Stress management

Stress develops differently in every person – due to different demands of the job, in private life, as well as subjective feelings or perceptions. How best to cope with stress is equally individual. Here are some tips on dealing with stress:

1. Stress prevention: Optimize work processes and balance work and recreation

Well-organized work processes help to prevent or reduce stress. Where can you find support? Which tasks can be delegated? Which deadlines are binding, and which can be postponed? Structured prioritization can also help identify important and urgent tasks. If the performance pressure remains difficult to cope with, contact your superior. This way you can identify solutions together.

Stress can often be prevented by reconsidering and optimizing workflows

It is equally important to protect your private space in an effort to meet the demands in both your professional and family life.

  • To enjoy your free time as much as possible, keep your professional and private life as separated as possible. At home, switch off any work-related messages from your phone and avoid checking your professional email account. Particularly people working from home should find a strategy to set clear boundaries, e.g. by defining fixed work and break times.
  • Arrange fixed weekly times with your family. To keep track of family appointments and activities, a family calendar is a good idea. A shared online calendar can be organized with little effort and provides a quick overview of professional and private appointments.
  • Coordinate your professional and private appointments efficiently, but regularly block free time on your own as well.

 

2. Stress reduction: Change your attitude to the situation

A situation often becomes stressful because of our own attitude. For example, if we focus too strongly on details or take customer dissatisfaction or criticism from our supervisor too personally. The perception of stress also depends on our psychological resilience, which helps to overcome crises. By learning to distance oneself from the situation and looking at it objectively, we become more aware of what is really important. Remain calm and think positively: Recalling previously achieved successes is a good motivation for further steps.

In the eye of the beholder – Personal attitude to a situation determines whether and how much stress we feel

 

3. Stress relieve: Release the tension

To some extent stress is a part of our personal and professional life and cannot always be avoided. However, to safeguard health and relieve existing tensions, different relaxation strategies are available (Unger & Kleinschmidt 2014):

  • Exercise helps to relieve accumulated tension and leave the stress behind you. Pursue your hobbies - if possible, in the fresh air.
  • Relaxation is essential for relieving stress, but often falls short in everyday life. As a tip: Plan fixed relaxation times (just a few minutes can help!) and find out what is good for you personally: Be it reading, a cup of tea, artistic activities, massages of tense muscles, meditation or a wellness holiday. Your company might also offer relaxation programs to aid in stress management.
  • When sleeping, people process their experiences from the day’s activities. But it’s also important for the recovery of body and soul. Sleep disorders however, can be a sign of increased stress. You can find information and tips for healthy sleep in this article.
  • Your social environment can help you reduce or even forget stress. After work, get-togethers with family or friends are a source of strength that helps overcome stressful times. Laughter and joy reduce tension and stress.

Many in-house social counseling services offer advice and seminars that can help you with individual stress management as well as answering questions about balancing family and work life. Don’t hesitate to seek assistance! Contact persons can be found here.