Photo Credit: Eric Chan
How are you feeling today? Are your refreshed and ready to attack the week ahead? Are you a bit exhausted from too many social commitments (and perhaps one too many glasses of champagne!)? Or do you feel like you haven’t really stopped thinking about work since Friday? When the job gets busy, your mind can be occupied by a reel of workplace worries. These stresses don’t just confine themselves to work hours. Stress at work seeps into other aspects of your life and undermines your physical and emotional well-being.
There’s no way to completely eradicate stress at work.
But if you are barely able to keep your head above water, it’s time to reassess your coping mechanisms.
Below are our tips for controlling stress at work.
Let go of perfection
We all know that there is no such thing as perfection – but that doesn’t stop us striving for it anyway. While holding yourself to a high standard at work is productive, make sure that you also remain realistic. Sometimes a project or situation won’t pan out the way you had planned, and you just can’t help that. Acknowledge that your vision may be different to the reality, and let go of your pursuit of the impossible. By accepting your best effort as good enough you will reduce your goal related stress at work.
De-clutter
When your workspace is a mess, your head tends to become jumbled as well. It is easy to feel overwhelmed when you can’t see the wooden top of your desk under a pile of papers! To reduce stress at work, give your desk an overhaul. You will find that your focus levels infinitely improve in a tidy space. Bonus: a clean desk will also save yourself stress at work you know where everything is again!
Organise your schedule
Does your stress at work result from worry about what you need to do next? It’s time to start writing a to-do list every morning. By writing a list of jobs for the day down, you will be able to clear your head of worries about forgetting a certain duty. This technique will also help you to prioritise and work efficiently.
Delegate responsibility
A main source of stress at work comes from feeling overloaded. If you are drowning in a sea of paperwork or have no idea how you will hit a deadling, don’t be afraid to delegate tasks. Although relinquishing control over a certain task may create worries in itself, it is also necessary to reduce workload induced stress at work.
Talk it out
Don’t be afraid to talk about work-related stress with a trusted colleague or supervisor. Your co-workers will be able to recommend productive strategies for dealing with stress at work that are appropriate for your environment. A supervisor may also be able negotiate your work schedule to make it more compatible with your stress threshold.
Limit technology use outside of work
Emails and texts make communication at work a breeze. However, they also create problems when it comes to managing your work/life balance. Answering emails and calls out of office will make you feel like you are always working. To limit stress at work, reduce the time that you spend attached work-related technology.
Make personal time
No matter how busy work gets, you need to make sure that you find time for the things that you enjoy. Leisure will improve your emotional well-being. But it will also help you to see things with a renewed perspective, improving your problem solving abilities and your efficiency on the job.
Work is a productive part of your life. But never let stress at work control your life!
The Clarity Road Team
