Dealing with Stress in the Workplace | Lead Your Future Episode 5

Do you ever struggle to stay focused? Does your to-do list ever look overwhelming? 

If so, you’re far from alone. 

According to the American Psychological Association in 2017, more than 60% of Americans cite work as the highest source of stress in their lives.

Stress can be a serious barrier to your progress in the workplace and life in general. Your health suffers, your productivity slips, and your happiness falls with everything else. 

Job stress is a set of harmful physical and psychological responses that can occur when the requirements of the job do not match your capabilities, resources, or needs. While it can manifest in many ways, the most common you'll recognize are inability to stay focused, inability to meet expectations, and money. It can often feel like a constant battle.

But don’t be discouraged! Your stress is not going to win. 

The Leadership Institute’s Lead Your Future podcast addresses your stress in Episode 5.

Here, you'll find three steps to reduce your stress.

1. The Nose Method

Don’t look further into the future than the end of your nose. Thinking about the future compounds stress, even if it's only 5 minutes in the future. “Taking the burden of the future and dumping it on today, makes today unnecessarily heavier.” “The future of our nation” is cited as the most common stressor in America today, according to the American Psychological Association.

2. Replace Expectations

Often, you and I can treat valuable ideals like being confident, relaxed, respected, or reciprocated as expectations. In cognitive behavioral therapy, they call this “shoulds” and “musts”. This phenomenon can be a serious source of stress, and when we expect them, we are not being fair to others or ourselves. Not only will you be happier, but also more likely to achieve them when you treat ideals in a much healthier way.

3. Awareness

Cognitive Clinician, Alicia Anderson, explains how being aware of your stressors is one of the most vital steps in solving them. There is even healthy, beneficial stress called eustress. Increasing your own self-awareness can help you make the most of it. The more self-aware you are, the more this enables you to get help when you really need it. 

Stress is corrosive. It damages your relationships, physical health, and even compromises your immune system and cognitive functions. Don’t be discouraged though! With the right methods, you can overcome it.

Listen to Episode 5 of the Lead Your Future Podcast to hear more about these tips from a cognitive behavioral expert. Click here to listen and follow the Lead Your Future Podcast on your favorite platform: Youtube, Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Soundcloud, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, Facebook, and Twitter.