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CALM YOUR JOB STRESS
ENVIRONMENT
By
Sharron
Stockhausen
If you’ve experienced sleepless nights, a
queasy feeling when you think about work, or a vague frustration that nags
you, you’ve experienced symptoms of work stress.
Each of us has our own point of feeling
stressed. Look around your workplace and you’ll see some people thrive on
chaos and pressure. Others prefer order as they work. When it comes to
stress, work style isn’t important. Understanding that everyone
experiences some form of stress whenever a demand is placed upon them is.
When the telephone rings and a customer
wants status on an order, you respond. When the boss assigns you a task or
project, you begin working on it. When your employee quits, you find a way
to fill the void. When your coworker calls in sick, you have to pick up
the slack. In each of these cases you’ve had a demand placed on you that
creates stress.
Sometimes it’s such a small demand, that
we ignore the added pressure. Eventually the small demands build on one
another and we begin to get physical, emotional, or even intellectual
stress symptoms.
Many of us can relate to physical
symptoms such as stiff neck, headache, fatigue, teeth grinding,
indigestion, or appetite changes. We can even identify emotional symptoms
including nervousness, angry outbursts, anxiety, and increased sensitivity
or having our feelings easily hurt.
While physical and emotional symptoms
are commonly known, the intellectual symptoms may allude us even though
they may be the most telling of all. If you have difficulty making
decisions, are confused, forget what you’re doing or why you went into a
room, are preoccupied with a single thought or idea, have lost your sense
of humor, or are making an increased number of mistakes in your work, you
have intellectual stress symptoms.
Rather than recognizing the symptoms for
what they are, we laugh them off by saying we’re getting older or we’re
too busy. Of course each of us is getting older. And perhaps we are too
busy with all the opportunities life offers. But, it’s worth taking the
time to look at ourselves honestly to see if we are handling work stress
well.
Calming your job stress environment begins
with looking at self using an honest eye. First, think about any stress
symptoms you have. Next, look around your work environment to see if you
can pinpoint what causes you stress. Your stressors may differ from the
next person’s because not everyone reacts to every demand the same way. So
don’t get hung up on how everyone else is doing.
After you’ve identified your symptoms
and what creates them, consider ways to manage your job stress. Notice I
used the word manage, not cope. There are many ways to cope with stress.
As a nation, we self-medicate with aspirin, antacids, and various other
over-the-counter drugs. Those medications help us cope with stress by
giving us immediate relief from the symptoms, but they may not be the best
choice in helping us manage job stress and alleviate the symptoms all
together.
Another way we cope with stress is
avoidance. We avoid acknowledging whatever or whomever is creating stress
for us. Somehow we think that if we ignore it, it will go away.
If we can’t avoid contact or interaction
with what’s bothering us, we may take our frustrations out on someone or
something else. I call that the “kick the dog” reaction. Sometimes people
pound pillows. Other times they yell at a loved one. When we can’t
confront the one who’s causing our stress, we go the easier route of
taking it out on those who care about us. Occasionally we take it out on
the next customer or coworker who happens by, but that’s less common.
Getting rid of stress isn’t a simple thing,
but then most things we want in life aren’t easy to attain. Since we all
know we can’t change others, it makes sense to begin eliminating stress by
changing self. There are a lot of people who appear to be resistant to
change, but I don’t believe they are.
I think people are willing to change and
accept change. We do it all the time. We change cars, jobs, houses,
wardrobes, and even hobbies. We willingly change when we see some benefit
in doing so. The trick, then, is find the benefit in changing yourself.
Try taking a positive approach to life. Smile
at others. Be optimistic. Avoid talking negatively and being critical
about everyone and everything around you. And especially avoid being
critical of yourself. You know you better than anyone else does. You know
your shortcomings as well as every mistake you’ve ever made. Forgive
yourself your humanness. After all, no one is perfect.
When you give yourself a break you’ll project
a positive image of you to others and they will respond. Imagine what it
would be like to have people glad to see you heading toward them rather
than hope you don’t stop at their work station. Imagine others smiling as
they eagerly approach you. It could change your workday tremendously.
Something else you can do to change your
relationships with those who create stress in your workplace is be
assertive. In my seminar, “Living Between Pushy and Pushover,” I tell
people that you cross the line that separates assertiveness and
aggressiveness when you intentionally hurt someone or infringe on their
rights. Do I mean you should never be aggressive? Absolutely not. It’s
fine to be aggressive when you see a child about to chase a ball into the
street and into the path of an oncoming car. You should grab the child and
yank them from harm’s way. Could you hurt them? Sure. You may not hurt
them physically, but you may hurt their feelings. Could you infringe on
their rights? I suppose one could say you’d infringe on their right to
have their toy at that moment. But I’d rather defend my aggressive action
than see a child hurt or worse.
Being assertive simply means taking care
of you and your needs without infringing on others. If you need help on a
work project, ask for it and be prepared to explain why you need the help.
People can’t read your mind and most likely don’t know everything that you
know about you, so it’s up to you to find a way to get the resources or
help you need to reduce your work stress.
One of my speaking colleagues said in one
of his recent presentations that we shouldn’t all take life so seriously
since we won’t get out of it alive anyway. The audience laughed, but it’s
a profound thought.
Let’s put a perspective on job stress. If I
asked you, as I do many of my audiences, what’s really important to you,
what would you say? If I had you list the things that you value in life,
what would make your list? I’ve been asking audiences and clients to
consider what they value in life for over twenty years. Thousands have
responded. Always they list family, friends, faith, and honesty. Sometimes
they list health. And they never list career and money.
Once I point that out to them, they appear
to get a little nervous. Then they start to smile as they realize their
jobs aren’t the most valuable thing in their lives. I’m not saying that
money and jobs aren’t helpful in assisting us in creating the life we
want, in purchasing the homes we have, and in enjoying the people we love.
I am saying that my audiences tell me that money and jobs are means to an
end. They are not the end.
Creating a peaceful work environment
requires getting a perspective on what’s going on. If you’re having a
problem with a coworker or client, ask yourself, “Is this really a problem
at all?” Perhaps it’s a misunderstanding that can be fixed. Perhaps it’s
not worth the energy and time you spend on it (both on and off the job).
If you decide you really do have a problem,
ask yourself, “Has anyone else ever had this problem?” Chances are you’ll
find someone who has. If you can, talk with them and see how they handled
it. If you can’t talk with them, search your resources of books,
periodicals, workshops, seminars, or other people for some ideas.
Sometimes you can anticipate stress before it
actually happens. For example, you know taxes are due April 15 every year.
Rather than wait until April 1 to begin working on them, start earlier in
the year to reduce or even avoid the stress that comes with not being able
to find what you need as the deadline looms in front of you.
Another way to calm your job stress
environment is to reduce uncertainty by getting as much information as you
can about whatever is causing you concern. If you’re getting a new
software package, go to the training or spend some time with it once it’s
installed. If you’re assigned to new work team, learn as much as you can
about the rest of the team members and their work preferences. We live in
the information age. There’s no reason you have to feel uninformed if you
take the initiative to find out as much as you can about whatever is
stressing you.
If you can’t find a way to work with others
to reduce your stress, concentrate on working with yourself. No matter
what your job, you can practice deep breathing exercises. You have to
breathe anyway, so don’t worry that you’ll bother someone else when you do
the exercises.
You can also try gentle muscle stretches when
you sit or stand. Tense your various muscle groups and then relax them.
You’ll be amazed at how quickly you feel the difference.
Listen to soothing tapes or CDs. I have some
that are all nature sounds, some that are instrumental, and some that
combine nature and music. You can find tapes and CDs like mine almost
anywhere music is sold.
Some experts suggest changing diet can reduce
work stress as well. Many of us drink too much coffee or caffeinated soda
pop at work. I used to be a three-pot-a-day coffee drinker. Now I limit
myself to three cups of caffeine and switch to decaffeinated if I want any
more. I’ve also cut down my sugar and fat intake. When I finally decided
to do the thirty minutes a day on the treadmill, I not only reduced my job
stress, I reduced my waistline. People who know me well are very surprised
since I am the original “hate to sweat or even glisten” gal.
Obviously there is much you can do to calm
your job stress environment. I’ve touched on some ideas but it’s up to you
to make it happen.
Sharron Stockhausen, MMA, is an award-winning
author, speaker, trainer, coach and consultant. She owns Stockhausen Ink
and is CEO of Expert Publishing, Inc. Visit her companies at
www.stockink.com and
www.expertpublishinginc.com.
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