How to handle stress

While some workplace stress is normal, excessive stress can interfere with your productivity and performance—and impact your physical and emotional health. It can even mean the difference between success and failure on the job. You can’t control everything in your work environment, but that doesn’t mean you’re powerless—even when you’re stuck in a difficult situation. Whatever your work demands or ambitions, there are steps you can take to protect yourself from the damaging effects of stress and improve your job satisfaction.

When is workplace stress too much?

Stress isn’t always bad. A little bit of stress can help you stay focused, energetic, and able to meet new challenges in the workplace. It’s what keeps you on your toes during a presentation or alert to prevent accidents or costly mistakes. But in today’s hectic world, the workplace too often seems like an emotional roller coaster. Long hours, tight deadlines, and ever increasing demands can leave you feeling worried, uncertain, and overwhelmed. And when stress exceeds your ability to cope, it stops being helpful and starts causing damage to your mind and body—as well as your job satisfaction.

If stress on the job is interfering with your ability to work, care for yourself, or manage your personal life, it’s time to take action. No matter what you do for a living, or how stressful your job is, there are plenty of things you can do to reduce your overall stress levels and regain a sense of control at work.

Common causes of workplace stress

Fear of being laid off
More overtime due to staff cutbacks
Pressure to perform to meet rising expectations but with no increase in job satisfaction
Pressure to work at optimum levels—all the time!
Lack of control over how you do your work


8 Tips For dealing with Stress on the Job:

1. Modify your job situation. If you really like your employer, but the job has become too stressful (or too boring), ask about tailoring your job to your skills. And if you got promoted into a more stressful position that you just are not able to handle, ask about a lateral transfer — or even a transfer back to your old job (if that’s what you want).
2. Get time away. If you feel the stress building, take a break. Walk away from the situation, perhaps walking around the block, sitting on a park bench, taking in a little meditative time. Exercise does wonders for the psyche. But even just finding a quiet place and listening to your iPod can reduce stress.
3. Fight through the clutter. Taking the time to organization your desk or workspace can help ease the sense of losing control that comes from too much clutter. Keeping a to-do list — and then crossing things off it — also helps.
4. Talk it out. Sometimes the best stress-reducer is simply sharing your stress with someone close to you. The act of talking it out.
5. Cultivate allies at work. Just knowing you have one or more co-workers who are willing to assist you in times of stress will reduce your stress level. Just remember to reciprocate and help them when they are in need.
6. Find humor in the situation. When you — or the people around you — start taking things too seriously, find a way to break through with laughter. Share a joke or funny story.
7. Have realistic expectations. While Americans are working longer hours, we can still only fit so much work into one day. Having unrealistic expectations for what you can accomplish sets you up for failure — and increased stress.
8. Nobody is perfect. If you are one of those types that obsess over every detail and micromanage to make sure “everything is perfect,” you need to stop. Change your motto to performing your best.

If you’re interested in more of the benefits a corporate chaplain can have inside your place of business, please reach out; I’d love to visit with you. Email me: dhall@ccchaps.org