Workplace Stress - Don't Change Your Job, Change your Mindset

People are spending more and more time at the "office," dealing with workplace stress. We work insane hours in high stress, thankless environments. There is a certain rush of energy that comes with this type of work, but that soon fades into a sort of mental exhaustion and in some cases, depression. This isn't limited to office workers either. Whatever your line of work, when you focus exclusively on it, you're bound to create many problems in your life. If you are blessed with a work environment that is free from stress, anxiety, frustration, and general discord, you can stop reading now. For the rest of us, there are simple steps you can take to diversify your life and reduce the pain of going to the office day in and day out.

-- Limit Your Hours --

For those of you who have some level of control over your work schedule, one of the best things you can do is to start limiting your hours at work. Start by shaving 15-30 minutes off of your end time, or come in later. Use this extra time to do one of the things listed in the next few sections. Another way to limit you hours is by not wasting as much time at work. I know many people who goof off at work thinking that they are relieving stress. But, at the end of the day, you're still at work longer than you need to be. Instead of the extra long chat with the co-worker about how miserable your work environment is, use that time to finish off a project and go home earlier. The less you are at work, the less stress you take home with you. Obviously, I'm not saying that you should sneak out of work. With the state of the economy as it is, I wouldn't want you to lose your job. But, wherever possible, see if you can come in later and leave earlier when you can. Another thing to aim for is to leave work at work. Don't take work home with you unless you absolutely need to. Try not to even think about work once you've left. I know this is very difficult for many people, but with practice it will become second nature and your refreshed mind will thank you. One way to take your mind off of work is, of course, to meditate.

-- Take Up a Hobby --

I can't stress enough how important it is to have a hobby outside of work. As for me, I run a second business, play sports like racquetball and volleyball, and love messing around on my computer. Whatever your hobby may be, make sure it's something you thoroughly enjoy. It should be something that takes your mind off of work and other worries. This may seem obvious, but when you don't have an outlet for releasing steam you end up becoming more frustrated and depressed. The first thing you should do is come up with a list of all of the things that interest you. My list might look something like this:

Play with my son
Learn piano
Play racquetball
Play volleyball
Play billiards with friends
Watch a movie
Create articles and videos to help people relieve stress

As you can see, there are a lot of things on my list. Your list will undoubtedly have a lot of items on it as well. There is only so much free time in the day though, so you need to pick a few that you can realistically focus on. The last thing you want to do is create extra stress by spreading yourself too thin with your hobbies. One thing you can do, however, is to do all of them, but just on different days. You could focus on a couple of items at a time and then move on to other items on your list. By going back and forth, you keep it all fresh and exciting. Once again, the point of these hobbies is to relieve stress and take your mind off of work. If you find yourself stressed out because of your hobbies, it's time to change the hobby or slow down with how much you're trying to do.

-- Take Mini-Vacations --

Most of us have some vacation time accrued that we have grand plans for. We often think about the month we'll take off for some adventurous vacation. We go on the vacation and it's usually pretty good, but than we come back to work. After a few short days, it feels like we never went on the vacation in the first place! A different strategy you might consider is to limit your larger vacations in favor of more frequent mini-vacations. By mini-vacation, I simply mean taking a Friday and/or Monday off to make a long weekend for you and your friends or family. By doing these shorter vacations a lot more often, you give yourself regular doses of stress relief and relaxation, which will help you stay energized and refreshed throughout the year.

-- Calling it a Day --

I hope you'll be able to use some of these suggestions to help make your work life more bearable. It has certainly worked for me. Once you change how you view work and start to enjoy some hobbies outside of work, you'll hopefully find yourself leading a more stress-free, happy life. I'll leave you with the prayer they use at many support groups.

"Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."