We’ve all been there. Mistakes have been made, you feel like you have too much on your plate, and you simply cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. How do you get out of this funk? Is there a set of steps, or maybe even a mindset that can help you do so? The answer is yes, but it is important to note that not all stress is bad stress. Sometimes stress is a good indicator that you care about your job and that you want to make your manager proud. In this post, we’ll discuss the bad type of stress, the stress that prevents you from living a happy and healthy lifestyle and how to manage everything.
Be open-minded and flexible: if the business changes, are you able and willing to adapt to new policies and technologies? Or are you one-dimensional? To be a stand-out employee you have to be willing to adjust, otherwise, they will find someone else that can. Consider the concept of mindfulness – i.e. “the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.” Many discuss the phenomenon but few master it. If you’re interested in learning more, try a book like 10% happier or downloading the Headspace app. Both the book and the app teach you about the core principles of mindfulness and how to be more aware of your daily surroundings.
Develop a routine/schedule: set out a daily agenda so you know what you need to accomplish on each day of the week – the more detailed, the better. This level of organization will bring a deeper sense of calmness to your day to day living. You will quickly be able to see that you are in control of how you spend your time. Another alternative is to start working out – get those endorphins flying! Working out has been proven to reduce stress in a number of different ways. Be sure to read to get more information on how working out reduces day-to-day stress.
Lastly, always try to pinpoint the stress – is it created due to the volume of work you have? Is it a specific task that you don’t really understand? Whatever the source/cause of the stress is, make sure you pinpoint it and then attack in a way that makes it more manageable moving forward. Ultimately, if you don’t know where the stress is coming from, you will have a difficult time reducing it. As one final note, make sure you put things into perspective and really ask yourself, is this worth being stressed about?
