Even when you love what you do, occasional work-related stress is unavoidable.
Not all stressful events can be prevented, but there are plenty of steps you can take to keep them at bay.
Start Your Day Right
It all starts in the morning…
As tempting as it may be to hide under those covers for just 5 more minutes, 5 minutes can easily turn into 20…
And before you know, you are late for work.
Chances are you don’t want to jump into your workday feeling stressed/rushed due to sleeping in.
You’d want to start the day feeling relaxed and well-rested.
Almost all tasks feel much harder when time is of the essence.
Opening up your email and getting your list in order just ten minutes earlier than you usually do can help you feel ahead of the game and give you some extra confidence.
Stay Organized
Have you ever had one of those days where you were supposed to email something over to a co-worker but completely forgot until they sent a friendly reminder?
You quickly open up your desktop but can’t find the document anywhere. At that point, you can’t even remember if you saved the document.
That’s when the nerves start to kick in. Not such a fun feeling.
We’ve all been there or in a similar situation at least once.
We’re human, and it happens.
However, staying organized and ahead of the game can help prevent stressful events like that from happening.
“Plan ahead when you know a situation will arise that causes you stress. Recognize the triggers and have.” – Cathi Spence
Reflect/Prepare
None of us are good at everything. None of us are fearless. We all have things we wish we could improve upon.
Sometimes those fears or uncertainties can show up at work and cause a great deal of stress.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you have a fear of public speaking (which is very common) and your boss asks you to lead next week’s virtual conference.
Even though you are proud to have been considered, that doesn’t make you any less afraid.
You have two choices. You can either spend the rest of the week feeling anxious and stressed.
Or you can prepare yourself to the best of your abilities and remind yourself that everything will be just fine. It all comes down to the stories we tell ourselves.
Forgive Yourself
None of us are perfect. We’ve all sent emails with typos, and we’ve all misunderstood an assignment at least once.
When we make a mistake at work, generally the first thing we do out of habit is apologize.
However, at times we can forget one very important step.
We can forget to forgive ourselves, look for the lesson and move on.
In business and in life you never fail. You either live or you learn.
