5 Tips for Improving Stress Tolerance in the Work Environment

Everyone has heard about stress and how it affects our health, and it often seems like its presence has become a norm in everyday life. However, it is not that stress is always negative. Read more: Manifestations of Stress in the Work Environment

Health experts have classified stress into two categories – negative stress and positive stress. Positive stress acts as a motivating stimulus to achieve our desired goal, such as waiting for an important event or going in front of the public and not forgetting your speech. However, most often, we feel stress with its negative meaning.

What causes stress?

Studies by the American Psychological Association show that nowadays, the main reason that causes stress is our job – responsibilities and pressure from the employer. However, the level of stress depends not only on external circumstances but also on a person’s ability to respond appropriately to these conditions, which are sometimes beyond their control. In fact, stress begins with a person’s difficulty in coping with their emotions and inner world. By allowing stress to take over, we are in danger of affecting our ability to concentrate and think rationally. In this state of effect, we cannot perform our job duties in quality and spend the day productively. Consequently, we can conclude that we are the ones that allow stress to take over, and we are the ones who can prevent its presence.

What should we do?

Most of us have heard recommendations that are worth putting into practice to reduce the negative effects of stress, but not everyone manages to put them into practice. To avoid stress and to be able to evaluate the right behavior in a high stress, it is important to keep track of your mental balance and learn to listen to your body. Our feelings and self-esteem have a significant impact on how we see the world and how we react to events. Read more: How to Avoid Stress at Work.

Relaxation

First of all, it is important to learn how to relax and spend time every day outside the workspace. It can be a 20-minute walk, a meditation, or any activity that allows you to relax from your daily duties and clear your mind. This time of relaxation is worth using to watch your thoughts and feelings. If you are feeling anxious about events or duties of the day, take the time to evaluate why you are experiencing such feelings, as only you can understand the cause of your stress and keep it in balance.

Regularly devoting time to observing oneself develops one’s personality and emotional intelligence – the ability to understand your feelings in various situations, controlling the emotional state, and finding a balance between mind and emotion. Developing these abilities is important to everyone as they help in any situation of life. New events and unexpected situations are an integral part of life, so unless we learn to control and be aware of our emotional state, everyday events can make our lives very stressful, negatively affecting our quality of life.

Planning

An important prerequisite for improving the quality of life and avoiding unnecessary stress is planning the day in advance. Evaluate priorities and make a to-do list to determine which duties to take first. It is important to distinguish between work and personal responsibilities, thus objectively planning the amount of work that you can do during working hours and the day-to-day duties that need to be done. It is important to realize that “more” does not always mean “better”.

By worrying about responsibilities that we must do during the day, we expose ourselves to stress that can cause lasting anxiety. It is, therefore, necessary to evaluate and organize the day’s responsibilities in terms of priorities and time.

Hobbies

Hobbies are an important indicator of the quality of life and enhance creativity. It is also important to schedule time for hobbies or rituals that provide positive emotions outside of duty planning. It is a myth that only people who have a lot of free time can indulge in hobbies. Those with high-profile work responsibilities may indeed find it more difficult to find time to relax or do nothing for a while in their busy schedule. Nowadays, there is much talk about boosting productivity through hard work that, when people spend time relaxing or having fun, they often feel guilty because we seem to have to do something all the time.

To be able to concentrate and generate new ideas, a good rest is requested. Therefore, it is important to focus on your favorite hobby from time to time as it is one way to reduce stress and gain positive emotions. For the hobby to help you with stress, it is important to use the first prerequisite, which is to relax, facilitating the “switching” from working time to leisure.

Optimism

It is a misconception that to be positive means smiling forever and not getting sad about what has happened differently than expected. Positivism is the ability to accept the situation as it is and appreciate experiences by rationally valuing them and putting them positively. This attribute is inseparable from the emotional intelligence that develops our natural control and understanding of our emotions.

It is important to understand that positivism is closely linked to changing attitudes and rational evaluation of the situation – it is the ability to distinguish between experience and outcome. It is important to accept the negative, to evaluate it, understanding the causes and consequences. Negative situations are inevitable and must be accepted as a new understanding of the situation. Stress usually stems from how subjective and emotional we are to each situation and whether we can look at it objectively.

Physical activities

Physical activity is one of the most effective ways to calm your mind. When the body is physically tired, the mind is rested. Including an evening run or any other activity in your daily routine promotes relaxation of mind and energy. It is helpful for company management to have a group walk or implement a physical activity competition program, motivating employees to be more physically active with some special recognition or reward from the company.

Important – stress tolerance is an ongoing self-improvement process and a regular exercise that requires self-discipline.