From the entrepreneur to the mail room clerk, finding a way to keep stress at bay is essential to making sure that the work environment stays positive. A stressful work environment leads to a plethora of issues. Poor productivity and low employee morale are two symptoms of a stressful work environment. Maintaining a low stress and positive mental outlook can actually make a person like their job more and be on their “a-game” for a much larger portion of the work day. On top of this, keeping stress away at works provides for clarity that can help a person see the big picture and allowing them to further minimize stressful elements of the work day.
We typically just get used to stressors in our work environment and over the course of months or even years the stress builds. We may not even realize we are stressed, placing blame on people, equipment, processes or simply low job satisfaction. Instead, focusing on stress and trying to eliminate it will help reduce or eliminate issues that make us feel like we need a career change. These four stress reducing tips can go a long way to making the work environment less stressful and help avoid the process of changing careers.
1. Learn to Prioritize and say No
We’ve all been there, trying to answer emails, phone calls and do actual tasks all at once. Developing a routine where each task is done separately goes a long ways to making the day seem easier and less stressful. For instance, many successful business people have found turning off the blackberry while at work makes them more productive. While email is expected to be responded to in a timely manner, if it is truly urgent, your phone will ring too, right? Instead, check email once or twice an hour and minimize the window and ignore it the rest of the time unless given some reason to otherwise do so. You will find that emails still get answered promptly but you also have more time to work.
The other part of prioritizing is learning to say no when it is appropriate. This can be incredibly difficult but in most business environments there is room to do so. You have to be polite but if someone asks for assistance on a task that isn’t yours and you are swamped, you absolutely have a right to say no. If you have time available, assisting someone in the office is always good for interoffice morale and, if nothing else, will assure that if you need assistance that there are people that owe you. Balancing the two assures that you are stress free both when busy and when overloaded with work.
2. 5 Minute Breaks are vital
Finding a place to take 5 minutes of quiet time on a daily basis can help the rest of your day be less stressful. As stress levels rise, we tend to tense up without any way to relax. The physical stress can actually add to the mental stress. 5 minutes in a quiet area where you can methodically tense and relax muscles; both those that are affected by stress and others releases endorphins and help keep you relaxed and stress free for the rest of the day.
3. Make Frustration Inspire
For many people, frustrations come up on a daily basis. These can be interpersonal frustrations, procedural issues or any level of catastrophe in the office. However, each one of those frustrations can be an opportunity for inspiration. Those moments where you take a frustration and find an inspired solution will not only reduce stress immediately but will make the next frustrating situation less stressful because you know you will find a solution.
4. Make Relaxation a Habit
Relaxation is something that we often ignore in our daily routine. Whether it is a simple ten or fifteen minutes during the day or a stress reducing activity after the work day is over, taking relaxation seriously and part of the daily routine will yield an overall distressing effect. For those that can, a break during the day can yield a revitalized worker for the latter half of the day. For those that cannot take this small amount of time during the day, after work activities can keep an employee motivated during the work day.
More articles:
- Coping with Stress on the Job
- Stay or Go? What to Do When Your Employer Counter Offers
- Employee Retention: How to Keep Employees Happy