Don’t over-work yourself: Key to reducing stress at work
Have you ever been in the situation where you are simply trying to keep your head above water in the midst of impending deadlines? So overwhelmed that even a pinch of workload may flip you out of your mind? If yes, then you are going through a silent killer -“stress”. That little voice in your head says, “your job is killing you” — that is the voice of stress. Stress at your workplace can fill you up with dread and leave a huge impact on your well being. It completely destroys our health goal: stores huge fat, depleting your energy, lurks in the shadow, more risk of heart stroke, kicking out your concentration, and other undesirable things.
According to a survey by the American Psychological Association (APA), in 2012, 65% of Americans said that work was a top stressor. At ProofHub, we’re committed to reducing stress at work by developing an employee’s worth in the company, creating a culture where employees are able to work hard and live well.
The managers and team members across the company take collective responsibility to build a culture through mindfulness and being flexible. We encourage the teams to take time each day to do things that make them happy. Well, feeling stressful is a personal thing. And all the stress at work can bring a serious consequence on your quality of life.
What are the warning signs that you are experiencing too much stress at work?
- Depressed mood — you may become angry, or irritable and lose confidence
- Problem in concentrating
- A sense of indifference in work takes over
- Fatigue whole day
- Unreasonable anxiety
- You experience stomach problems
- Extreme mood swings
- You look for chances to skip days at work
If you are going through these warning signs, it is certainly true that the cause of stress is going out of hands. So, what are the ways to get a handle on your stress levels? We are here to help. Try following these ways, for your overall health and well-being:
Ways to cope up with stress at work
1. Regulate your workload
Is your job constantly taking your more than 8-hour workday to complete? Then, your job could be killing you. In many companies, overwork is becoming a norm and is even admired by many of us who want to impress the boss and who think it to be viable for their promotion. But it is actually that takes you into a stressful roller coaster. The key is to prevent the workload to overwhelm you by regulating your workload to create a stress-free workplace.
“Turn your work stress into success with a management tool. Try ProofHub.”
Here are some tips to regulate your workload:
- Do not wear different hats to fill in the gaps
The level of your stress depends on your choice to wear multiple hats to solve a recurring problem. Multiple hats are more of a burden than a blessing. Wearing several hats to fill in the gaps will require your immediate attention throughout the day on various tasks. This will definitely cause an incredible amount of stress and can really be a problem to your health. Work where your skill lies because you can never enjoy your life wearing different hats at work.
- Say NO to extra work
Saying yes always to your boss will make you feel stressed all the time. It ok to proactively participate in things to impress your boss and help them whenever asked for, but you definitely need to draw a boundary. You will often find yourself feeling stressed if you are the one “go-to” person for the boss. So, it’s time to start saying No courageously to extra work that comes your way when you are already on the go with a long to-do list. Smartly and positively make them clear, that the new task can be done in the place of some other task already on the list or it can be postponed. This will positively tell how occupied you are.
- Prioritize and organize
You can simply regain control of your work, by prioritizing and creating a balanced schedule. Find a balance between work and life. Do not over-commit yourself. If you have too much on your plate, then find a way to distinguish well between important and urgent tasks and organize your workload accordingly. Or you can break your projects into steps and focus on little steps rather than taking everything in one go.
2. Don’t dwell on the negative
It’s quite easy to fall prey to negative thoughts — over and over, while you are up on a project. And this is often counterproductive — and can even lead to chronic depression. Common unwanted thoughts will prevent you from focusing on what is important and over-stress you.
Stop dwelling on negative thoughts by following these techniques:
- Challenge the negative thoughts by having a positive view of things happening around.
- Enforce boundaries so that negative thoughts have less potential to dominate your mind.
- Relax to let go of tension and negativity.
Move from the dark to the daylight of mindfulness of the moment and redirect your attention out of the thought. You will see a huge transformation in your day-to-day stress level.
3. Sensible time management
Another common reason for stress at work is failing to manage the regular hours of the day. If you feel overloaded and stressed with tasks, you will probably want your life to be well-rounded and you can do this by sensibly managing your time. And when you know you are living your life well, you will be doing your job well with real-time management. Be willing to change to new habits by increasing your self-awareness, deciding what you want to achieve,
4. Develop positive relationships
You just don’t need to focus on yourself, but on your relationship at work as well. There are many problems associated with negative relationships at work, so instead, let’s focus on good relationships to enjoy greater satisfaction at work. Relationship building is definitely not easy, try these ways out to build positive relationships at work:
- Share more of your ideas in the meetings
- Talk positively about your team members
- Develop your people skills
- Help your co-workers with the right information
- Establish a closer connection, personally and professionally
- Put your relationship at a good level and soon you will see a lower level of stress at work
5. Music will keep you moving
Listening to music, nature sounds, upbeat music, or relaxing music will keep you from being over stressed at work. So, plug in your favorite kind of music whenever you are losing control of your direction. Researchers at Stanford University (press release 2006) have said that “listening to music seems to be able to change brain functioning to the same extent as medication.”
Other studies on music and stress correlation have resulted into:
- Listening to music can relieve depression
- Making music can reduce burnout
- Music therapy significantly reduces emotional distress
- Relaxing music helps the body to return to a non-stressed state
- Listening to music on headphones reduces anxiety
When your brain and body are relaxed, the stress will be reduced, and you can do perform at your best.
6. Declutter the space
We all know how mess gathers up around. Let’s head start to make our life more focussed and productive by creating a relaxed environment. Being overworked and surrounded by clutter affects the brain as it causes scattered thoughts. According to Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter, author of High Octane Women, clutter robs you of mental energy, leaving you feeling anxious, tired, and overwhelmed.
Look around in your office space and see what all things are not organized and can be cleared off. Pick the real necessities of your workplace that includes a notepad, your gadgets, stationery and stuff, and eliminate all the chaos.
Wrapping up
Stress is everywhere: at work, with friends and anywhere. And we should know how to settle it with a clear attitude. If you put these tricks on practice, you can break the cycle of stress and you will see a happy working environment.
“Want to become a leader who gets things done? Start using ProofHub.”
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