How
to Reduce Your Stress at Work
by Tag and Catherine Goulet
(Published with permission from FabJob.com.)
Imagine working only
four hours a day, nine months a year and earning all the money you
need to do exactly what you want with all your free time. Does that sound
like your life?
That's the life a futurist of
the early 20th Century predicted the average worker would be living by the
21st century.
Despite the introduction of many
labor-saving devices, Harvard University Economist Juliet Schor found by
the 1990s people were working the equivalent of one month a year more than
they did at the end of World War II.
It seems that whenever a
significant new "labor saving" product or service is developed
we use it so much our workload actually increases. After all, wasn't our
work supposed to be made easier by voice mail, faxes, cell phones and
email?
Instead, many of us find we are
constantly on-call, frequently interrupted, and overwhelmed with
communications that people expect to receive immediate responses to.
That's on top of the already heavy workload existing in most
organizations. For some workers, the best way to deal with the overload is
to take an extended stress leave.
If switching from double lattes
to decaf isn’t enough to reduce your stress at work, here are some steps
you can take to get your workload under control:
Work on things that are
important
This may sound obvious, but many of us are tempted to work
on easy tasks first so we can have a sense of accomplishment. Time spent
on those "easy" tasks can quickly add up, creating even more
stress when there does not appear to be enough time left for the important
work.
Keep an "activity
log"
This will help you figure out what your time is being spent
on. Every time you start and end a new activity, including taking a
break, make note of the time. Most workers who charge by the hour have
learned to do this automatically. If you are not used to tracking your
time it may be a bit of an adjustment, but within a few days you should be
able to notice any time-wasters you might not have been aware of.
Set daily
goals
When
scheduling your time, assume that something unexpected will come up and
build in a cushion of time to deal with it. To minimize the stress of
meeting self-imposed deadlines, avoid making promises about when tasks
will be completed. If you must commit to a date, be conservative. If you
consistently underpromise and overdeliver you could earn a great
reputation while reducing your stress.
Be gentle with
yourself
Aim
to meet or even exceed expectations, but don't try to achieve perfection.
Wherever possible, delegate routine tasks even if you think you can do
them better than someone else.
Avoid
interruptions
Unless
you are expected to be on call, select a time of day when you will return
phone calls and emails. During other times, let your voice mail take
messages for you. You can also create an autoreply for your email to let
people know their message has been received. If your email says you will
respond within 24 hours if a reply is required, it may deter someone from
repeatedly trying to contact you in the meantime.
Don't let other people's
problems become yours
As Richard Carlson, author of Don't Sweat
the Small Stuff at Work, says "If someone throws you the ball you
don't have to catch it." Some managers find themselves solving their
employees' problems instead of empowering employees to find solutions
themselves. When someone comes to you with a problem that isn't yours, try
limiting your contribution to advice instead of taking on the task
yourself.
When you are feeling
overwhelmed, say so
Companies want to keep good employees so most
bosses will want to know when you are having difficulty. However, instead
of saying "I can't do it," offer some possible solutions. For
example, if you won't be able to get a major report completed by a
particular deadline, perhaps you could tell the boss you can either
complete a condensed version of the report by the deadline, complete the
entire report by a later date, or meet the deadline if you get some help
from co-workers or temporary staff.
These techniques probably won't
help you enjoy the life of leisure envisioned by those early futurists.
But they can make your work more manageable, and might even reduce your
stress enough to let you go back to drinking double lattes.
To discover how to break into the career
of your dreams click to see the list of dream careers at
www.FabJob.com.
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