Stress and worry on the
job can be harmful! They cause physical and emotional
problems that may damage both your health and your performance.
Furthermore, stress grows! Excessive worry is a major element in the
vicious cycle of tension: the physical sensations of stress-tense
muscles, headaches, insomnia and so forth-lead to catastrophic
stress-building thoughts, which in turn aggravate unpleasant physical
feelings, and so on up the tension cycle. Soon, just the thought of
preparing an assignment or meeting a deadline triggers all the
symptoms of stress, along with an overwhelming wish to avoid tasks.
But you can learn to avoid your "stress-building" thoughts and
replace them with alternative "stress-busting"
thoughts!
When you are under stress, what messages are you sending yourself?
Are they alarming or reassuring? You can decrease your stress by
learning to talk to yourself in a reassuring way. This is what
"stress-busting" is about--getting your thoughts back on a reassuring
track.
Stress-busting thoughts come from what we call the
"Rational You." The Rational You thinks its way
through life's events, evaluating the degree of safety versus danger
involved. What happens to the Rational You in a stressful situation?
It gets pushed aside by stress building thoughts which disrupt
concentration and productivity at work.
Back to the stress busters list.
Stress-Building
Beliefs
Perfectionism
Do you feel a constant pressure to achieve?
Do you criticize yourself when you're not perfect?
Do you feel you haven't done enough no matter how hard you try?
Do you give up pleasure in order to be the best in everything you
do?
Control
Do you have to be perfectly in control at all times?
Do you worry about how you appear to others when you are nervous?
Do you feel that any lack of control is a sign of weakness or
failure?
Are you uncomfortable delegating projects to others?
People Pleasing
Does your self-esteem depend on everyone else's opinion of you?
Do you sometimes avoid assignments because you're afraid of
disappointing your boss?
Are you better at caring for others than caring for yourself?
Do you keep most negative feelings inside to avoid displeasing
others?
Competence
Do you feel you can never do as good a job as other people?
Do you feel your judgment is poor?
Do you feel you lack common sense?
Do you feel like an impostor when told your work is good?
Yes answers indicate potential road blocks to a stress-free work
life. Challenge these beliefs. Experiment. Try acting in a way that
is opposite to your usual behavior. Then, evaluate the results. For
example, if you feel overburdened because of a need to control,
delegate a task and observe the consequences.
Become aware of how your stress-building beliefs affect your
behavior. Replace them with more realistic and less stressful
thoughts.
Back to the stress busters list.
Helpful
Techniques
Keep a record of stressful situations and rate the actual level of
stress from O (most relaxed) to 10 (most stressed). Start to monitor
your stress on the "Practice Journal" worksheet before, during and
after stressful events or situations. As you begin to observe your
levels of stress, you will notice that these levels are not constant.
You will find that stress levels increase when you are concentrating
on your most alarming thoughts and bodily reactions, but stress
levels fall when your attention turns away from these areas. This
will show you that one way to reduce the level of
stress in your life is to actively turn away from negative
"stress building" thoughts and to concentrate on positive stress
busting ways of thinking.
Combating negative thoughts and replacing them with
positive ones takes practice, but the results are worth it.
Review the facts. What is your evidence? Is there another way to view
the situation? If not, what is the worst thing that could happen? You
may have been concentrating on the worst possible, but by no means
the most likely, outcome.
Back to the stress busters list.
