Handling Workplace Stress

So many people take workplace problems and make them into workplace melodramas. Fears pile up, and stress becomes an everyday scene.

Since you are their leader, others look to you for guidance and can take on your emotional state. Therefore, your stress can contribute to a stressful atmosphere. On the other hand, if you relax, everyone who works with you will also begin to feel more relaxed.

So... if your workplace resembles a soap opera, here are some tips for changing your workplace melodrama.

Become a Movie Director

If you think about watching a movie, many times there is a humor worked into a scary situation so that people will laugh for a moment and relieve their tension. Movie directors want to take you on the roller coaster of experiencing extremes of many emotions. They know that humor immediately lowers stress.

The truth is that you actually are a movie director - directing the movies in your mind - all the time. You can direct scary movies... or funny ones.

Here's how to find the funny side of your situation by changing the movie in your mind.

Look for the Humor

There are many ways to look at problems. One way is to look for humor in the situation... Just stop for a few minutes and look for the funny side using these techniques.

Laugh at Yourself

Learn to laugh at yourself - after all, you are only human, and we all do things that we can either beat up ourselves about... or we can laugh about.

Exaggerate your situation.

If there is one difficult person in your stressful situation, imagine hundreds of difficult people doing the same thing. You can also imagine difficult people as babies, or you can picture them as cartoon characters... or even animals.

Change Your Location

In the movie in your mind, change the place where you feel stressed. If it is your office, imagine it's a room in a castle and that everyone is wearing clothes from the 1400's.

It's About Time

Many people stress themselves about time. You rarely hear someone say, "Well, it's 10AM and I have all my work done for the day. All I have to do is sit here and do nothing for the rest of the day."

On the contrary, most people never have enough time to get their work done. So, exaggerate your situation. If your deadline for a project is next week, imagine that it is due in two minutes and that you haven't begun getting ready and everyone is standing around waiting for it.

Draw a Cartoon

Draw a cartoon of your funny situation. Keep that cartoon where you will see it - to remind you to look at the funny side of workplace life.

Perform Skits

If your stress is something that is shared with your department, ask employees to make up funny skits about it, and have a special lunch or a meeting where you perform the skits.

The bottom line is that stress is caused by your mind creating a fearful image of a situation. When your mind creates a funny image, your stress is lowered. From now on, every time you are feeling stressed, take a minute to look at the funny side.

By Harriet Meyerson, a Speaker, Author and Coach

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