Stress is a silent killer.
When the pressure builds to perform, so does the pressure to stay calm, and it’s a deadly combination. The results can be a drop in productivity, a major increase in anxiety, and a generally poor performance and lowered quality of life. That’s not the way you want to live your life—and we’re going to make sure you take control of it starting today.
Managing stress is about baby steps.
If you start to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, then you can begin to make real, daily progress. Responsibilities will pile up, you’re going to have days where someone gets upset, and you’re even going to have days when you make a silly mistake—but don’t let that deter you.
Take back your sense of calm at work, and learn how to manage your stress with this practical step by step guide. Freedom is just a few baby steps away.
Get Smart Fast: Avoidance Coping
First, we need to talk about something called “avoidance coping.” Avoidance Coping is essentially when you’re so stressed about something, that you simply don’t do it—you avoid the responsibility hoping it will go away. Here’s the thing: it won’t.
Avoidance coping is an extremely common behaviour, and something we don’t even realise we’re doing. If you’re constantly putting off your responsibilities, it’s just going to hurt you more and more as each day passes, and simply build on your stress. If you want to stop the stress snowball from getting any bigger, you have to stop it dead in its tracks.
Don’t avoid your work, tell yourself it’s time to hit the problem head on.
Step 1: Cut Off The Caffeine
Another helpful preliminary measure would be to cut yourself off from any more cups of coffee or black tea. You may not realise it, but you’re probably somewhat sensitive to caffeine, and that’s naturally boosting your anxiety levels.
Instead, grab a cup of water, and a light snack, and take a minute to breath before you begin the process of breaking down your stressful situation.
Step 2: Go For a Walk
Going for a walk will help you to clear your head, and get out of your own way. You may be so over-stimulated in your office, that the stress is causing you to go through every bad possible scenario of what could happen if you don’t finish this next project—stop! Stop thinking that way, readjust, and tell yourself that it’s going to be OK.
Step 3: Organise Your Thoughts
Now, once you’re out of crisis mode, begin to organise in your head what’s most important to get done today, and what can wait until later. Start to plan out how you’re going to master this situation, and begin to let yourself believe that there’s some hope. There are some things you won’t be able to get to today, but once you accept what those are, you can begin to tackle the present problems.
Step 4: Create a Checklist
Now, back at your desk, go through and make a list of the things that you can accomplish today. They could be a series of small tasks, or one or two big ticket items that you know you can squeeze in before close.
Make sure that your list is realistic, and something you can actually accomplish with your remaining time. You want to be as practical as possible, and use this as another opportunity to affirm “Yeah, I’ve got this.”
Step 5: Talk Through Your Plan With a Coworker
Now start to talk this list through with either your work buddy, or someone on your team who’s going to be sharing in some of the responsibility. Talk through the reality of getting that list checked off today, and start to talk about solutions—not the problems themselves.
Some people like to worry and postulate about the hopelessness of the situation, but those conversations won’t help you right now. Focus exclusively on productivity.
Step 6: Start Working
This is probably the most important step. You need to just put one foot in front of the other. If you don’t start working, the problem can never be solved. And the longer you wait to get it done, the longer you’re going to have to sit with this horrible feeling.
Remember this: as much as it can be painful to put in the time now, it’s not going to be more painful than living with this feeling of stress and anxiety.
Step 7: Just 5 Minutes…
This is a fantastic trick to keep yourself motivated and immersed in your work. It may seem a little childish, but just keeping telling yourself to give it another five minutes. You can do anything for just five minutes! By the time that five minutes are up, you’ll probably be pretty into whatever it is you’re doing, and have the energy to keep pushing forward.
Step 8: Know When To Stop
At some point you have to close out, go home, and relax. There are very few extreme cases where you’re going to have to work all night to get done everything you need to get done. Allow yourself time to rest, know when to stop, and get ready to hit it again tomorrow with more practical problem solving.
You’ve got this. Now go out there and get something done!