Is work-stress a factor in YOUR life?
According to studies carried out in the EU, stress is up there as one of the most frequently-reported health problems at work, affecting 22% of workers. And stress can be attributed as the cause of between 50% and 60% of all lost working days. This represents a huge cost both financially to the company and emotionally to the individuals.
Stress at work is common, and finding a job with little or no stress may be practically impossible. The secret therefore is to learn techniques and strategies to help you cope with your stress.
KICK YOUR DAY OFF ON A GOOD NOTE
Many people end up arriving at work already super-stressed, after preparing the kids for school, skipping breakfast due to time constraints, and battling with traffic. This sets you off on a negative note and is very likely to make you more responsive and reactive to any stressors at work.
What is the solution? Planning will go a long way to reduce this potential stress. You may need to wake up a bit earlier and / or prepare stuff from the night before, but reducing the need to rush in the morning and having a nutritious breakfast will give you a positive attitude, and you will find that your work seems less stressful when you’re calm and collected.
BE ORGANISED
Even throughout your day, you will find that planning and staying organised will contribute to greatly reduce your levels of stress. Many times, you may be stressed if you are close to deadlines and rushing. Planning ahead will help you to stay on top of things, and greatly reduce your stress levels.
It may take some work to get into the habit, but planning out your day will really help you focus on your key tasks. And you will get such satisfaction striking off those items from your TO-DO list!!
ARE YOU COMFORTABLE IN YOUR SPACE?
It is surprising how stressed you may become if you are not physically comfortable at your place of work – such as at your desk. Is there an annoying light above your work station? Is your chair uncomfortable? Is the sound from the coffee machine annoying you?
It’s amazing how such small things can accumulate to create a level of stress, so do organise your space in a way to suit you.
AVOID UNNECESSARY CONFLICT
It may be difficult to escape conflict completely with your colleagues at work, but it is a good idea to try and avoid this as much as possible as conflict can affect both your emotional and physical health.
Discussions about hot topics such as politics and religion and gossip may all lead to disagreements and differences of opinions. You may also want to try and avoid people who don’t work well with others.
You may be unable to avoid SOME conflict, and in this case, it is important to deal with it calmly and avoid escalating the situation as ultimately, the stressor will negatively affect YOU.
FORGET MULTITASKING
Multitasking is NOT the best thing since sliced bread - although this term is often bandied around as though it was. If you are on the phone and trying to write something up at the same time, you are likely to make mistakes. AND you will feel frazzled as you cannot give your best focus to more than one task!
A better approach may be to use a strategy such as chunking where you do not react constantly to interruptions. Instead, you break your day up into larger chunks and devote these to specific tasks. In this way, you reduce the amount of “start-up moments” in your day and can continue a job uninterrupted. You may need to switch off email and your phone for periods of time to manage this “chunking” but you WILL find that your efficiency will improve considerably.
GET AWAY
Many of us spend most of the day behind a desk and this will have a negative effect on our physical wellbeing. One way to fight this is to get out of the office for a short while at lunchtime. This gives you some valuable exercise and the opportunity to blow off steam while also giving you some perspective and a time to unwind and unplug from what is going on in your work life.
CONTROL YOUR PERFECTIONISM
Do you want everything just-so and are not ready to settle for less? While high standards are admirable, sometimes we may be creating our own stress as these standards may be above and beyond what is needed. Being a perfectionist can also create problems for those around you.
Don’t strive to do everything perfectly, every time. Do strive to just do your best and you may find that your results are better and you’ll be much less stressed at work.
UNWIND WITH MUSIC
You may be surprised by how much music can actually help you to unwind throughout your day. Listening to an upbeat song while preparing breakfast or on your drive to work will set your day on a good note and listening to music on your way home can help you wind down and relax before you get home.
How is your health? Are you feeling healthy? One of the main stressors may be our health. We recommend annual medical and blood screening to ensure that you can maintain your quality of life.
Clinipath Medical Laboratories can provide your organisation with a Company Health Program that can gauge the function of major organs and can identify some risks at an early stage. This will ensure that your employee’s health is safeguarded, and if needs be monitored regularly.
If you would like information contact us today on +356 21221355, 9985 2404 or send an email on info@clinipath.com.mt for more information.
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