No matter how much you love your work, there will always be days when you feel the pressures of your job strain your mood, productivity and relationships in the office. Many individuals easily succumb to stress the moment it attacks them. Don’t be like them. You have the power to manage workplace stress and transform it to something positive for yourself.
Understanding Workplace Stress
If you think that getting stressed out in the office is an ordeal that you alone face, you’re wrong. Do you know that right now, about 25 out of every 100 people in your workplace are experiencing the same pressures as you? Some reports estimate that about 75 percent of career people consider their on-the-job stress level to be way much higher than that of their parents.
Workplace stress is an inevitable reality. It spares nobody – not even the most well-adjusted and most pleasant officemate that you know. Realizing that everybody gets stressed out too is sometimes enough to remind you that can get past the stage and start bouncing back.
Luckily, you can be proactive about stress. Even if you can’t eliminate it completely, you can reduce it to manageable levels.
Reducing On-the-Job Stress Levels
To manage workplace stress, you can:
• Keep a mental and emotional wastebasket.
• Maintain a healthy balance between work life and family life.
• Establish your own social safety net.
Keeping a Mental and Emotional Wastebasket
Imagine that you own a mental and emotional wastebasket where you can dump all your negative thoughts and feelings. Let go of your worries. Relax. Choose to approach life positively. When you make a conscious effort to stay upbeat, you can cope with stressful situations better. Note that you will still feel the strains of work life. However, you will learn to interpret stressful situations in a more positive manner. Stress does not necessarily have to be the great antagonist in your life story.
Balancing Work Life with Family Life
Don’t obsess about your career. If you focus too much on it, you might get super stressed out when the smallest inconvenience rocks your workplace. You lose sight of other equally important things too. Use your family life and personal time to keep your work life in check. Set aside some time everyday to pursue non-related activities such as calling your friend or reading a short story. Too much workplace stress can consume you, and your efficiency suffers in the process.
Establishing a Social Safety Net
Don’t make your home an extension of your office. Take the time to build your own social safety net – a group of co-workers, friends and loved ones whom you can interact with in non-office scenarios. Let these people remind you that you can still enjoy life without equating happiness to a promotion, a raise or an international business trip. Basically, your social safety net helps to keep you sane whenever you’re under stress.
Indeed, workplace stress is inevitable, but you don’t have to give in to it. Master the art of managing stress, and you can enjoy a great life – whether you’re in the office or outside it.
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