15 Helpful Techniques to Fight Against Stress at Work
Stress is often referred to as the “21st century sickness”. We all know this feeling of anxiety, sometimes anxiety, which occurs especially in the professional setting. But what are we really doing to fight it? Are there methods to overcome it? We offer 15 complementary techniques to finally get rid of your stress at work.
1- Identify the causes of your stress to cut the root hurt
Rather than developing strategies to resist stress, you can try to reduce it, better to eradicate it, by attacking it directly at the source. But for that, you must first determine the causes.
Look for them in particular among the main stressors at work:
- work overload
- difficult time management
- a high level of occupational requirements
- the pressure of your hierarchy
- an ill-defined mission
- a lack of visibility and uncertainties about the future
- a change of organization or even repeated changes
- conflict or strained interpersonal relationships
- an imbalance life pro / personal life
- a lack of recognition
So, what about you?
2- Positive
Stress comes mainly from psychological factors, so it can be very effective to fight it on one’s own ground. For that, start by adopting the right state of mind. It’s up to you to see the good side of things because there is always one. Make the effort to look at the events in a favorable light and keep the “positive attitude” under all circumstances.
3- Relativize
As an extension of the previous point, it is important to know how to relativize one’s mistakes or failures. What are the real consequences? Who does it really affect? Do not overestimate the seriousness of the mistakes, take a step back and change your point of view. You will immediately see that it is better to de-dramatize and retain the lessons of this experience.
4- Give yourself visibility
Among the main factors of anxiety, the lack of visibility that leaves room for uncertainty. To remedy this, consider planning your main activities. You will be able to clearly see what you have to do and when you do it. One of the most effective methods in this area is to organize your day the day before for the next day. Take a small 10 minutes at the end of the day to do this exercise and you will see how much your evening will be more relaxed (not to mention the alarm clock the next day).
5- Don’t take anti-anxiety medicine
No doubt anti-anxiety medicine like Xanax is very helpful to reduce anxiety but is it a permanent solution? Of course not. You really need to find out what makes you happy and relax. And that is a permanent solution. You should try
6- Do not be overloaded
Even leaving a good margin for the unexpected, you are not immune to a work overload that will certainly skyrocket your stress. To avoid finding yourself in this situation, spread your workload whenever possible, ideally by involving other contributors ( delegation ), if not by smoothing it over time. But the best is still to know how to say no when you have good reasons.
7- Do one task at a time
Another golden rule not to stress unnecessarily, avoid multitasking at all costs. Nowadays, there are so many occasions to be distracted (emails, phone calls, social networks, …) that it is difficult to stay focused on the task at hand. The risk is to constantly zap and disperse without getting things done. At the end of the day, our advance fades and we quickly find ourselves in an emergency situation. Organize yourself to limit these risks: disable notifications, check your emails at a fixed time, put your phone on messaging, … anyway, beyond the issue of stress, it is your efficiency!
8- Take regular breaks
Remember that we are not machines. We all need to take breaks in our work to get fresh ideas before we leave again. Take some time to breathe, be it at the coffee machine, a short walk, or a bit of reading. This helps to avoid fatigue and the stress that accompanies it. Although this time varies from person to person, it is generally advisable to stop every 45 minutes to maintain a maximum level of concentration.
9- Note to the maximum to free your mind
Another factor of anxiety is the fear of not remembering all that one has to do. One often tends to over-solicit one’s memory, to burden oneself with a whole lot of things. This profusion (which sometimes turns into confusion) directly supports our daily stress. Instead, remember to make the most of it. This will preserve your mental clarity.
10- Do not be perfectionist
Since perfection is not part of this world, you can do anything, the result of your work will never be perfect. So do not bother to refine your work again and again because in the end, it’s a feeling of dissatisfaction and frustration that will dominate. Conversely, stay focused on the essentials, you will save energy and gain efficiency, and prefer quality to quantity. In any case, as Pareto’s law reminds us, only 20% of your work will produce 80% of your results.
11- Do not postpone
Postponing a task overnight, or procrastinating, is also stressful. In doing so, we feel guilty and know that it only postpones the problem. To avoid this, think about putting the issues in perspective to motivate you to accomplish the task even if it puts you off. And if that’s not enough, do not hesitate to cut it to make it by small bits, it will pass better
12- Change your ideas
Are you stressed? So change your ideas! Remember to disconnect, to make you happy, or even to let off steam provided you move on. The easiest way to do that is definitely to go for a sport. Besides the good that you will do to your body, you will have the advantage of emptying your mind!
13- Keep fit
Fatigue is a stress amplifier. To prevent it, think about taking care of your lifestyle. Prioritize the basic needs of sleep and nutrition. Even if we are not equal on this point, we all need to get enough sleep to recharge our batteries. More discreet but no less important, the diet must also be balanced to provide us with all the resources necessary for our activity. This seems very obvious but we often neglect these aspects.
14- Take care of your work environment
Another way to limit your exposure to stress is to create a pleasant and adapted work environment. First, think about organizing your workspace, sorting and storing your files regularly. It’s hard to stay calm when you do not know where the things you need are. Also, make sure to work in peace. It does not always depend on you, so do not hesitate to talk to your colleagues or your manager if necessary. Finally, do not hesitate to decorate your space with decorations or beautiful plants to make you feel at home.
15- Do not leave your personal life
Last but not least to fight stress, to have a balanced life. If you prefer your professional life to the detriment of your personal life, you risk very badly to live this situation and will sooner or later endure it. To avoid this, master your work time and keep enough room for yourself and your loved ones. It is not easy because our lives are more and more speedy and complicated, but it is essential to be at peace with oneself.
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