I hope you are enjoying my main series on How to Manage Stress at Work.
If you are following my series you will be starting to hone in on your main reason for stress and looking at some longer-term solutions for that. In the meantime, however, you may need a period of research, reflection and preparation before you can make a big change, so you need to find ways to cope every day.
This article gives you 6 ways to do that.
1.Focus on the Outcomes. However miserable your current job is, there are some benefits to it. There are. You get up, you go, you deal with it, there must be an upside to doing that, and that upside is the reason you go on, so what is it? List all the benefits there are from your job as it is right now.
Money to pay for….
Training in….
Something for your CV for the future…..
Every time you feel miserable remind yourself why you are there. Your bigger picture reason. I am going in today to get….
2. Personal goals. If you feel work serves no purpose for you, make a project you can realistically and easily fit into work, so that you feel you are getting something out of your day. Struggling to get fit? Pedometer and stairs. Struggling to fit in your adult admin? Take phone numbers and bills and make calls at lunch break. Too busy for lunch? Take 5 to do just one call. Any opportunities to do volunteer work through work? Take them. Don’t make it overly onerous or ambitious, just something you can take 5 minutes to yourself for, and feel like the day was a win for you, not just your boss.
3. Focus on your likes. What do you like? There is something, however little you like about your work. That one person who is really nice and always smiles at you. The coffee they serve. The food in the canteen. The pond by the door. Whatever you like, make a conscious effort to seek out more of that, and get as much of it into your day as you can. Whatever makes you smile, get more of it. If you have a moment when you are really struggling, go straight to seek out the happy thing as soon as you can. Never noticed anything you like? Start looking – that’s your project today.
4. Live in the moment. This one is tough, but last week, there were too many meetings and events in my diary and I was just dreading work. I thought it was going to be awful. Well guess what? I was completely wrong! I ended up having a pretty good week, the only thing wrong was my bad feelings anticipating it. Take each day on its own terms.
5. You time. This is the most important one of all. You NEED a life outside work, and something to look forward to, that isn’t work-related. Part of the reason my week last week was so good? I booked in some social events, and met up with a couple of friends. I didn’t feel like I had the time or energy for it, but it was the best part of my week. I didn’t worry about work when I was with them, it changed the pace of my week, and it didn’t make me tireder, which had been a concern – it really energised and enthused me.
6. Productivity. Finally, just generally drowning at work or home, and feel like never get anywhere with anything? Check out my article on the Magic Bullet.
What can you do today to help your work go a little better? What do you struggle most with? Let me know below, I’d love to hear from you.
I help busy, frustrated professionals get control of their work to achieve more and regain the joy in their lives, even if they feel overwhelmed and exhausted.
And life outside of work, that’s tremendous. I find it often tough to get friends together because their work consumes them too. 😉
I’ve been spending the first 20 minutes of the day, over coffee, putting fun into my schedule for today and the week. That works … except when I forget to do it ;P
Good call Kenn! I love that. I sat down earlier in the year and made sure that every 2 weeks, or no less than once a month I had a fun event scheduled in. It really worked for me.
You don’t think you have time or energy to get out. And maybe you don’t have time to change or get ready the way you would like to, so you might turn up feeling like a dead worker, but you soon get over that. It has really brightened my year and kept me going with things to look forward to.
Number 3, Focus on your likes, is key for me. It’s just so important. Even if you aren’t stressed at work.
I had a client who was struggling with happiness at work. Quitting wasn’t an option at that moment for many of the reasons you mentioned, but they were able to start training themselves to take back their time and make their day full of (their own) wins, liberating massive energy and joie de vivre!
That focus shift from ‘things that annoy’ to ‘things one likes’ made a massive difference for that particular client. More so than any of the productivity or goal orientation focus did, which surprised me a bit, as figuring out where to go (in terms of life-goals) from there that would bring maximum happiness was the original reason they contracted with me.
Still, I suppose that’s sort of the power of now ( I think that’s Eckhart Tolle) and choosing what we focus on… I remember listening to one of Brooke Castillo’s podcasts and her suggesting that one should never leave a job or a relationship until one can be happy there. I guess that would necessitate that one changes their situation with an empowered and more enlightened frame of reference so they don’t just leap from one fire into the next.
This series is going from strength to strength Veronica! I’m enjoying reading it.