How to Stay Calm at Work

As our lives become more and more hectic, work-life balance is becoming a thing of the past.  More work, less play is the new mantra.  This is increasing the stress in our lives.

Many people are overwhelmed by the workload they face which causes them to spend more time at work than outside of it.

As a Mom, this could pose a huge problem.

Easy tasks like driving your children to school before work should be a pleasant experience, but can often set your day off on the wrong foot.

The problem is that if you do not manage the workload properly, it can affect your personal life and family life as well as impacting your health negatively.

Today, we will share with you a few ways in which you can remain calm in spite of overwhelming workload.

1. Detect the problem

If you keep on ignoring the problem, you will not be able to deal with the workload. First and foremost, you have to detect the problem.

If you feel overwhelmed, you have to acknowledge that you’re overwhelmed and thereafter only, can you take the right steps.

Once you acknowledge the problem, you will be able to find the cause of the problem as well.

Possible causes could be:

• lack of productivity
• handling extra work, or
• the company culture

You have to first and foremost detect the problem and only thereafter, you can work towards solving it.

2. Communicate with the upper echelons

Instead of just trying to cope up with the workload and remain calm, it is a good idea to communicate with your boss.

You might be facing a strict deadline but communication is the key here.

You have to let your boss know that you have tried every other possible avenue before initiating the communication. This will ensure that your boss will work towards helping you out rather than dismissing your problem.

You need to ensure that you are calm and composed when you communicate with your boss. Only then, you can convey the right message to your boss.

This will allow you to work towards a solution. As you work towards a solution, it will be easier for you to remain calm.

3. Learn to say no to more work

One of the main problems which most of the people face is that they do not say no. If you keep on taking up more and more work, it will be very difficult for you to avoid getting overwhelmed.

When you say no, it will be easy for you to limit your work.  And this will give you the opportunity to remain fully productive in your current work ensuring that your boss, staff or colleagues don’t have any complaints with you.

Since the work will reduce pretty soon, it will be easier for you to remain calm.

4. Use a task manager

Most people do not work at their full capacity. That is why they are always lagging behind on their deadlines.

A good option is to increase your productivity. You can use a task manager or a time manager in order to increase your productivity.

You will be surprised at how much you can get done if you manage to track your time it takes you to complete the tasks you need to accomplish. This is certain to reduce the stress that accumulates on a day-to-day basis.

Once you are able to meet your deadlines, you will be calm and composed as well.

5. Take intermittent breaks

You need to keep in mind that if you are overwhelmed with work and work consistently for 5 to 6 hours, your productivity will start decreasing. Your stress levels increase. These are times when it is most difficult for you to stay calm and composed.

That is why it’s a good idea for you to take intermittent breaks in between your busy moments.

Here’s the solution:

Take a break for at least 5 minutes every 25 minutes. 

No idea what to do with those 5 minutes?  Here are some suggestions you can try on for size.

• Get up and make yourself a cup of tea
• Call your Mom or a good friend for a quick catch-up
• Go for a short, brisk walk
• Skip with a skipping rope (if you have space and privacy)
• Meditate
• Read an article in a magazine
• Listen or dance to a song
• Bounce on a Pilates ball
• Doodle or colour in
• Jot down 5 things you’re grateful for today
• Watch a Ted Talk

This will help you revive your mind. As a result, your stress levels will go down and you will be able to complete more work. These intermittent breaks will also help you stay relaxed.

You can follow the Pomodoro technique which advocates intermittent breaks in order to relieve yourself of the stress. You can even use the app like productivity challenge timer on your smartphone which will allow you to maintain the schedule.

So, if you are overwhelmed with work and want to calm yourself down, these are the 5 steps which you can try out.

With the help of these 5 steps, it will be very easy for you to get more work done and reduce your stress levels.

About the Author

Amelia Evans is a freelance writer and works as a content manager for various international brands. When Amelia is not researching and writing she loves nothing more than heading out into the country for some downtime.

Over to You

Are you game to try these out and get back to us with some of your results?  

We would love to know how these tips work out for you.