How to Manage Stress at Work

Being in the consulting industry, John was under tremendous pressure to deliver and strategize. The day at work use to start by 8.00 in the morning and finish at wee hours of night. Some nights were spent in office sleeping on the desk and presenting papers to clients the next morning.

Recession! Recession! All over the place - the buzz word has been creating havoc with job cuts, downsizing, salary and budget cuts and many more. With four people being asked to resign due to low performance and clients complaining about the quality being delivered, John has been over stressed. Slowly it's starting to wear on him.

Job stress is like an epidemic and spreads very fast. It starts affecting one's productivity and reduces physical and emotional health. Some of the common symptoms of work stress are -

1. Feeling anxious, irritable, or depressed

2. Apathy, loss of interest in work

3. Problems sleeping

4. Fatigue,

5. Trouble concentrating

6. Communication patterns

7. Muscle tension or headaches

8. Stomach problems

9. Social withdrawal

10. Loss of libido

11. Using alcohol or drugs to cope

12. Behavior at work

Not all kind of stress is over bearing. Some healthy stress like anxiety, irritation etc. is required at work place to think gainful activities and plan work in a better way. Sometimes companies purposely design stressful situations and make employees perform in order to see their survival instincts. So people have to work against stress rather them getting affected by its consequences. It is necessary to maintain a large measure of self control and confidence at work place. One of the ways which every can practice is think positive and be an optimist. You should be able to manage your thoughts in a constructive and positive way. A lot of it depends upon how you communicate with others at work place. Your body language, verbal and non verbal communication styles indicate a lot about your stress. It's about communicating with others in ways that draw people's attention to you, overcome differences, repair wounded feelings, and defuse stress and tension.

A lot of times people get stress due to old negative habits, predetermined notions about things at work commonly called as self defeating habits. Perfectionism, punctuality, job dissatisfaction, lack of incentives and promotions, employees' attitude towards commitment, integrity issues all are primes motivators to one's stress.

What is that one can practice is being at ease with oneself and understanding the fact that not all are equal and perfect at work whether situation or people. Creating allies, opinion groups, self motivating quotes, positive attitude, take time away, create humor at work, delegation, prioritizing etc are all few ways to relieve stress.

At the end tell you heart and mind - All Is well and it will be over. Nothing is permanent. Read more on How to Manage Stress at www.nickmutt.com