Overcoming Office Stress

Finally, your overtly assuming boss is transferred! You give out a sigh of relief and hope that the new boss will recognize your exceptional qualities and shall accordingly boost your salary to a quantum leap into dizzying heights of economic liberty.

Then the bombshell drops and you find yourself being questioned day in and day out for all your work, the time of your arrival and departure, the time you spend gossiping in the coffee lounge or the office canteen. Your new boss is worse and you seem to have landed from the frying pan into the fire. This disturbs your sleep, reduces your appetite, and changes your weight. You tend to be forgetful, have poor concentration, get easily tired, lethargic, and totally lack motivation to work. You try to delegate tasks but are unable to do so. You tend to come late for meetings and as a rule get into arguments.

You read numerous self-improvement books and suddenly you feel a strong desire to set things right. You want to give a last shot and try your best to give an optimum performance. You become a workaholic and slog for hours at a stretch. Yet, the situation does not change and an overwhelming sadness engulfs you. Your shoulders start to droop, your walk assumes a slow gait, you look down while you walk, and your facial expression shouts anxiety, worry, tension, and irritability at the loudest decibels.

You hairs suddenly start graying and a bald patch appears on your scalp that once prided with denseness comparable to an African jungle. Wrinkles appear on your forehead, and your hands and feet start sweating. You become highly strung and start considering yourself worthless. Your family life suffers and you begin to harbor suicidal tendencies. You begin to drown in the depths of self-pity and wish to end your life as quickly, as smoothly, and with as little pain as possible. You feel dejected, neglected, depressed, disconsolate, miserable, melancholy, and desire to wipe off your humiliating, mortifying, degrading, demeaning, undignified and inconsequential existence from the face of this earth.

But, hey! wait. Life is not so bad after all. Have you ever considered why such things are happening? Have you ever considered why others are happy while you are not? Read on and you might just as well tomorrow walk straight and tall, with your head held up high, fully competent and radiating superb confidence.

What you can do
* Religiously undertake some regular physical exercise, as they say, "a healthy body has a healthy mind".
* Eat lots of fiber foods like fruits, and drink tons of water. This will improve your muscle tone and eliminate toxins from your system, making you feel fit as a fiddle.
* Enhance your skill sets. Update yourself with the latest procedures, techniques, and theories.
* Become computer savvy. Use spreadsheets, presentations and E-mail.
* Listen to your boss. Understand his/her viewpoint.
* Begin delegating duties silently but with calm authority.
* Start early from home, reach the office five minutes early and leave office five minutes late.
* Be compatible with colleagues without becoming intimate, and be jovial without becoming a joker.
* Work hard. Work works.

What will happen
* Soon you will find that your productivity shall increase.
* You will have a say in the work that you are supposed to do. Major decisions shall not be taken without your prior consultation.
* Deadlines shall not become too pressing for you to handle effectively. Targets shall be fulfilled.
* The attitude of the boss will also change dramatically as you now become an asset rather than a liability.
* Your self-esteem, self-respect shall improve, along with an increase in your level of supervision, and your responsibilities of the job.
* Your colleagues will look up to you as an example.
* You shall be promoted.

Your family life shall also improve. However, your utmost joy will come when your competent work proves to that poker faced superior that who is after all the "real" boss. You will not be able to contain your happiness then. At that point, to celebrate your private victory, taking up opera singing or salsa dancing lessons would not be a bad idea.

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