Tips to manage stress at work!

Who doesn’t want to manage it? Which organisation doesn’t want to reduce it? Google, Microsoft, small start-ups, almost every organisation has been offering various training sessions, employee engagement initiatives and what not to address it. A complete industry and education curriculum has been designed to address such things at workplace. But it seems there is no end to it.

Burning deadlines, micromanaging bosses and never-ending queries from co-workers and clients – indeed relaxing at your workstation seems to be a long forgotten term. It is really far tougher than anyone would have imagined. Coming out of college, most fresh graduates walk in thinking of a different world; and here it’s all totally upside down. Traffic, sun’s increasing heat, sun’s decreasing heat and other life aspects simply add to the other already existing and traumatising stuffs day in, day out. This all together might send out a chill down your spine if you are just planning to join the workforce in near future. And they say, enjoy work, love work, love your company, blah blah blah!!!

But indeed there are ways you can bypass the stress at work. Here are a few simple tips to keep your mind’s health to its best:

1. Choose your tasks properly: Or let’s call it: Prioritize your tasks properly. If you are to have a good time in your workplace, you have to set priorities on what is to be done before the rest. And work according to the set schedule. Remember every task is not to get the same attention and importance. Therefore, you should control the tasks to be done and not the other way round.

We often get bogged down by letting too much on our table. Listening to everyone and taking up everyone’s task can make things difficult for you. So, try to always choose your tasks properly.

2. Breeeathe first: Huh! Have you experienced that you started your day off without giving it a thought and went on and on. Finally, after the day went by you still found that you were left with several of the most important tasks – even more than the ones you completed!
3. Track stressors: Yes, this should have been the first tip. Better late than never! Find your stressors, if possible, by keeping a journal. Not essential to keep a notepad – even a laptop or a mobile would do the job. Pen down all that stress you out, along with your reaction to all of it. Watch out your responses too and see if your response is appropriate or not.Do you get carried away by the emotions carved out within you or are you able to hold your calm and respond rather than react?
4. Use opposite hands: Surprising indeed! However, this tip is simply superb! If you are normally a left-handed, use right and vice versa!You would become more available in the present once you start practising to use the reverse hand. Why? Because you have to be conscious of whatever you are doing. In other words you have to be “present”. We are mostly stressed because we are living either in the past or the future. In the present, it is only relaxation and no worries can creep in.

5. Spend time alone: When I was attending a training event in Bangalore the trainer would tell us to go, have a mindful lunch and not talk to anyone during the break. He recommended us to be with ourselves and that is one of the best ways to relax. There are people who do believe the opposite, though.
6. Let go: Whatever you do, however much you try, there will be things outside your control. As Stephen Covey shares about two circles: Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern – in his bestselling book Seven Habits of Effective People – our focus has to always remain on the items  within the Circle of Influence. Once this circle is acted upon the latter Circle will automatically become smaller and smaller.And you should always try to let go off things not within your control. How much can you do or change? You are not the only one to handle everything, but there are many others to support you. So let go a few that can’t be controlled.

What do you think of these tips? Do you have any other effective tip to address work related stress? You can choose to let us know by commenting below.