Everyone feels work stress at some point in their professional life, no matter how much they like their job. Schedules, co-workers, delivery dates, fear of dismissal and many more are reasons for worry and work stress.
A little stress is motivating and necessary to achieve goals, but when this stress is constant it can lead to health problems, problems with our relationships and poor work performance.
It is for this reason that Learning how to manage work stress can be of great help both in the workplace and in our personal lives and we will see, below, ways to manage this problem in employment.
Stress is something that is present in our lives and is normal, especially in the workplace. When we work we need to be wide awake and know what we are doing to avoid accidents, meet the objectives assigned to us and deliver reports and other documents within the agreed deadlines. However, In certain situations this stress is not adaptive at all, harming our health, affecting our performance and damaging our relationships
The causes of work stress are very diverse, but among them we can find an excessive workload, having few breaks, not knowing what the functions of our job are, having poor working conditions, bad relationships with the boss and employees. colleagues, uncertainty about the future, a feeling of lack of control, lack of work support or poor communication in the company, among many others.
Due to all this, there are many forms of discomfort that we can suffer due to work stress. Among the most important we have heart problems, back pain, mood problems, immune system problems, anger attacks and bad relationships with our close circle, which will cause even more stress. In addition, it is common to feel an enormous feeling of apathy and frustration.
It is a type of discomfort that should not be taken as a joke. To avoid all this, below we will see how to manage work stress, focusing on the quality of the job, our relationship with it, strategies to reduce our anxiety and ways to channel it.
1. Take a break
It is essential to have a little time to disconnect at work Taking a break can be the best way to reduce stress and get back to work with a clearer, clearer mind.
We can try to rest by taking a short walk, having a healthy snack such as an infusion or reading a book that we have brought to the workplace.
In case we cannot leave the task for more than ten minutes or in our job it is not possible to leave the office, an option is to close your eyes for five minutes and breathe deeply.
2. Describe the job
Although it may seem strange, On many occasions, work stress is caused by not knowing exactly what tasks must be performed
Describing the job, identifying tasks that should not be assigned to us or knowing more clearly what we have to do are ways of dealing with the uncertainty and ambiguity that often appear in jobs.
Once these ambiguities have been overcome, it is possible to be clear about what should be done, who to turn to when something goes wrong and what our responsibilities are.
3. Set reasonable goals
It is very important to set reasonable and realistic goals that do not consume excessively or take up all of our available time. You should not accept more work than you can do by managing your time well
If the boss assigns us a task that we are not sure we can perform on time, we should talk to him to consider the possibility of breaking it down into smaller, easily assumable objectives, and thus do better quality work without burning ourselves out.
4. Manage technology use
It usually happens that we come home, look at our phone, see a notification from our boss and we get nervous: we have taken our work home, even though the day has already ended.
We must set limits on work notices by establishing a time when we can be found available and having a cell phone pager or work email disconnected after a certain time, such as dinner time or at night.
A good way to avoid work stress is by organizing your workplace properly, establishing which pending tasks should be done first One idea is to take a piece of paper and write down, in order from most to least prioritized, those tasks that must be done, either during the day or during the week.
This will help us organize ourselves better, it will motivate us to get to work and it will take away a lot of the uncertainty of not knowing how to start or how to continue.
6. Enjoy during the week
On many occasions, work stress is not because our job is stressful in itself or because something bad has happened to us at work.
It usually happens that we get stressed and frustrated because we have focused too much on our work, to the point that When we realize it, it has already fallen into the night and we don’t have time to enjoy our hobbies such as playing sports, watching movies, meeting friends or enjoying time with our family.
To the extent that our work allows us, especially if we have flexible hours, a very good way to avoid this frustration is to reserve a time during the week to do what we like.
Enjoy activities during the week that are pleasant to us It will make us not feel bad for having let work eat up our free time because, really, we will have enjoyed it
7. Avoid multitasking
We are bombarded with the message that we are capable of doing all kinds of things at once. Well, that is not the case, much less while working. If we want what we have been assigned to turn out well, we must avoid multitasking at all costs
It is much better to do just one thing, concentrating on what we are doing and making sure everything is going well, than to not try to do two or more at once and not realize that we are making mistakes.
If we have more than one job to do, it is best, as we have already mentioned, to organize ourselves based on which tasks are priority. Allocating time and energy to more than one task at a time will only lead to poor performance and deteriorate our health.
8. Family and friend support
If we suffer work stress It is very important that our circle of friends and family know this Not only so that they give us their unconditional support but also so that they understand that it is not in our best interest to put pressure on us when we have had enough at work.
The support of family and friends and their understanding of how bad we are going through are a protective factor against psychopathology. They can help us manage stress, and they can also suggest ways that have worked for them to reduce this problem in their jobs.
9. Know when to quit
Sometimes work causes us so much stress that it is not at all healthy to continue doing it If this is the case, you should find out what is the best time to resign from your job and see what job options we have.
It may be the case that there are no more jobs to aspire to, which, if we find ourselves unemployed, could cause us more stress. We must study all the options and decide what we believe is best for us.
10. Go to the psychologist
Developing healthy habits is essential to be able to cope with stress and avoid it. In addition to good self-care habits such as having good sleep hygiene, eating well, exercising and not abusing tobacco, coffee and alcohol, you should go to a psychologist.
This psychological health professional will study our case, see how much stress we are suffering and will choose one therapeutic option or another suitable for each case.
It can also help us decide if it is appropriate to continue working where we are doing or if it would be advisable to look for another job, if the one we have is exhausting us physically and mentally.
