3 Strategies For Managing Occupational Stress

Managing occupational stress is a task whose effectiveness is closely related to effective strategies to modulate the intensity of our emotions  when things don’t go our way. Most people need specific mechanisms to deal with small and large work realities that are conflicting, frustrating and, to some extent, normal.

Most current work exposes us to numerous  simultaneous stimuli. Almost everyone feels overwhelmed with demands. There is pressure for us to work faster, more productively and with less conflict. All this pressure creates stress.

This happens almost every day. It is very rare that someone can do their job  slowly, or feel that they will be understood if they make a mistake. This in itself is stressful.

If you add financial pressure and perhaps one or another personal problem, the situation can be complex. Therefore, it is good to know some guidelines for managing occupational stress. These are three of them.

1. Digest the available information

One of the main reasons why stress is generated is the quick interpretation of facts. When we are under pressure and feel anguish about the need to fulfill our duties, we may  tend to analyze  things without much objectivity. This does not contribute to managing occupational stress.

Mood influences our perception and vice versa. Under pressure, we are led to interpret  many stimuli as if they are threatening, when they are not. This happens especially when we have in our hands the solution of an urgent order and a conflicting or problematic event is added to that.

Under these conditions, we come to feel that things are getting out of hand or that the situation is overtaking us. That’s when  it’s worth taking a minute to look at  the facts more coolly. We often realize that the case is not as serious  as we felt it to be. Acting quickly and impulsively is not a good idea. It’s always better to digest.

2. Avoid mental restrictions to manage occupational stress

Stress makes our  daily prejudices surface  (tension makes us look for shortcuts to process the greatest amount of information in the shortest time possible). This behavior that sometimes invades us makes us uncomfortable. It happens when, for example, we are required to do one task and then another. So we say “I have to do everything around here”. It is very likely that these types of statements are baseless.

The worst thing is that these prejudices do nothing but increase the discomfort we already felt. They prevent us from properly managing occupational stress. On the contrary, they increase it. They lead us to victimize ourselves and see others as potential enemies.

Here it is important to stop. Not allowing these mechanical thoughts to take over our reasoning ability and cause us to distort everything in a way that is self-destructive. Breathing for a few minutes and keeping in mind that you need to analyze the situation at a deeper level can help us.

3. Be flexible and know how to relax

Mental rigidity tends to complicate life. Knowing how to live is learning to adapt to different circumstances, without meaning to say that one should not have predominant lines of behavior or principles. Most of the time, we don’t need to go against ourselves on something essential, but simply give in a little bit to be calmer.

The usual thing is that the pressure of the environment and the internal tension make us more rigorous and inflexible. It is also a way of defending ourselves, preserving ourselves and reaffirming ourselves. Deep down, there is a kind of fear of not being able to deal with the situation, and rigidity becomes a wrong strategy for assuming this fear.

To manage occupational stress in an appropriate way, it is necessary to find or create techniques to relax. Any medium is valid if it allows us to calm down and, consequently, relax. Many unnecessary conflicts arise from this tension between two realities that seek to occupy a predominant place.

What all of these guidelines for managing occupational stress have in common is that each one highlights the value of not losing control in the midst of a storm. This is the beginning and the axis of everything else. Giving anguish free rein does not make us better professionals, on the contrary: it makes us anxious people on the verge of conflict or error.