is fixable with taking some effective step. When you start solving a problem you need to focus on the reasons behind the problem and the solutions to fix it. Since you are responsible to fix your problem; monitoring, counseling and maintaining a proper lifestyle is important for remaining productive at the workplace and to enjoy a happy and healthy living.
*THE WRITER is a professional corporate trainer and management consultant, and can be reached at [email protected]
