HOW TO COPE WITH AND REDUCE STRESS AT WORK

It’s a normal Friday evening. You are at your work desk, completing the task for the day and counting the hours left for the day to end for you to go back home and enjoy. But wait a minute… Did you prepare the report that boss had asked you to submit the day before? What about the get-together that you have been postponing for way too long, you can’t push it any further! You also have to take care of that team project, what if the team falls behind because of you? And your body also craves rest, because you have worked extra hours for many months now!

Does this sound familiar? Most of us feel stressed when a lot of things happen at the same time in our lives. We feel lost as things seem to spiral out of control. Our mind feels saturated with too much work and focusing to get things done seems to be an uphill climb. It becomes hard to process things to the extent that you have a strong desire to simply quit.

You may feel like crying, or you may be waiting for an opportunity to lash out just to give your frustration an outlet. Or you might just shut yourself away from the outside world & give everyone around you the silent treatment.

But does acting cranky, feeling frustrated or shutting others out really solve the problem? Do you feel energized after doing so? Instead, you would feel like on top of everything that was going wrong on this day, you now have to handle the guilt of hurting the people around you.

It is important to understand that the feeling of stress does not build up in a day. Rather, it’s a continuous pile up of the tension that you have been accumulating to the point that it becomes unbearable. All this - the stress, the pile-up, the strong range of emotions – are an indicator that if you don’t change something soon, you’re risking a serious breakdown.

REASONS FOR STRESS 

Where is all this stress coming from? This anxiety that you are now feeling, fed on the stress and overwhelm that you perhaps overlooked. The cause of your stress, anxiety and overwhelm could be that:

• You are disorganized

Things are not in place around you. You are reacting to life instead of responding to it. You are addressing issues in the moment and that too, at the last minute. You are starting each day with no plans as to what to needs to be done. Ultimately, the lack of proper planning causes you to get stressed. Remember, a new day does not start on the morning of but on the night before. You must plan and set priorities for a new day, so that you know what exactly to invest your energy in.

• You over-commit

Even for the most organized people - committing too much of yourself to others can throw you off-balance. If you over-commit and fail to deliver, you end up breaking a promise you made because you did not think it through. Maybe you didn’t want to say no for the fear of looking bad or hurting others. If that’s the case, you need to remember that you don’t look bad when you commit to only as much as you can do. You may look bad if you commit to something that you ultimately don’t end up doing. Be the master of your word and become pro-active. If you commit yourself, make sure to honor that commitment, because your word defines who you are.

• You procrastinate

‘I would do it after an hour, I have a lot of time’. ‘It’s 5:45 PM already? Where does time fly, I’ll start tomorrow work sharp at 8 AM’. ‘New week, new beginning! I will start this next week on Monday’.

If this is what your inner conversation looks like, then you tend to take all of the load on yourself in one day - the night before the deadline. And this ends up becoming a major cause of stress for you. You may feel like you were merely ‘going with the flow’. But the truth is that the nights that you find yourself jam-packed with loads of work are ultimately, a result of your procrastination. No external factor was responsible for your last moment, bone-crushing pressure. To drown in work, as hard as it might be to accept, is actually a personal choice.

•  You don’t unwind properly

Even machines need rest, or else they would break-down from overuse. You are functioning on little rest, chasing task after task and are not engaging in what gives you happiness. This would leave you running an endless race and the more you advance, the further the finish line would seem. The more effort you put, the lesser the outcome seem to get because your mind and body are saturated and need a change. This would deal your productivity a serious blow and lead to a pile-up of both work and stress.

• You don't ask for help

You avoid reaching out to others for help. One of reasons behind this could be:

1.  You think that asking for help would make you look weak and incompetent to handle a task
2. You hesitate in asking for help, wondering what if the other person says, ‘No!’
3. You feel like getting others to help you would slow you down as they would neither match your pace nor meet your expectations
4. You want to do it all yourself and impress others with the fact that you got through it without anybody’s assistance

Whatever the reason might be, the ultimate result is just one – stress.

Seeking for help is neither for the weak nor is it for the defeated. It is for the wise because reaching out for help and receiving it opens up your eyes to look at things differently each time.

HOW DO I OVERCOME THIS OVERLOAD? THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE & MORE TIPS

There is no need to work very hard, and give yourself no breaks. All that you need is smart hard work.

The ‘Pomodoro’ (Italian for tomato) technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo to best manage & efficiently create value out of your time. This technique gets its name from the tomato shaped timer that Cirillo first used to time his study session.

Here are a few things you must remember as you execute the Pomodoro technique:

No multitasking – delegate instead

Long gone are the days when multi-taskers were hailed as superheroes. Multi-tasking does the opposite of what it is supposed to do – it lowers productivity. Multi-taskers spend more efforts in an attempt to get more work done in an unreasonably lesser time. This ends up exhausting them, and leaving them with a lot of incomplete work. Instead look at your task list and identify the tasks that others could help you with. Delegate those tasks to them, and keep to yourself tasks that only you can do.

Just 25 minutes

Make sure that you dedicate your full attention for 25 minutes to the task at hand. At times when you are working/studying, the people around you may cause distractions. Share with those around you that during the 25 minutes when you are working, you will not be able to attend to them. Spend those 25 minutes just to the task at hand and nothing else. Ensure that you are ending the said task within the allotted 25 minutes. 

Note down your distractions

Were there times that you felt you should stand up and attend to something else? Note down what distracted you during those 25 minutes. Write down the thoughts which were compelling you to leave the task at hand. Take care if those distractions in an appropriate manner. For example, if your phone was a major contributor, leave it in silent mode, so that you can respond to any messages later.

Take a 5-minute break

After every 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break to hydrate, go to the washroom, stretch yourself, do deep breathing, go for a short walk or anything else that may refresh you for the next burst. Refrain from checking your phone/social media in this break. After 5 minutes, sit back down and work for another 25 minutes. Repeat this process thrice.

Take a 45-minute break

After three cycles of the 25:5-minute work-break ratio, take a 45-minute-long break. Utilize this break for whatever you want to do. However, remember to not reward yourself with this break if you failed to follow the three cycles of the 25:5-minute work-break ratio. 

Repeat it all

Repeat the above steps once more. This technique works wonders. You would immediately see yourself achieve tasks in a far lesser time. If followed diligently, you would see your intuition & efficiency increase.

You have to make a choice. You can either choose to be a victim with unbearable levels of stress leading to emotional imbalance. Or you can decide to be done with the victim mindset and say to yourself,

“I’m done being a victim of the situations in my life. I’m now going to take control and bring a change for a happier life.”

UNWINDING METHODS

In as much as unwinding adds no direct benefit to task completion, unwinding actually helps accelerate the rate of task accomplishment! How?

Unwinding is a great stress-reliever, refuels your energy and refreshes your mind. And no, unwinding is not a waste productive time. It is the grounds on which productivity is built. Think of it a stress-reliever to let off all the stress and anxiety, much like the way electronics let off the heat. Some great unwinding techniques that do magic are:

•  Me-time

Although the concept of me-time is not new at all, with a few changes, the benefits drawn from it could be multiplied manifold. In your time off work:

1. If you always find yourself juggling between personal and professional tasks, then you need to delegate tasks. Look for people or resources whose contribution would speed up the task completion and assign the tasks to them. This would help you make time for yourself.
2. Now that you have the time, engage in your hobby or anything hat gives you happiness for 50% of your me-time.
3. Spend the next 30% of time to take steps towards building a better you, for you. Where do you see yourself, 5 years from now? Is there anything you would like to accomplish?
4. Spend the next 10% with yourself. What are the thoughts in your mind? How are you feeling? Jot them all down on one side of a diary.

• Journaling

In the same journal where you wrote your thoughts and feelings during your me-time, on the other side, write down the things that you did well on that day. It doesn’t have to be that you delivered an outstanding presentation or that you got a promotion. It could be as little as you didn’t get angry today, you spent quality time with your family without worrying about work too much, or that you didn’t overthink too much today. Note down how those tiny things and how they made you feel. Write them on adjacent pages and at the end of each week, give them a read.

You would see your thinking pattern clearly. Do you feel anxious and worry too much that something negative would happen in the future? Did you discredit those things as flimsy and worry about what you did not achieve/could not achieve? How did you feel while reading your entries at the end of the week?

Write all your thoughts and feelings on a fresh page. This diary would be your ultimate confidant where you could pour out your deepest feelings. Setting those thoughts free would lighten the burden of carrying those feelings in your heart.

• Reconnect with old friends

Reconnecting with old friends, colleagues, classmates is one way to reduce anxiety and boost your happiness level. Reach out to those you have lost touch with. Remember all the fun, laughter and jokes that you once shared with them? Nothing has to stop you from enjoying in that moment and having the fun that you used to, back in the day.

•  LOL (Laugh Out Loud)

Every day, just Laugh Out Loud. Laughing, in addition to its health benefits, is a healthy way to unwind and be grateful. It makes you find beauty and humour in moments. Watch a funny video, chat with your friends/colleagues, and don’t just laugh with them, laugh out loud with them! 

Let go of the victim inside. Laugh out, don’t lash out. Let go of the clutter. It is important to keep in mind your daily routine is a direct reflection of how your life is going.

Own up responsibility for the state of your life. Many a times, we get stressed because we worry a lot. Of what benefit is the worry, when all it’ll do is to consume you & drain you of all your energy. Find something positive about the situation because there are many people out there who wished they were in your shoes.

CONCLUSION

If you want to turn a new leaf in your life, you need to rest and reset. Start afresh with a winner’s mindset.

Overcoming chaos is not a sign of courage or competence. If you feel that you lack time, then there is something that needs your attention to be fixed. Clear the clutter, organize yourself and re-establish a routine for yourself. Prioritize the things that really matter to you. Feel the life around you, value the relationships that you have and let the Pomodoro technique work wonders for you.

How do you cope with stress? Tell me in the comments below!