Workplace stress is very common and happens with everyone at one time or other, no matter how much fine the things are going for the person. It is pertinent to talk on it from time to time as it hampers the productivity and effects a lot on professional and personal life. In this article, I have attempted to explain about the topic and give insights using certain small examples which I hope all can relate.
Let me start by saying that work is not the only reason of workplace stress. It is derived from multiple factors like criticism, comparisons, jealousies (collectively called office politics).
One’s reaction to these factors are the reason why one gets anxious at the work and feels uncomfortable.
Let’s start understanding how our mind reacts to various situations and how we face various emotions at workplace:
Criticism:
It feels pathetic when boss/colleague points out at your mistake in front of everyone whether intentionally or otherwise and you have no answers. You start hating the work you did or the person criticizing you, and you fear such type of criticism each time you do your work.
I believe, like each part of our body, mind can also be trained and made powerful. If we write down the emotions and feelings, we encountered at the time of being criticized, we will have a broader level of intelligence and introspection and therefore, we will stop being personal and start analyzing where you lack. Just remember, no one is perfect. There is always room for improvement.
Comparisons and jealousy:
It is normal to compare yourself with others. Let me give some small examples, like, you see your peers are relaxing and you are overloaded with work; as in you are working on weekends and your colleagues are enjoying. On the top of that, you are unable to communicate with you seniors or they are not listening.
Take another example, you feel someone is getting paid much more than you and with much less hassles or someone is getting promotion, but you deserved it.
All these things make you feel pity on yourself. You cannot change your environment so you need to trace your emotions and understand exactly how you react; this will help you feel better and strong enough to face all these situations.
Now let’s talk a little about workload: things are tough when you are loaded with three to four assignments at a time and all are equally important. You need to understand you can do one thing at a time and it is normal to feel stressed being surrounded by continuous work. You can write down your priorities; you must be very clear as to which assignment requires the urgent action. Communication to your seniors plays a very important role here also; you must communicate about your bandwidth being choked and your limitations. You must write down and convey what work can be delegated so that quality of work can be maintained.
Overall, meditation will help overcome it. An early morning walk and sitting down without mobile phones in the morning will help a lot.
Let me know if have left any aspect uncovered.
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