Managing work-related stress is a task whose success is closely linked to effective strategies, designed to regulate the intensity of our emotions when things don't go our way.
Last update: April 30, 2020
Managing work stress is a task whose success is closely linked to effective strategies, designed to regulate the intensity of our emotions when things, at work, do not go as we would like. Most people need specific strategies for dealing with small and large business realities that are conflicting, frustrating and, in a sense, even normal.
Many modern professions force us to expose ourselves to several stimuli simultaneously. Almost everyone feels full of commitments, we are pressed to work faster, more productively and less confrontational. All this pressure causes stress.
This occurs almost every day. Rarely does a person do their job quietly or think they will receive understanding if they make a mistake. This in itself is stressful. And if we add to all this the pressure of earning and perhaps other personal problems, the situation can get complicated. For this reason, it is good to know some guidelines for managing work stress. We present three of them.
If you are afflicted by a perception referring to an external event or an internal event, it is not this perception that disturbs you but your own judgment on it; judgment which is within your power to revoke at any time.
-Marcus Aurelius-
3 strategies to manage work stress
1. To assimilate the information available
One of the main reasons why you suffer from stress is the superficial interpretation of the facts. When we are under pressure and distress because we are forced to fulfill our duties, we may tend to analyze the situation without much objectivity. This does not help manage work stress.
The state of mind affects our perception and vice versa. Under pressure we tend to interpret many stimuli as threatening when in reality they are not. This, in particular, because we have in our hands the solution of an urgent task and to which a conflictual or problematic event is added.
Under these conditions we come to perceive that things are out of our control or that the situation is bigger than us. Just then it is worth taking a minute to analyze the facts more clearly. We almost always realize then that it wasn't as bad as we thought. Acting quickly and instinctively is not good. First of all, it's always best to digest it.
2. Avoid psychological prohibitions to manage work-related stress
Stress brings out our daily preconceptions in us (tension, in fact, pushes us to look for shortcuts to process as much information as possible in the shortest possible time). That bad feeling that sometimes pervades us and that fills us with discomfort occurs, for example, when we are assigned a task and then another. So we say things like "it's my turn to do it all". This statement is most likely unfounded.
The worst thing is that these prejudices only add to the malaise we already feel. They prevent us from managing work stress in the best way. On the contrary, they foment it. They lead us to victimize ourselves and to see potential enemies in others.
This is why it is important to take a step back: not to allow these automatic thoughts to take over our thinking faculty, leading us to overturn everything, in a self-destructive way. It will help us a lot to breathe deeply for a couple of minutes and keep in mind that a deeper analysis can help.
3. Be more flexible and learn to relax
Mental inflexibility tends to complicate our life. Knowing how to live means learning to adapt to different circumstances, without this meaning abandoning lines of behavior or principles of life. Most of the time we don't have to go against ourselves on a topic that is important to us: it is enough to give in a little to live more peacefully.
Usually the pressure of the surrounding environment and internal tension make us more severe and inflexible. It is also a way to defend ourselves, to preserve ourselves and to impose ourselves. Basically there is a sort of fear that comes from the inability to manage the situation and inflexibility turns into a wrong strategy of assuming fear.
To manage work stress adequately, relaxation techniques need to be found or planned. Any means is valid if it allows us to relax and, therefore, to be more flexible. Many unnecessary conflicts arise from this tension between two realities that try to occupy a preponderant place.
All of these guidelines for managing work stress highlight the importance of not losing control in the midst of the storm. This is the principle and the axis of everything else. Giving free rein to anguish does not lead us to be better employees, on the contrary, it makes us anxious people, at risk of conflict or error.
