To say it's a stressful time for American workers is an understatement. Employers are slashing jobs left and right in a tight economy. Yet stress is not always a bad thing, reports the Center for Creative Leadership.
Experts say workers can experience good stress when confronting a challenging project, but feeling confident in their abilities. However, bad stress surfaces when demands exceed resources.
"The key is to know which stress is which, how to judge reactions to various stressful situations and how best to manage the negative stress," says CCL senior enterprise associate Vidula Bal. "This is especially important for leaders, who face the additional stress brought about by the unique demands of leadership: having to make decisions with limited information, to manage conflict and to do more with less."
Eight useful tips to manage stress:
1. Know the signals: pay attention to your body's response to stress.
2. Create a ritual: make it a habit to have a stress break.
3. Get away: find effective ways to set boundaries between work and home.
4. Build a network of people who can assist you at work and therefore alleviate some of the stress you feel.
5. Regroup on the task: look for ways to organize and streamline your work.
6. Recover: build time into your routine to recharge.
7. Redefine balance: link balance to your values and choose activities that support those values.
8. Exercise: create a regular exercise regimen, which can help you regulate emotions, induce relaxation and increase self-esteem.
Related EBN coverage:
