The Cost of Stress At Work
By Sharron Stockhausen, MMA
I recently read that three out of four workers indicate they feel stress on the job. Decreased productivity or time missed at work because of stress-related illnesses is estimated to cost American businesses over $150 billion annually. With so much money at stake, you’d think the business gurus would have some concrete answers on eliminating work stress.
Unfortunately, they don’t. Identifying the cause of work stress is complicated because each of us is unique. We act and react to stress in our own way. Our individual preferences make it impossible to find an answer to eliminating all work stress.
That’s why you have to create your own success in dealing with stress. You are responsible for living your life the best you can. You start by taking a step back and looking at how you spend your day. Be honest about what you see.
If your mornings are frantic, examine what happens. Do you have to get the children ready for school or daycare? Are you responsible for fixing everyone’s breakfast and/or lunch? Perhaps you’ve imposed other criteria such as making the beds, doing the breakfast dishes, or tidying the house before you head out the door. In a perfect world, you’d be able to do all this and more. But the world isn’t perfect. You have limited time and you have to take control of how you use it.
Perhaps you can lay out your and your children’s clothes before going to bed so you use less time in the morning getting you and the kids dressed. If waiting for coffee to brew is an issue, consider investing in a plug-in timer. Years ago my daughter gave me one for my coffee pot as a Christmas gift and I’ve used one ever since. In the old days I’d wait for the coffee to finish perking but now it brews as I sleep and I can enjoy my first cup as soon as the alarm goes off.
You might also try enlisting help in making the family breakfast so you don’t have to do it all yourself. Consider packing lunches the night before and keep them in the refrigerator until you head out the door.
You may have to lower your standards a little as far as housekeeping but it could be worth it not to leave for work in a frazzled condition. What sense does it make for your beds and house to be in order when you’re not?
And what about your commute? Are you darting in and out of traffic trying to beat the light and muttering at the slow poke ahead of you or have you allowed enough time to enjoy the beauty of the spring sunrise as it greets you in the morning?
As you get to your desk or workstation, do you feel your neck muscles tighten and your mood darken? What’s up with that anyway? Try to remember how you felt when your employer first called you with the news that you were hired. Most of us were excited when we learned someone wanted us to work for them. What happened over the years to chip away at that excitement? Obviously something changed. I’d even bet some of the change occurred in you. Perhaps you’ve outgrown your work or done it so long that it’s become routine and boring. If so, be honest with yourself and see if you’re willing to take on new tasks or do things differently if given a chance.
If your work requires you always do things the same way for consistency and continuity, try doing something different on your break or at lunch. And while you’re working, you may have time to think of some new things to do after work or on the weekends. Try taking a different route home once in awhile to break up the monotony. You may even consider cooking something totally new for dinner on a week night. Life offers so much variety but sometimes we miss it because we’re locked into the same old, same old.
When’s the last time you felt in control of your life? I don’t necessarily mean your work life when I ask that. After all, when you agreed to work for your salary, you made a bargain with your employer that your time was worth that compensation amount for the work expected of you. You may want to read that sentence again to ponder it a moment.
When I do my time management seminars, I tell the audience that time is our most finite resource and each of us has the same allotment each day. We sell some of our time to our employers for wages and benefits. While we’re in their employ, we’ve contracted to do their work. In the process we may experience work stress from any number of causes.
Work stress can make you physically sick. It can reduce your productivity. It can even take away your ability to think or learn. No one has the golden cure for reducing work stress.
You are the best antidote for what’s stressing you because you can step back and analyze what works and what doesn’t work for you. You can create change in your attitude and work habits or you can accept things as they are. You can create your own success by taking responsibility for your choices in life. Remember, it’s up to each of us to define what success means for us as individuals. Surely you don’t want someone else to do it for you.
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