Posts Tagged ‘Work-Related Stress’

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Get Rid of Stress by Choosing Joy

Monday, June 10th, 2019

According to the American Psychological Association, 62 percent of Americans say that work significantly increases their stress. Imagine that—almost two out of three working Americans spend a third of their lives in an environment they consider stressful!

This is crazy! Life’s too short to live like that! So change things!

Now I’m not suggesting that you quit your job and go relax on the beach for the rest of your life. You’ll get a whole new kind of stress when the money runs out.

Instead, keep your job and choose to live happy. Choose against stress! Stress is your interpretation of events. You can be relaxed or crazed as you choose.

So you get a task that seems impossible. Why stress? It’s an opportunity to step up and knock it out of the park!

You have 20 phone calls to make in 30 minutes…why not do it with joy? It’s time to blow them away. How accomplished will you feel after the fact?

Attitude is a choice. Stress is a choice. Choose to live happily.

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Posted in Personal Transformation | 2 Comments »

Overwhelm

Friday, September 23rd, 2016

A Princeton study shows that work is more overwhelming than ever—or at least that’s our perception. Three-quarters of the workers in the study said work is more stressful than it was a generation ago.

That’s certainly true in some ways. But overwhelm often has just as much to do with a conversation going in your head as in the real world. When you tell yourself, “I don’t even know where to start,” a feeling of helplessness sets in. Every task seems to be shouting your name.

STOP. There are priorities here. Take a deep breath and figure out what has to happen first, what can wait until later, and what doesn’t have to be happening at all.

Suddenly the priorities are standing in line, waiting patiently for their turn.

Finally, stop telling others how overwhelmed you are. That adds to everyone’s feeling of overwhelm, and it gives the tasks in your head permission to jump out of line again. They are not in charge—you are!

Once you step off the treadmill of overwhelm, you’ll NEVER go back.

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Posted in Managing Stress | 2 Comments »

Get the chip off your shoulder

Sunday, July 20th, 2014

I’m willing to bet that everyone reading this has known someone with a massive chip on their shoulder. Maybe you’ve even been that person, who knows?

Well, you probably do—and those around you definitely do.

Have you ever noticed that people who walk around with a chip on their shoulder don’t seem all that eager to knock that chip off? They nurture it like a beloved child. As long as the chip is there, they can say “Woe is me” and embrace the victim role because someone has hurt them.

People can’t make you feel bad. You do that to yourself by interpreting their intent and keeping that chip where it is. We all do it—but it isn’t good for anyone.

Instead, change your interpretation of that remark or action that hurt you. There’s a good chance you can see it in a different light, one that helps you climb up out of that hole.

Better yet, talk directly to the person, even if it’s the CEO of the company. More often than not, you’ll find that the intention was not what you thought. Clear, honest, authentic communication benefits everyone.

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Posted in Managing Stress | No Comments »

When to leave your job

Monday, June 30th, 2014

Your job is imperfect. Your boss is imperfect. Your colleagues, boy, are THEY imperfect. None of this is news. The question is what you are doing about it.

If you’re accepting life’s little imperfections, that’s healthy. Giving constructive advice to improve things, good for you! But if you are complaining—aimlessly, pointlessly complaining—then it’s time for you to go. Your company is better without you. If you are taking checks from a company and then stabbing them in the back, you’ve got to think about your integrity. So off you go.

But wait! Before you go, let’s put things in perspective. Did you complain about your last job, too? Your last boss, your last colleagues? If so, you’re pretty likely to complain about the next ones as well. Then I guess you’ll have to cut and run from that one too.

Sounds like a pretty dismal future, don’t you think?

Instead, give yourself 24 hours to think about your situation. Focus on the things that are good, and come up with a strategy for improving the things that aren’t so good. But one way or another, promise yourself to turn off the pointless complaints for good.

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Posted in Dysfunctional Workplace | No Comments »

Overwhelm

Monday, January 13th, 2014

A Princeton study shows that work is more overwhelming than ever—or at least that’s our perception. Three-quarters of the workers in the study said work is more stressful than it was a generation ago.

That’s certainly true in some ways. But overwhelm often has just as much to do with a conversation going in your head as with the real world. When you tell yourself, “I don’t even know where to start,” a feeling of helplessness sets in. Every task seems to be shouting your name.

STOP. There are priorities here. Take a deep breath and figure out what has to happen first, what can wait until later, and what doesn’t have to happen at all. Then take the things that need to be done first and sort them further. Are they all world-endingly important? Which items can have the deadline renegotiated without causing a problem? Which can be delegated?

Suddenly the priorities are standing in line, waiting patiently for their turn. What had seemed like a mountain is actually an orderly assembly line.

Finally, stop telling others how overwhelmed you are. That adds to everyone’s feeling of overwhelm, and it gives the tasks in your head permission to jump out of line again. They are not in charge—you are!

Once you step off the treadmill of overwhelm, you’ll NEVER go back.

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Posted in Managing Stress | No Comments »

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