Read through the Quick Assessment to the Right. They are associated with Job Stress. Many people experience these symptoms and when they start to impact our quality of life, change is imperative.

We are busy people due to multiple demands placed upon us and being pulled in several different directions. This is exhausting and over 46% of the population feels overworked in some way and this does not include responsibilities outside the workplace. Adding other tasks, such as those related to family, home, school, religion, and others, seems to significantly increase the percentage.

Being tired is not the only problem this causes. It is a psychological state that can affect attitudes, behavior, relationships, and health both on and off the job. Excessive stress will impact how, and how well, you do your job. Feeling stressed on Sunday, because Monday is the first day of your work week is a tell-tale sign of job related stress. Missing work and being last are also signs.

Stress symptoms include fatigue, irritability, crying, anxiety attacks, and loss of appetite or weight gain due to lack of exercise or overeating. Less obvious symptoms are teeth grinding, increased drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, insomnia, nightmares, forgetfulness, low productivity, and problems with concentration.

These physical symptoms can have very serious effects on your health. If allowed to continue, depression, anxiety, and physical illness can result. Drugs or alcohol are often a problematic coping method. Over time, this high stress level can cause physical and mental breakdowns, which include suicide, stroke, or heart attack.

Attempting to blend in with the workplace culture, rather than trying to march to the beat of your own drum, can decrease stress levels. Decreased conflicts with others, even minor changes, can have significant impact in reducing stress.

Perfectionism and obsessing over every minute detail is a waste of energy. We will never reach perfection and if this is one of your challenges, consider what you don’t get done because each project takes so much time. We are not advocating a “good enough” attitude, but perfection has a high price tag. Focus on delivering your best and avoid having unrealistic expectations, which leads to, you guessed it, increased stress. It can also set you up for failure.

Eliminate or create more distance from negative people. A positive attitude and celebrating small accomplishments decreases stress and increases happiness and satisfaction. Nothing is more important than your health and identifying job stress situations is the way to find and make changes sooner. Positive mental health leads workers to thrive at work.

Before burnout gets to the point of causing severe mental and health problems, it will affect how you do your job. The cost of burnout is high for workers and employers. For these reasons it is important to find ways to decrease job related stress. One solution would be to reduce the number of hours at work. Even if you think it isn’t possible, you may want to at least explore this option. There are alternate work options that are more flexible than typical forty hours per week schedules that many have successfully taken advantage of.

Developing positive attitudes towards stressful situations in life goes a long way. When you give up negative mental traits such as fear, anger and revengeful attitudes, these feelings have a difficult time increasing your stress level. Using holistic relaxation and personal growth techniques such as meditation, breathing and exercises, can be quite successful remodeling your lifestyle. In these times of feeling the need to continue being productive, it is imperative to remember the need to take care of ourselves. Sometimes this includes participating in activities that don’t seem to be accomplishing anything. These things, however, whether its going to the gym, watching a movie, or going for a walk, are necessary to because difficult tasks are easier to handle when he engage in self-care. Spending quality time with family and placing a priority on enjoyable activities leads to an easier time when facing difficulties.

We are here to help you identify stressors, determine management techniques, learn new skills and implement changes. If you need help, reach out. It’s not worth the costs to suffer.

Quick Assessment

  1. Overwork: working late, taking work home, not taking vacation
  2. Working harder because of leaner staffs
  3. Impending layoffs
  4. Being in the wrong career
  5. Conflict with boss or co-workers
  6. Feeling that no matter what you do, you can never get ahead
  7. Working hard without being rewarded
  8. Lack of support system
  9. Decreased satisfaction at work