7 Tips to Beat Work Stress & Reclaim your Peace of Mind

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In today’s high-speed workplaces, stress at work levels are shooting up like burning stars in the night sky. Just turn around and you’ll see work stress crushing most professionals at your office. Worse, some are even stressed at home too.
But you think you’re not stressed at all, right?
Well, if you often feel angry, anxious, or suffer from any physical symptoms (see below) not caused by somatic or physiological reasons, read on. Also, read if you hate your boss.

Do you really have stress at work?

To start with, work stress is a condition which arises when work demands exceed way beyond your capabilities. Which means, you practically can’t meet significant pressure or any other demands in your workplace.
Thus, work stress can happen due to multiple reasons. Some of the causes are – 

Constantly increasing workload, social relation between you and your employer (and/or other employees) dissatisfaction (this is correlated, but should not be confused with mobbing), performance pressure, shifts, pace, fear of losing your job, etc.

And you can actually observe office anxiety from a few symptoms like – 

Moreover, harsh effects of work stress can sometimes turn into physical indicators too. Some of which are:

Fast heartbeat, Blood pressure increase, Vomiting, Nausea , Headache, Allergy, Chest pain, Muscle ache etc. and more.

Do you see how crucial it is to recognize, admit and overcome work stress now? So, to help you with it, below are 7 tips to help you conquer work.

Practice short relaxation technique breaks to avoid stress at work

Listen to your body, try to identify early signs of distress and take a break each time you notice them. Stand up, walk away from your desk, stretch your legs, have a glass of water. Breathe deeply.
Next, you got to establish a breathing rhythm.
If there is a garden outside company building, take a 5-minute walk, or spend a few minutes on the balcony/terrace. It is important to allow your eyes to relax by roaming areas in the distance, as opposed to focusing on computer screen or papers.
These short breaks are designed to give you immediate relief, even from a toxic work culture. Breaks work wonderfully if your stress levels are not extremely high.

Keep your expectations realistic

This is an especially valuable piece of advice for ambitious folks and idealists.
Do you feel “stuck” in a work environment that doesn’t recognize your need, abilities and does not appreciate your values? (It’s how a stressed out employee feels.)

If this is how you feel, make sure you prioritize your tasks in the beginning of each day. Lists work. So does a reality check to differentiate ideal tasks from real ones.

Fitness

Taking care of your body is a no brainer. Take time out for yourself each day, eat well and organize your diet. Fruits, vegetables and proteins help biological systems fight stress.
Also, minimise your refined sugar intake. Sugar only tires you down and depresses in the long term.
Next, try to establish a sleeping rhythm and stick to it.

Even if you do not manage to fall asleep according to the schedule, make sure you do lay in your bed, turn the lights off, remove your phone and laptop from the room and your body will understand the signals.
Then, try exercising a few times a week.
Your body will regain its strength and that energy will boost your self-confidence. You can also take dance lessons. Dance is an excellent way of getting rid of stress and establishing a healthy heartbeat pace.

Practice controlling your thoughts

Most of us are prone to making “opinion mistakes”. This means we replace “bad” with “disastrous”, “mistake” with “catastrophe”, “wrong behavior” with “terrible person”.
Actually, it’s not really you, your brains show you exaggerated versions of all activities.

If you recognize yourself in this, you must identify the beginning of these opinion mistakes and control your thoughts.
Meditation, perhaps?

Avoid multitasking

This could be difficult in some professions, but practicing multitasking on regular basis will increase your work stress levels. To fight it, identify priorities and organize your time rather than multitasking.

Ok, I put that too mildly. Here’s the truth – multitasking never works. Never!

Express your feelings

It doesn’t have to be your boss (though it might as well be), but speak up if you have a problem with anything. Similarly, don’t shy away from applauding if you find something great. Do it with your family, friends or maybe just consult a professional therapist.

If your stress levels are not extremely high, even just keeping a daily journal works wonders.
A pro journaling tip here – come back to your journals next week and read again. Then repeat it for a month. This really helps you observe events and feelings from a distance. From a different time frame. And that gives you perspective.
Remember when Jobs said, “You can only connect the dots looking back”?

Compromise and delegate

One hidden cause for high tension at work is you refusing to delegate and compromise. Collecting a mountain of tasks only takes away your peace of mind. No, it doesn’t produce the best version of all tasks.
Actually, it’s our tendency to believe we are the most capable person for a specific task.

This might be true for some geniuses, but most of us need to slice up the tasks so we can work at our optimum levels. 

Another time stress arises is when we can’t let go of things. Whether it’s your pursuit to build a perfect product or your stubborn quarrel with a teammate over a petty matter.
Answer – Compromise.  
Of course, it’ll not always be the best solution. But in may just diffuse tensions, build a healthy team atmosphere, or perhaps help you deliver the product on deadline, instead of glossing up a lifeless prototype.

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That’ll be the end of our exhaustive solutions to end workplace stress once and for all. Now go on and build a rewarding career plus a happy life by following the above tips (even a few won’t hurt.)
Note: If no tips, tricks or guides can shake off your soul-crushing stress from work, drop by here for a zen job. A ton of companies with vibrant and rewarding workplaces are hiring stellar folks like you on Instahyre.