Coping with Stress in the Workplace - By: Greg Frost

With the constant advancement of technology, the stresses faced at work have also increased. Many people dislike going to work, hence the term “Monday Blues”. What is the reason for this? There is partly the fear from being retrenched during strenuous times, leading to greater job insecurity on the part of those who remain. Without a doubt, occupational stress is one of the most commonly cited stressors faced by people all over the world.

Stress refers to the pressure and reactions to our circumstances around us which leads to psychological and physical reactions. While some stress is good for motivation and increasing efficiency, too much stress can lead to negative impacts such as lessened effectiveness and efficiency. There is an increasing number of people are feeling out-casted and disrespected at work, and this has led to greater occupational stress. Many companies have taken to consulting experts and professionals on methods to improve connectedness and motivation of their employees.

Some companies set up parties and make their employees feel valued at work. These are methods to motivate employees and help them to feel secure at their jobs, translating into better productivity. However, not every company have such measures in place, and some have not gotten it quite right. Hence, it is up to you to ensure that you can handle with pressure at your workplace, and use it to help you work better. Here are 3 simple steps to help you with coping with stress in the workplace.

Step #1: Raising Awareness
Help yourself to identify when you are facing increasing levels of stress, tipping the scales from positive to negative. This is important, as being able to identify signs of being stressed can be useful in helping you to take the necessary precautions to ensure that your overall quality of life does not drop. If left unacknowledged, the problem will only grow bigger, leading to disastrous consequences to your health and overall wellbeing.

You can identify if you are stressed up by checking if you have any physical or psychological reactions, such as sweating excessivelyor increasing heart palpitations, or the onset of headaches, irritability or the need to escape. If you experience any of these reactions, identify if you are experiencing any overwhelming negative emotions, and if you are constantly worried.

Step #2: Identify the Cause
You need to be able to look into the situation and identify what is causing the rise in stress. These stressors can be either external and internal. External stressors refer to things beyond your control, such as the environment or your colleagues at work. Internal stressors refers to your personal thinking and attitude. Often, we only start reacting to stress when a combination of stressors working together goes beyond our threshold.

Keep a diary or a list of events that have caused you to experience strong negative emotions, or those that are likely stressors. This will help you to identify the causes of your stress. While it is not always possible to erase them, we can change the way that we cope with it.

Step #3: Coping with Stress
In order to tackle the situation that is causing you stress, you need to relax yourself so as to fend off the reactions and cope with it in a positive way. This can be through different methods, such as taking time off. If a situation is causing your stress and you are unable to calm down, remove yourself from it. Go outside and take a breather to calm down. Alternatively, you can try implementing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing. If it is an internal stressor, cut off your thought process until you can able to deal with it logically.

The key to making these 3 steps work for you is to practice them. These are not instantaneous solutions, and you need to condition your mind and practice them so that you can implement it when you are feeling stressed.

About the Author

Greg Frost is a leading innovator in the field of Stress Relief and the director of http://www.HowToRelieveStress.org which specializes providing a whole range of stress relief topics to improve the quality of your life

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Greg-Frost/25254

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