Work Stress: Stress Management at Work

When the heat is on and your boss together with all your colleagues are breathing down your neck at the same time, keeping your cool can be tough. Learn how to handle your emotions and keep your cool when the pressure is on.

Let's face it: everyone has a bit of stress in their lives, being it in their career or with their family and relationships. A little stress is good, but too much can be a major problem. It can cost you your health, your sanity and at times even compromise your job. If you’re under a lot of pressure at work, naturally you’d be under a lot of stress and when the boss walks in and overloads your workspace with more than you can already handle, it's sometimes difficult to keep your cool.

It’s so tempting to just throw in the towel and give up completely, hand in your resignation and tell everyone exactly where they should get off. In fact, your heart and mind are in a constant battle with which is more important, your sanity and happiness or your daily bread and butter.

When in a stressful situation, we sometimes react with impulsive emotions that we wish we had better control of. These emotions lead us to pluck up the courage to do and say things we wouldn’t normally and ones we probably end up regretting.

Here’s how to take better control of your inner thermostat:

Keeping cool in stressful situations can make a significant difference to the outcome of the situation.

• Take a moment to think
  Next time you’re backed into a corner and you can feel the temperature rising, take a moment to just close your eyes, take a deep breath and mentally tell yourself to “relax” instead of blowing up like an atom bomb. After a few forceful attempts to calm yourself when you’re stressed, your body will soon learn this method and it will become a natural habit.

• Speak, don’t scream
  Although you may be tempted to blow your boss' head off, remember that people don’t pay any attention to a screaming, raving lunatic. Although they see you jumping up and down, it's hard to focus on what you’re saying. If you want to voice your argument, do so calmly and assertively. When you speak with a normal, calming tone, you not only calm yourself down but you avoid negative, impulsive emotions too.

• Trade places
  Before you pass judgment on a situation, always try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. Think about what they are going through and decide how to best handle your responses to them.

• Be the one to back away
  When you see a stressful situation arising or getting worse, don’t add to it. Instead, try to back down. Take a deep breath and keep yourself calm. If the other person is ranting and raving, don’t take a cue from them that it is okay for you to also rant and rave. Think about how ridiculous they look jumping up and down and picture how you would look like doing this. If you have something to say, do so when the other person has calmed down and be clear in your arguments. Don’t just scream and shout.