How To Deal With Stressful Situations At Work

Stay Away From Conflict

Interpersonal conflict takes a toll on your physical and emotional health. Conflict among co-workers can be difficult to escape, so its a good idea to avoid conflict at work as much as you can.

Dont gossip, dont share too many of your personal opinions about religion and politics, and steer clear of “colorful” office humor.

When possible, try to avoid people who dont work well with others. If conflict finds you anyway, make sure you know how to handle it appropriately.

Take Care Of Yourself

Setting aside time for self-care is a must if you regularly find yourself feeling overwhelmed by work. This means prioritizing sleep, setting aside time for fun, and making sure youre eating throughout the day.

Feel like you dont have the time? Keep in mind that youll likely be able to tackle work issues more effectively when your core needs are being met.

Time Management Tips For Reducing Job Stress

Create a balanced schedule. All work and no play is a recipe for burnout. Try to find a balance between work and family life, social activities and solitary pursuits, daily responsibilities and downtime.

Leave earlier in the morning. Even 10-15 minutes can make the difference between frantically rushing and having time to ease into your day. If youre always running late, set your clocks and watches fast to give yourself extra time and decrease your stress levels.

Plan regular breaks. Make sure to take short breaks throughout the day to take a walk, chat with a friendly face, or practice a relaxation technique. Also try to get away from your desk or work station for lunch. It will help you relax and recharge and be more, not less, productive.

Establish healthy boundaries. Many of us feel pressured to be available 24 hours a day or obliged to keep checking our smartphones for work-related messages and updates. But its important to maintain periods where youre not working or thinking about work. That may mean not checking emails or taking work calls at home in the evening or at weekends.

Dont over-commit yourself. Avoid scheduling things back-to-back or trying to fit too much into one day. If youve got too much on your plate, distinguish between the shoulds and the musts. Drop tasks that arent truly necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them entirely.

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Stress At Work Shouldnt Be A Regular Thing

The current culture of viewing workplace stress as normal is harmful to employees mental health. But its effects dont stop there.

Chronically stressed employees suffer from a wide range of harmful effects, including:

• Headaches

Research shows that extreme pressure in the workplace can hamper productivity and motivation.

Overly stressed employees may become reluctant to participate in teamwork. Poor work performance and impulsive actions are commonplace. As is an increase in the usage of substances like nicotine and alcohol in order to cope.

Long-term issues from workplace stress include cardiovascular diseases and immune deficiency. Poor mental health may also be triggered from chronic workplace stress.

Beyond being detrimental to employees, these issues can send a companys health care costs through the roof.

It leads to more accidents and injuries in the workplace and increases absenteeism. This further reduces the overall efficiency and morale of a work environment.

Its understandable why organizations are turning away from the culture of stress. Instead, they now favor more holistic approaches to workplace and team management.

Stressful Situation Example 4

I find that I handle stress by ensuring that I am active at lunchtimes. I rarely eat lunch at my desk, every Tuesday I have yoga at lunchtime and on days that I am not doing a sport, I always try to get outside and go for a walk. I also encourage others in my team to come for a walk too, it really helps to let off some steam and get us ready and focused for the afternoon.

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Practice Dealing With Stressful Situations

As you now know, dealing with stressful situations positively is your choice.

But sometimes we forget that:

Especially when our emotions are so instinctive.

We can fire off like a shotgun before weve even realised what weve done!

So I want you to try practicing the skill of dealing with stressful situations.

Try to be mindful see stress and make a decision to manage it before it becomes a problem.

The more practice you have, the better youll become at dealing with stressful situations.

How Not To Answer How Do You Handle Stress And Pressure

Here are the big no-nos when it comes to answering how do you handle stress and pressure?

• Of course, dont say that you cannot handle stress and pressure. Youve basically taken yourself out of the game if you do this.
• Dont mention that the stressful situation made you stressed. Instead, talk about being in that energy of pressure and stress, and how youre able to remain unaffected.
• Be careful how you respond in terms of the particular role it is. If its a multi-tasking role, and you share that you have trouble juggling many tasks and that makes you stressed, youll not be seen as a fit candidate for the role.

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Add Context To These Skills With A Relevant Impactful Example

Now that you know what soft skills you can highlight, start thinking about the times you’ve experienced stress or pressure at work. While you’re thinking through these examples even jotting them down on a piece of paper make sure you remember not to focus on situations where you were at fault.

For example, avoid talking about the time you forgot you had a project due the next day. Or that time you took on way too many assignments and struggled to juggle them. These types of answers could portray job seekers as forgetful, unreliable, or overambitious. Additionally, consider coming up with two to three examples that fit the roles you’re interviewing for and their required skills.

What Can Employers Do To Address Stress In Their Workplace

There are many strategies that can help control stress and reduce its impact to a person or in the workplace. Since the causes of workplace stress vary greatly, so do the strategies to reduce or prevent it.

Where stress in the workplace is caused, for example, by a physical agent, it is best to control it at its source. If the workplace is too loud, control measures to deal with the noise should be implemented where ever possible. If you are experiencing pain from repetitive strain, workstations can be re-designed to reduce repetitive and strenuous movements. More detailed information and suggestions are located in the many other documents in OSH Answers or by asking the Inquiries Service.

Job design is also an important factor. Good job design accommodates an employee’s mental and physical abilities. In general, the following job design guidelines will help minimize or control workplace stress:

• the job should be reasonably demanding and provide the employee with at least a minimum of variety in job tasks
• the employee should be able to learn on the job and be allowed to continue to learn as their career progresses
• the job should comprise some area of decision-making that the individual can call his or her own.
• there should be some degree of social support and recognition in the workplace
• the employee should feel that the job leads to some sort of desirable future

Employers should assess the workplace for the risk of stress. Look for:

DO NOT

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Speak To Your Manager

Not everyone feels comfortable doing this, but speaking to your manager or supervisor about your anxiety may help. They may be able to offer you accommodations to help you do your job more effectively.

Some people may not want to disclose their anxiety to their supervisor or HR department for fear of appearing weak or unwilling to work, losing out on promotions, or having it on your permanent record. While these fears are valid, it’s important to know your rights: You cannot legally be discriminated against because of your anxiety.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 protects you from discrimination if you are qualified to do your job and able to perform duties with reasonable accommodations.

Remember That Nothing Can Make You Feel Anything

Your reaction to the situation is just thatyour reaction. How you feel about and ultimately deal with a situation is your choice. There is no way to control the actions of others, but you can control how you respond.

One important aspect of this is to understand when a situation is uncontrollable, such as a bad economy, sickness, or something else. When the uncontrollable happens, we must accept it as is. There is a big difference, however, between accepting the situation and giving up. Acceptance is important, but so is coping effectively. In choosing to be effective in how we react, we significantly reduce stress. Remember this and utilize some of the pointers that follow.

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How Optimism Helps Deal With Stress

The examples show you just how powerful optimism is when it comes to dealing with stressful situations:

• You can feel angry OR you can be understanding.
• You blame someone else OR you can stop looking for excuses.
• You can wonder why has this horrible thing happened to me OR you can see change as an opportunity.
• You can feel defeated or you can rise to the challenge.

Stress is all in the mind its a hallucination!

Its all about how you interpret something.

Whatever youre feeling becomes the reality. So a stressful situation can also become a positive situation if youre willing to think that way.

And whats stressful for one person is someones elses opportunity.

Losing a job may ruin your life. Or it can be the first step to becoming incredibly successful.

So what you going to choose when dealing with stressful situations? Do you want to be optimistic or negative?

Example Answers To How You Handle Stress

When giving your answer to questions about how you handle stress and pressure, dont make the mistake of forgetting to give examples. Remember to talk about situations where you successfully handled stress and came out on the other side as a better and wiser employee.

For behavioral interview questions like this, use the STAR method to keep your answer coherent.

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Know When Its Not Working

Because of the toll that ongoing conflict can exact from a person, sometimes its advisable to put some distance in the relationship or cut ties completely.

In cases of abuse, simple conflict resolution techniques can only take you so far, and personal safety needs to take priority.

When dealing with difficult family members, on the other hand, adding a few boundaries and accepting the other persons limitations in the relationship can bring some peace. In friendships that are unsupportive or characterized by ongoing conflict, letting go may be a great source of stress relief. Only you can decide if a relationship can be improved, or should be let go.

Form Positive Relationships As Much As You Can

Some people start a job with a chip on their shoulder, and seem to set out to make everyone there miserable. Whether youâre starting a new job, or make it a goal for new employees who start where you work, build a better foundation than that.

Not everyone is outgoing or makes friendships easily. And no one is asking you to make your co-workers your best friends. But you can set out to be positive towards others, avoiding negativity as much as is in your control.

• Be a good listener.
• Be sincere but generous in complimenting someone elseâs work.
• Help someone who needs it.
• Be willing to teach or mentor someone with less experience than you.
• Avoid gossiping or speaking negatively about anyone else on the job.
• If conflict or problems have to be addressed, use positive language and avoid accusations or painting someone in a negative light.

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Dont Let These Stressful Situations Get The Best Of You

When you work, stress is an unavoidable part of life. However, there are things you can do to manage your stress and stay in control. Heres how to handle these stressful situations in the workplace.

• Managing an Event

Being put in charge of a company event is one of the most stressful positions to be in. However, rather than stressing about everything that could go wrong, channel this energy into preparing for such disasters. Assess past company events and determine where they went wrong. Once you identify the problems, make a plan that will help you address them if they pop up this time around. If you are worried about managing all the moving parts, then see if you can get a co-worker to help with your planning. Being able to share responsibilities with another person will make the whole ordeal much more palatable.

• Changes in Your Job Description

There are many ways in which your current job description can change. Maybe you have merged with another company, or maybe your job is being reconfigured to fulfill a gap in your companys needs. Whatever the reason, you need to curb your frustration and try to view the situation in a more positive light. Maybe the new job description offers you the opportunity to develop new skills, or maybe it eliminates a task that youve always hated. Find ways to appreciate the change and focus on these things. Once you come to terms with the shift, things will feel less stressful and more exciting

Take One Step At A Time

When I was in graduate school studying for my Masters degree, I was often overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work to be done. When one research paper was complete, there was another one right around the corner. Then an examthen a group projectand so on. But the focus was not on the next paper or exam it was on finishing and just being done with it all.

It was a tremendously stressful time, and an advisor offered some advice: Remember this corny adage: How does a marathon runner finish a race? One mile at a time.

Sometimes we need a small shift in mindset. Too often, when faced with a difficult task we jump to the finish instead of facing one obstacle at a time. Its much easier to narrow our focus, complete one task, and then tackle the next one.

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Emotional Intelligence In The Workplace

Emotional intelligence in the workplace has four main components:

• Self-awareness: The ability to recognize your emotions and their effects while using gut instinct as a guide to your decisions.
• Self-management: the ability to control your emotions and behavior and to adapt to changing circumstances.
• Social awareness: The ability to feel, understand and respond to the emotions of others and to feel socially comfortable.
• Relationship management: The ability to inspire, influence and connect with others and manage conflicts.

Use Quick Coping Strategies

In addition to tackling larger issues that are contributing to your work-related anxiety, it may also be helpful to practice quick-working coping strategies that you can use in moments when you begin to feel especially anxious. These in-the-moment strategies could include:

• Going outside for a few minutes
• Listening to a calming song
• Try visualization
• Watching a funny video

Grounding is another technique that can help positively shift your attention in the moment. Grounding involves using your senses to connect to your physical surroundings. This might involve:

• Holding on to a hot cup of tea or a cold glass of water
• Listening to sounds that you find calming
• Noticing specific things you can see in your environment
• Smelling a candle, perfume, or essential oil
• Tasting food with a strong flavor, like a lemon or lime

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Have The Right Attitude

We cant always control what we are facing, but we do have a choice in how we face it. We can choose the attitude we take, and whether we face each challenge as a threat or a challenge.

Research shows that viewing something as a challenge helps you to mobilize your resources and bring your “A game” to the situation more easily, while viewing the same situation as a threat can lead to a greater tendency to feel stressed and shut down

If you read about avoidant coping, you can see some of the problems that are associated with shutting down or avoiding your stressor. The following steps can help you to move into a more empowered frame of mind if you need to.