About 40% of people in the US are not taking the necessary steps to manage and reduce stress in their lives. In addition to what we already know about its effects on our cardiovascular system, chronic exposure to psychological stress can over-activate our immune system and lead it to attack its own healthy tissue. In other words, stress can literally kill you.
Most people experience stress when they’re unable to cope. And without developing their coping skills, they incur the damages of feeling and being stressed.
Stress can be counteracted in two ways:
- Modify how we respond to stressful “cues”
- Remove the source of stress altogether
Using the first or second approach depends on your situation. In some cases, you can’t remove the stress you’re experiencing as in the following example:
The major cause of stress in people’s lives these days is money, including the means through which they earn their money. For most people, that’s their jobs. Whenever you work for someone else, you will undoubtedly experience stress for the basic reason that your boss is in control. Your boss has to sign off your paycheck, your vacation, your benefits, your hours, and your responsibilities. Moreover, you only get compensated for the number of hours you worked and not for the value you bring to the institution and this can further exacerbate your stress. That’s not to mention the work you might have to do on your days off just to meet a looming deadline. In fact, it’s not uncommon for people in the corporate world to work on tight deadlines year round. It’s not uncommon for them to deal with ridiculous bureaucracies and with an uncooperative senior level management. Working under these conditions, to whatever degree you experience them, can dramatically increase your stress levels and leave you feeling angry, unappreciated and resentful.
1. Reduce and Eliminate
The quickest and easiest way to eliminate this source of stress from your life is to quit your job. But if you haven’t spent any time searching and applying for jobs that are more aligned with your needs and values, then quitting your job is simply stupid. That doesn’t mean you should only work for other people. You can go in business for yourself. But, again, if you haven’t spent enough time building and cultivating your skills, then you obviously can’t start a business just yet. And quitting your job in order to start sharpening your skills is not in your best interest either. How are you going to feed yourself and pay your bills? Plus, it takes quite a bit of time to build certain skills AND to use them profitably. To this end, you seem stuck.
On the other hand, you can do certain things to reduce your stress at the work place; like refusing to take on more responsibilities than you can handle and/or speaking to your boss about getting a raise or a promotion. However, in these two situations, we’re assuming that you have the leverage to negotiate. And if you do, then take full advantage of it. Unfortunately, however, not everyone has the leverage to negotiate…and what if you do negotiate and you get turned down. What are you going to do then? What if you were in position where you need the job more than it needs you? What if you have financial obligations including loans, credit card bills or a mortgage and you need the monthly salary? What are you going to do? The truth is…you’re trapped.
But there’s a way out, and here it is:
You have to (1) reduce stress on the job and (2) build a skill set that will allow you to get a better job or start a business. Let’s explore these two options further.
2. Shift Your Focus
If you’re simply complaining about your job because that’s what you immaturely do, then you’re not serious about changing. If you’re constantly worried about money and you’re not saving every hard earned dollar (and I mean every single dollar), then things won’t change for you. It’s as simple as that. If you want to change, then you should shift your focus from your problems to what YOU’RE GOING TO DO about your problems.
You first need to take a hard look at your schedule and understand exactly how you’re spending your time. You need to eliminate all the things that are not helping you get closer to financial freedom, and so you need to guard your time against any intruders. This means you’re not going to entertain your friends when they call you, you’re not going to go shopping, you’re not going to socialize and take a few hours to relax and waste time. Once you have a good idea of how you usually spend your free time, you must devote yourself to build a skill. That might mean taking investment classes, business classes, writing classes, or going to your local library and checking out books to read and study. That’s what you’re going to do in your extra time. You’re going to improve yourself and to get out of your rut.
3. Decide How You Want to Feel
Now when you’re on the job, the stress reduction strategy that’s available to you is changing how you feel about your work. Again, I am assuming your job is stifling you and it’s too taxing in terms of time and energy to the detriment of your health and your values. And since we’ve established that your’re somewhat stuck in this situation, we said that you have to work with the hand you’ve been dealt. And this is what that means:
This means finding at least one thing you like about your job and ask your boss if you can do more of it. If the office gets busy and that prevents your from finishing your assignments at your job, then consider asking your boss if you can arrive to work one hour earlier and then leave an hour early. Now, when you’re working on things you don’t like, you must find a way to “automate” yourself to do them more quickly. If you turn boring tedious tasks into a game, you can tackle them much fast and more efficiently. And lastly, when you have some free time at work, you must use it to finish up a job application, or update your resume, or make phone calls to other places where you might find a new job, or read a book that’s going to help you overcome limiting beliefs and start believing in your own power. That’s the fastest way to reduce and then eliminate the source of stress in your life.
If that sounds like too much work, then buy a stress ball and squeeze it till your problems go away…