The Best Ways to Have a Calm Mind at Work

Psychologists always say: stress for any reason tires you both emotionally and physically. Therefore, if you are overly sensitive and receptive, at some point you may feel tired and eternally apathetic. But this state is not always caused by your perception. External factors must also be taken into account.

Comfortable work is one of the main conditions for a good emotional state. If you feel uncomfortable, your work may be toxic.

Despite the fact that the waste of nerve cells is a normal part of our lives, constant stress reduces productivity, affects physical and emotional health. Therefore, it is important to keep stress under control.

Fortunately, each of us can limit and control it. Of course, this is easier to do when professional activity brings pleasure. This article helps you to know more about job vacancies in Dubai UAE and have a calm mind at work.

What creates stressful situations at work?

Many associate their own experiences with character traits, but your temperament is not always the cause of stress. There are situations when work processes break down not so much because of the mood, but because of the general atmosphere in the office or the manner of communication in the team.

Thus, among the key reasons for stressful situations at work, one can single out conflicts with the team and disagreements with the management. Such cases often arise due to the fact that some employees may take criticism to heart and take offense even at constructive comments. If you find yourself in a company where toxic communication is the norm, I advise you to consider changing jobs. In such a team, you will always feel uncomfortable, as a result of which your productivity will drop, and you simply will not want to come to work.

Also, the mental state is strongly affected by uncomfortable working conditions. Among these factors, one can single out both a cluttered office with incorrectly selected furniture, and inadequate deadlines for large tasks. All this translates into a lack of motivation, which is why labor efficiency falls. If you feel that you are uncomfortable in the office and you are spending more resources on work than you are getting in return, then be sure to report this to management. As a rule, company owners try to carefully monitor working conditions and reward valuable employees with promotions or bonuses.

What is stress?

To begin with, stress is an adaptive response. He helped our ancestors to quickly mobilize in case of sudden danger.

The main symptoms of stress:

• physical weakness, headache, high fatigue;
• difficult to relax;
• sleep disorders;
• impaired concentration, memory problems, lethargy;
• muscle stiffness, spasms;
• depression, apathy;
• appetite disorders: starvation or overeating;
• irritability, anxiety, tearfulness;
• nervous tics, obsessive movements (a person bites his lips, bites his nails);
• suspicion, intolerance towards others;
• the desire to quit everything.

Usually these are symptoms of the third stage of stress. There are three stages of stress in total.

1. The first stage: the reaction of anxiety, or mobilization. The pulse and breathing quicken, the “stress hormone” cortisol is released, the body systems are brought into a state of readiness.
2. Second stage: characterized by resistance, when the body tries to adapt, and either calms down or moves to the third stage.
3. The third stage: the stage of exhaustion, when the body's resistance drops, and the person begins to experience those unpleasant symptoms that are described above.

There is a lot of talk about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. But it does not occur so often: according to statistics, in 3% of the population, mainly in women aged 30-45, who are successful in their careers. Hence its second name - “manager's syndrome“. Indeed, entrepreneurs and managers are subject to stress, and especially in the current changing environment.

First of all, we must remember that stress mobilizes the body. So, in order to overcome it, you need to relax and relieve stress.

How to stop being nervous in 10 seconds?

Now we will analyze how to learn competent work with stress. These life hacks will help you when you need to calm down as soon as possible, but you can't get rid of the emotional storm.

• Breathing exercises. In order to perform these exercises, you do not need to know many techniques at all. To quickly calm down, it will be enough just to be distracted from work for a couple of minutes and take a few deep breaths and exhalations. It will be even more effective if, in the process of doing this simple exercise, you try to meditate and drive a couple of affirmations in your head that set you up for positive thoughts.
• Emotion diary. If you feel like you're about to explode, try one practice often recommended by psychologists and psychotherapists. Take a small sheet of paper and draw a table with three sections: situation, emotion, reason. Think about what caused the stress and describe how you feel. Also, do not forget to write down your fears, as a result of which emotions are amplified. Example: “I did not have time to complete the task by the deadline, I feel disappointment, fear and resentment. Most likely, this happened due to the fact that the manager set me a very tight deadline, and with all my desire I could not cope with the work in 2 days. I am very afraid that now I will be fired.” Next, you need to consider how realistic your fears are - people often exaggerate the possible consequences when they are at the peak of negative emotions.
• Short rest. If you have a little time to take your mind off work, be sure to take this opportunity. In order to relax, it is not at all necessary to run away to the nearest cafe - just step away for a couple of minutes to drink tea or wash your face. As a rule, hot drinks tend to calm down, and cool water invigorates and refreshes. Such a short rest will help you quickly reboot and tune in to work processes.
• Set a symbolic border. Define a certain point on the ground, which will mark the border. For example, it can be a barrier at the exit from the territory where your office is located. Finding the boundary is not enough - it is important to train in sensations. Think about how you want to feel and behave in one role and how you want to behave in another. Perhaps it would be better to write it down, because such things quickly slip out of your head.
• Thing is a switch. As soon as you cross the set point, the border - inhale and exhale as you discard the working role, like an unnecessary bathrobe. Feel how you began to fill the second role. If you suddenly need to return to the role (for example, if a colleague or boss calls you after hours), then just a few seconds before your "Hello" temporarily put on the dressing gown of the working role back.
• Wash your hands up to the elbow with cold water. As soon as you get home, immediately wash your face, wash your hands and change clothes as soon as possible. In my practice, there was such a case - I left the office incredibly tired, exhausted. And a colleague gave me amazing advice on how to quickly relax and get rid of tension: "Go wash your hands up to the elbow with cool water for two minutes, only this is important - up to the elbow and cool." It worked just fine: for several minutes I was focused only on the temperature of the water and the exact hit of the water no higher and no lower than the elbow. In the end, I returned fresh and switched. The point is not the magical effect of cool water on the skin, but the ability to switch off for at least a couple of minutes and not think about problems.
• Watch (meditate). If experiences have tortured you, it's time to stop brushing them off. Find a quiet place. You don’t even need a special meditation pavilion for this: just a quiet place where no one will disturb you for at least five minutes. Sit comfortably. Let the feelings come like a wave. Don't fight, don't resist. Let them come. Give them a name. Watch them. Consider where they might have come from. Do not judge - your task is simply to allow the wave to pass through you and move on. This exercise is great for both getting rid of constant stress and reconciling with negative emotions.

And if you didn’t manage to cope with negative emotions and you still “exploded” at work, then don’t forget to apologize to your colleagues or clients. It is not necessary to come up with excuses like inadequate deadlines and uncomfortable working conditions - it will be enough just to say: “Sorry, I was nervous.” Not only will this save time, but it will help your team understand that you are taking responsibility for your own actions.

Advertisements