Career Advice: Five ways to tackle stress at work

Work can be stressful but it doesn’t have be overwhelming. Whether you’re experiencing stress yourself or if those around you are affected by it, finding a balance is crucial. Here are some easy ways to combat stress in the workplace.

• 1) Recognise your achievements
  Acknowledging what you have managed to do – however small – can help to stop you from worrying or thinking negatively about your work. Make time each day to reflect on what you’ve achieved, what impact you made and what you managed to complete.
• 2) Manage your inbox
  In today’s world we can find ourselves stuck at our computers checking our email inboxes and this can take away from other activities and build up stress. Train yourself to manage your time spent on emails as effectively as possible. Delete those that do not really need to be stored. Deal with urgent issues as soon as you can. Set aside some time later on to deal with any others.  Keep your email inbox in good order and you’ll make life easier on yourself.
• 3) Understand your triggers
  By having a better understanding of your own emotions, what makes you tick and react in certain ways – you have a much better chance to establish and to control how different situations affect you. This awareness can give you the ability to choose what you do e.g. whether you want to change or control your emotions or behaviours in certain situations and/or whether it simply means that you may want to do certain things in order to avoid a particular situation or feeling a certain way.
• 4) Stay calm
  Take each challenge one at a time, seek help when you need it and don’t panic. You need to believe that you will be able to handle this situation and that you will get through it. Breathing techniques can help if you feel like you are panicking or about to panic.  They can help to calm you down and to relax you.
• 5) Accept your limitations
  It is impossible to make everything perfect and so it is much better for you to let go and to accept that you can do your best and no more than that.  

The Position Ignition ebook Managing Stress at Work is packed with more ideas on effective ways to manage and reduce stress.

About the Author

Simon North is the Founder of Position Ignition and the Career Ignition Club. Position Ignition is one of the UK’s leading career development and career planning companies. The Career Ignition Club offers a range of career support tools, advice and e-learning materials for its members. Follow Simon North and his team on twitter @PosIgnition and get more advice from him on their Career Advice Blog.