5 Simple Ways to Deal with Stress at Work

As anyone who ever worked in any kind of environment can confirm, stress in a workplace is an inevitable thing, and there is no way to avoid being stressed at work, save from being unemployed, which is also stressful for other reasons. Not every stress is a bad one though, as there are good kinds of stress that will keep you motivated and make you work harder. However, the vast majority of workplace stress is very harmful, and if it's not treated right, it can inflict serious damage on workers. In this article, we will try to boil down all the stress-handling methods to the five most effective ones.

Identify Your Stress Triggers

The first logical step in battling against workplace stress is to identify the situations that create the biggest amounts of stress. The best way to do that is to keep a journal for a week or two in which you will note the most stressful situations and your response to them. Don't forget to write down your thoughts, feelings, and information about the situation, including people, circumstances, the physical environment, and your reactions. By taking notes, you can find your stress patterns more easily, which can help you manage your stress better and adjust your reactions. Major stressors in your life probably include people, money, work, perceived loss, body image, mind, and so on. After you write down your negative thoughts, try to come up with positive ones to replace them.

Establish Boundaries

Thanks to the development of communication technologies, everyone is basically perpetually available, which is more than convenient in situations that require immediate action, but it also can be quite stressful to get interrupted during your leisure hours. Blending work and home life might seriously damage interpersonal relations and increase levels of stress. This permanent availability tears down all boundaries between work and private life, so it is up to every person to set their own boundaries. A good step forward would be making a set of rules for themselves, like deciding not to check email from home in the evening or not answering the phone during dinner. Different people have different ideas of how much they will allow their work to interfere with their home life, but creating some clear limits will prevent, or at least reduce, work-life conflicts.

Change Your Perspective

People tend to overestimate how long their stressors will last, thinking they are there to stay. Whenever something causes you to worry too much, just ask yourself if that problem will matter in the future. When having trouble at your work, instead of bouncing off the walls in despair, it's better to ask yourself about the perspective of your job and is that job actually worth keeping. Bear in mind that something affects us as much as we give importance to it. So, just focus on the future and most of the problems you're currently having will seem less intimidating.

Look for Help

It is very hard to battle with work stress alone, therefore it's very advisable to look for help in order to deal with stressful situations better. Talking with people you trust, like your friends and family, will somewhat relieve you from troubles and maybe help you find a solution once you identify the source of the problem, However, help might come from a professional too. Some employers might have stress management programs, which include online formation, counseling, and even referrals to mental health professionals. There are numerous companies specialized in offering help and counseling to troubled workers, such as PROVIDERplus. If your stress level persists, you might consider visiting a psychologist and take control of your stress with their help.

Break Your Job Down

It will frequently happen that you will get assigned to a huge project and have no idea where to start. Usually, there is a short deadline in the mix to make things even more complicated. The sum of those factors is enough to drive anyone mad with stress. The best way to deal with a huge project is to divide it into smaller tasks and do the easier ones first before moving to more challenging ones. By breaking down your work, you will feel more in control, which will again provide you the necessary motivation to keep going.

Conclusion

Stress at work is a very serious issue, and it can leave very serious consequences if left untreated. There are several ways to deal with stressing work environments. Some of them include changing your outlook to the situation, while others require the help of professionals. The worst thing you can do is to wait for the stressful situation to solve itself. Once you recognize your life is affected by the stressful environment, it is time to take some steps in dealing with it.