3 ways to manage work stress
Most of the time, stress is a part of work that may be annoying, but isn’t debilitating. As I have written about many times, stress is just the emotion you experience when you are focused on avoiding some threat or calamity in your environment. Ideally the stress you experience gives you a boost of energy to tackle difficult problems at work.
Sometimes, though, stress causes more problems than it solves. This is particularly true under two conditions: when it makes it difficult for you to make any progress on issues at work, and when it bleeds through into your personal life and sabotages your time away from the office so you can’t relax. In those cases, you need to better manage your work stress.
What can you do to keep work stress from overrunning your life?
Find your energy sweet spot
At work, stress gets in the way when you get over-energized. There is a long history of evidence suggesting that there is an optimal level of energy for getting work done: too little, and you have no motivation to work on key tasks; too much, and your energy level is paralyzing. You may pace the room, or flip between tasks, but you can’t concentrate.
In between is a sweet spot in which you have enough energy to focus on a critical task and stay engaged. You want to find that zone in which you work effectively. Get a sense for what it feels like.
When your stress level builds to the point that you are no longer working at your peak, use strategies to dissipate some of that arousal. Take a walk. Do some deep breathing. Talk with a colleague. Only return to your work when you feel like you’re able to focus and make progress. Otherwise, your lack of progress is likely to create additional stress and ramp your energy level back up.
Build a barrier
When that work stress also affects your home life, then you may need to create a moat that the stress can’t cross. Find some kind of activity you can do during or after your commute home from work (even if that commute involves simply shutting your computer, because you work from home).
If you can delay the start of your family obligations, then consider doing some exercise, reading a book for pleasure, or engaging in another hobby like playing an instrument, knitting, or crafting. Do something active rather than passive. When you watch TV, for example, you may reduce your energy level, but you don’t change your thinking pattern.
If you really have to dive into your home responsibilities, then see if you can create a change in thinking while also addressing the needs of your family. Turn chores into a game. Pair the work you have to do with great music or an audio book. Find something you look forward to that will shift your mindset.
Work on your sleep routine
Also, don’t neglect your sleep routine. If you have a lot of work stress and then your home life is busy, you may feel like you should stay awake in order to have some time doing things you enjoy. Resist that temptation.
Sleep is a critical component of your mental and physical health. If work stress starts to interfere with your ability to sleep, work on developing a sleep routine. Disconnect from devices at least 30 minutes before you want to sleep. Create a more consistent routine around your sleep so that your body develops habits to want to fall asleep. Consider listening to sleep meditations so that you can relax and sleep.
Your consistent sleep routine will help with your focus and resilience, which will benefit you both at work and at home.