What do you need to know about stress management?
Stress management has only been recently recognized as part of a company’s employee assistance programs. Many business owners admit that there are spill over stress among employees who may have stress at home which they bring to the workplace. Oftentimes, this spill over stress cause employees to be unproductive which therefore results to poor performance.
Stress management is not a simple concern of every individual. How you manage stress also reflects good mental and physical health. Even your young children and teenagers are not spared from experiencing stress. An early understanding of stress management will help them become better adults.
Understanding stress
In order to have a good stress management skill, you must be aware of the causes of stress. We have different levels and sources of stress in life; it can be at work, in the family or within you.
The two primary sources of stress are personal relationships and work. How much stress you have everyday depends at large on how you handle people around your circle of control and circle of influence.
External causes of stress are:
- Major life changes
- Work or school
- Relationship difficulties
- Financial problems
- Being too busy
- Children and family
Some internal causes are:
- Chronic worry
- Pessimism
- Negative self-talk
- Unrealistic expectations/Perfectionism
- Rigid thinking, lack of flexibility
- All-or-nothing attitude
What’s stressful for you may not be for others. You also respond to different stress in unique ways but the first thing to do to effectively manage stress is to be aware of what causes your stress. When you know the cause, then it is easier to hit the nail on the head.
Managing stress
After identifying the cause of your stress, then you can apply the right stress management techniques. Whatever techniques you utilize depend on the amount of stress you are experiencing and how you react to it.
5S for efficient and productive work
In the workplace, to avoid adding up to the personal stress you bring from home, I have found how effective the Japanese 5S can be in order to be safe, productive and efficient in everyday work. 5S” was invented in Japan, and stands for five (5) Japanese words that start with the letter ‘S’.
- Seiri (Tidiness)
- Seiton (Orderliness)
- Seiso (Cleanliness)
- Seiketsu (Standardization)
- Shitsuke (Discipline).
Keeping a standard for excellent and efficient work such as 5S can avoid stressful situations that may arise from delay and inefficient performance.
Simplify!
Personal stress is caused by too much expectation and excessive wants. Be simple and cut down your list to the basic needs.
Control how you respond to stress
The real basis of stress management is how you take charge of the whole stressful situation. Whether the stress resulted from buildup overtime or is happening right at the moment, the real question is how you perceive and handle the situation.
When there is stress coming on, you must know how to use stress management techniques so you can deal rationally with the symptoms and prevent overreacting.
Accurately evaluating the stressful situation will enable you to plan how to tackle the problem. Then you will notice how anxiety will be reduced and go away.
The kind of stress management techniques and activities to control stress depends on you. Start by making stress your friend. In this way, you can have full control on your stress management style. The most important thing to consider is that they must be healthy and effective.