Ways to deal with Work Pressure - Shiv Ganesh Athmanathan.

      National Head at NuGrid & Orane, (An associate firm of Stanton chase International)

"Is a little bit of stress is good for one?”

The body and mind require a certain degree of tension to stay fit and healthy. A comfortable level of stress is essential. It spurs creativity and productivity; it makes life worth living because it requires us to strive and achieve. How our mind perceives an event determines if we consider it stress or not. Controlling how we perceive such events is how we control stress.

“Can one control stress when it imbues?”

Not all situations can be controlled, but there are some ways heat at work can be turned down rather than wait for it to explode. Stress is a natural part of being human. Stress is caused by a release of hormones due to how we perceive and event. While we can not totally eliminate stress, knowing how we perceive it can determine if an event is stressful or not gives us a method to deal with it.

Managing stress is all about taking charge:

Taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems. Stress management involves changing the stressful situation when you can, changing your reaction when you can’t, taking care of yourself, and making time for rest and relaxation.

Take time away.

When stress is mounting at work, try to take a quick break and move away from the stressful situation. Take a stroll outside the workplace if possible, or spend a few minutes meditating in the break room. Physical movement or finding a quiet place to regain your balance can quickly reduce stress.

 React to situations, rather than to stress

The very first and an extremely important thing to do are to learn first how to manage your reactions. React to situations, rather than to stress. That way, the situation is handled and doesn't become stressful. You need to know that your proper reaction can make certain difficult situation good or bad. You have to remember that your decision making is dependent on your rational thinking. Getting all panicked up is not the answer but you have to stay cool and respond in a manner that may help. Turning all the negative energy into a positive one can make you work well, ultimately straightening up all the issues and things for you.

Turn off Mobile Phone/ BB/ IPAD/ Laptop for a While

In the past, people worked 9 to 5; in today's business environments, there's pressure to work (or at least be available) 24/7.We have become a society of SMS, texts, of instant responses. We have become extremely impatient. Turn off your cell phone for a couple of hours before getting back to some issues. Again, use your common sense, don't do it if response is important and needed urgently. An absurdly easy way to get reduce that stress is to shut down your computer and your cell–not just while you sleep, but also an hour before and after you sleep. This takes discipline, because you're probably in habit of checking email, texts and so forth. This also takes self-confidence, because you must believe that you need to be at the constant beck and call of your boss, colleagues and customers. Do it anyway.

4.       Sweat your stress away.

"Sweat the Stress “One of the best remedies to bust stress is to sweat out. Send your driver off or park your car at office and take a walk back home see how relaxing it is. A game of Badminton, Squash tennis, Dance, Aerobics or Golf sweats your stress off. It doesn’t matter if you have a scratch handicap or you’ve never picked up a pitching wedge in your entire life - hitting those little white balls feels great.

Employers are beginning to understand the need for their workers to be healthy in order keep productivity at its maximum and sick days at their minimum. Larger companies are making it easier for people to release their pent up stress by installing fitness facilities within their company. Other companies have deals made with fitness facilities where employees get a significant discount off a yearly membership. Some companies offer a more flexible work schedule for their employees, instead of the usual 9 to 5 schedule. Too much or too little exercise can each lead to increased cortisol. Exercising until you begin to sweat is a good rule of thumb.

Renegotiate Your Workload

In most cases, you'll achieve 80 per cent of your goals by only doing 20 per cent of the work.  A Look at how much time you've got to spend, assess the amount of work that needs to be done, and, based on that, be realistic about what's actually going to get done.

Turn Off the News

Global currency markets are the most volatile they’ve been in years. Food prices are through the roof. Is it the end of the world as we know it? Well, despite what a few talking heads are telling us, perhaps not. Things are pretty bad, but maybe not quite as catastrophic as the media would like us to believe.

The price of a barrel of crude oil is back well below $100 and is expected to fall further still. This means that at least driving to pick up your unbelievably-expensive groceries won’t set you back quite as much as it did this time last month.

The news media, like every other form of entertainment, makes money by producing strong emotions in its audience.  Outside business news, those emotions are almost exclusively negative: anger, fear, anxiety, dread, and frustration.

So whenever there's a news story that starts to make you angry or upset, change the channel–unless it's 100% relevant to your life–or click to another page.

Detach temporarily from events you can't control

Detach temporarily from events you can't control: the traffic, economy, politics, other people's emotions, Outcome of a business deal, your boss's mood. It’s foolish to focus on them, hardly worth the effort to think about them. We cannot decide who our parents are but we learn to live with them.

Another thing one can notice is that when you look back you could see that you always worried about the things one couldn’t control. No matter how much time you spend dwelling on events you can't control, you’re no more prepared to deal with them should they actually happen.

Smash the stress away - A video game can come handy.

Smashing stuff is a really effective way to take care of your bad day. There’s something about destroying harmless inanimate objects that really hits the spot. Try your hand on a high adrenalin game you can feel the difference.

Open up confide it over with someone.

Share your thoughts and feelings with someone you trust. Talking over a problem with someone who is both supportive and empathetic can be a great way to let off steam and relieve stress. Remember to listen to them and offer support when they are in need as well. Look for humour in the situation. When used appropriately, humour is a great way to diffuse stress in the workplace. When you or those around you start taking things too seriously, find a way to lighten the mood by sharing a joke or funny story.

More emotional intelligence, more peace! Emotions affect our body;

Your moment-to-moment emotions influence your thoughts and actions, so pay attention to your feelings and factor them into your decision making at work. If you ignore your emotions you won’t be able to fully understand your own motivations and needs, or to communicate effectively with others. In many cases, what we say is less important than how we say it or the other nonverbal signals we send out, such as eye contact, facial expression, tone of voice, posture, gesture and touch. Your nonverbal messages can either produce a sense of interest, trust, or desire for connection–or they can generate confusion, distrust, and stress.

There is no better stress buster than a hearty laugh and nothing reduces stress quicker in the workplace than mutually shared humour. But, if the laugh is at someone else’s expense, you may end up with more rather than less stress. When handling emotionally-charged situations, stay focused in the present by disregarding old hurts and resentments connect with your emotions, your emotions are contagious, and stress has an impact on the quality of your interactions with others. The better you are at managing your own stress, the more you'll positively affect those around you, and the less other people's stress will negatively affect you.

The ability to manage stress in the workplace can not only improve your physical and emotional health, it can also make the difference between success and failure on the job. As a bonus stress-reliever, ignore those tasks that are hard and won't have much of an impact anyway. If a conflict can’t be resolved, choose to end the argument, even if you still disagree.