Everyone experiences a certain level of stress at work, which can’t always be prevented. You have projects to take care of, a team to manage, and a lot of work to get done. Unexpected things can happen, and curve balls come from every corner on some days.
While you aren’t able to prevent the sources of your work stress, there are some ways to relieve your stress and still manage work and your other responsibilities without it affecting you too much.
Improve Your Work Relationships
A lot of the stress you experience at work can be relieved just by working harder on your work relationships and friendships. When everyone gets along, people tend to support each other, help each other, and work together much more efficiently. Even if your work stress isn’t directly related to the people you work with, this can still be really beneficial for you.
Here are some tips for working on your work relationships:
Reach out to someone you have never talked to – Is there someone you work with who you haven’t had a conversation with or who is new at your company, why not talk to them? Reach out to them and introduce yourself, ask them some questions about themselves, and just strike up casual conversation.
Ask someone to lunch – The workplace is a great way to foster new friendships as well, which can be done during your breaks. Ask someone you work with if they want to join you for lunch, whether it is a close work friend or just an acquaintance you want to get to know a little better.
Offer to lend a helping hand – It is a great idea to try to help others with difficult projects or anything you are personally skilled at. When you notice a co-worker has a lot of work to get done or needs a little assistance, offer your help in a non-judgmental, but helpful way.
Find Out What Your Stressors Are
If you want to truly get rid of your work-related stress, you need to figure out what the biggest stressors are. This might be the vending machine if you are stressed about losing weight or having too much work piled on that you think you can’t manage on your own, or maybe you have had issues with someone you work with.
There are so many possibilities, that it is impossible to assume the work-related stress is the same for everyone. Take a week to write down in a journal or notebook every time you feel stressed, what you were thinking about at the time, and what the situation was.
Were you on your lunch break?
Did you just talk to someone at work?
Was it in the morning or afternoon?
Were there issues with a client or customer?
All of these details are important to figure out what is causing you the most stress at work.
Give Yourself Time to Recharge
No matter what you do for a living, whether you work in an office, outside, or even at home, you need time to recharge. Think about what your biggest stressors are and get away from them at least a little bit every day.
If you work from home, your stress might be that you feel like whenever you are at home, you should be working. To recharge, you need to close your laptop, turn off your phone, and get into the mindset of taking a break or being done for the day. You need to understand the difference between working and taking time for yourself.
Have a Flexible Schedule
If you try to micro-manage yourself and plan every single minute of every day, you are going to get overwhelmed and burned out with work very quickly. The stress that comes from having your entire day scheduled and planned out can be rough on you, even if you are think you are doing a good thing.
Having a schedule and a plan is great for productivity, but if you are too strict with your schedule, it can create problems. Remember to have a flexible schedule and alternatives for any moments when you need to get something else done or just take a little more time for yourself.