Stress. It’s a little tiny word that causes some big huge problems. Chest pains, sweating, illness, sleepless nights, anxiety. Sound familiar? Of course it sounds familiar, because at some stage in your life, you have experienced extreme stress. And you’re not alone.
A recent survey found that 77 percent of adults admit to experiencing physical effects of stress regularly. 73 percent of adults say they often struggle with the psychological effects of stress. 48 percent of adults say they are more stressed than they were five years ago. No matter how you package it up, stress is nobody’s mate.
48 percent of adults say they are more stressed than they were five years ago.
I work in one of the most infamously stressful industries in the world, where a 2AM office breakdown is commonplace and eating dinner at your desk sometimes feels more normal than eating dinner at home. In my industry, we live and die by pressure, with hungry clients [read: lions], looking over our shoulders constantly, waiting to pounce on their next prey; some poor wide-eyed, young account executive who has no idea what they are in for and has a strong future ahead of them of crying in bathrooms stalls.
Needless to say, when recently offered an opportunity to attend a stress management course, I jumped at the chance. In my mind, I would be offered a magic bullet for eliminating stress in my workday and I would never again be subjected to dinners at my desk and late night wine with a side of emails.
In my industry, we live and die by pressure, with hungry clients [read: lions], looking over our shoulders constantly, waiting to pounce on their next prey.
I swiftly accepted the event invite, blocked out half a day in my diary and sashayed into a sleek seminar room filled with small booklets, coloured pencils and a middle-aged, painfully enthusiastic woman called Gale. I sat down, a wide smile on my face, waiting for my magic bullet to be delivered. “I’m sorry to tell you this darlings, but the secret to managing stress is simply managing your time better.” *Mic drop*
The audacity! Screw you Gale. Surely she has no idea what my workload is like because if she did, she wouldn’t be trivialising my stress. “Yes darlings, I started off working here at your company actually, working as a junior account executive with some of the worst clients in the industry,” she chirped loudly. “I know exactly what it’s like to be in your shoes, so I know that this actually works”
Gale: 1, Me: 0.
After that I swallowed my pride, sat back and actually listened. And you know what? Gale actually came through with the goods. After a week or so of implementing some of what I had learned, I can honestly say that I felt less stressed than I had a long time. I felt like I was gliding through my workdays, solving problems with grace and walking confidently into meetings knowing I was well prepared for the lions.
Behold, the wisdom of dear Gale coming at ya. These few tips really helped me and I hope they will help you too. Stress, you’re totally fired.
1. Create a List
Unless you have the memory of an elephant or the organisational skills or a German train station, you’re gonna need a list. It may sound simple, but a list is the single most useful tool in helping you remember what you need to get done, prioritise tasks and manage your workload. I have recently started using the Covey Grid, a simple list template that allows the user to prioritise tasks in order of importance and understand what is urgent or important at a glance. It works for me, but if it doesn’t work for you have a look online and see what takes your fancy. There are hundreds of lists or workday planning templates out there that are free, easy to use and will make a huge difference to your workday.
2. Turn off Emails
Trust me, it’s harder than it sounds, but it’s a simple change that has transformed the way I work. If your job is anything like mine, you probably receive about 100 emails a day, dealing with each as it comes in. The problem with this is that you basically never actually get any work done because you’re spending your whole day replying to emails. Enter, batching. Batching is a method in which you turn off your emails for periods of the day, allowing you to work uninterrupted on the tasks your list has deemed to be urgent or important. You’ll be amazed by how much work you get through when you’re not stopping every three seconds to reply to useless emails! When you are ready for the emails, simply turn them back on and deal with them in batches, hence the name. If you struggle to get away from emails, try turning on an out of office to let people know they can call you if anything is urgent. Spoiler alert: nobody ever calls! Classic, considering all those email subject lines marked ‘urgent’.
3. Take a Break
Our brains are limited, which means we have the ability to concentrate for set amounts of time before we start to slow down, make mistakes and feel our mood go downhill. While you might think skipping lunch is saving you loads of time, the truth is that not allowing yourself to take breaks will only make your tasks slower and harder. Get outside for a walk, eat lunch away from your desk or even better, use your lunch break to sort some of your life admin that has been stressing you out all day. Taking half an hour for yourself will allow you to go back to your desk on top form, getting your work done to a higher standard and more efficiently than those who work through lunch.
4. Find a Quiet Place
Yeah, open plan offices are super cool and sexy, but have you ever tried to concentrate when Ruth from finance is hollering over your head about what happened on Love Island last night? Total nightmare. If you need some focus time, don’t be afraid to step away from your desk to work in a quiet cafe, a different corner of the office or even from home. If your boss has a problem with it, try explaining that you are finding it difficult to concentrate at your desk due to noise. Unless your boss is a total psycho, they’re likely to prefer you actually get your work done rather than being chained to your desk for the sake of it.
Photo by Max van den Oetelaar
