Stress and productivity
We all know that stress can have a negative impact on your health and wellbeing, but it can also have a negative impact on your day-to-day work. Unfortunately, this leads to a never-ending wheel of stress, as stress can lead to minor errors and these, in turn, can lead to increased stress. So how can you stop the cycle of stress? Here are my top tips:
1. Identify your triggers: What are the things that tend to trigger your stress? Is it a particular type of work, is it a certain time of day or is it something that happens outside of work? Once you’ve identified your triggers, you can start to look at ways to avoid them or to reduce their impact. If it’s a certain type of work that causes you stress, could you outsource this, or focus on a different service (perhaps one that you actually enjoy!)?
2. Take a break: When you’re feeling stressed, take a few minutes to yourself to relax and reset. This could be a quick walk outside, reading your favourite book or listening to your favourite music. Perhaps catching up on your latest trash television show? Go on, you know you want to watch it! Your work isn’t going anywhere, so take a moment to gather your thoughts and re-focus, whilst also trying to find a little joy away from whatever is stressing you out.
3. Talk to someone: If you’re struggling to cope with stress, talking to someone can really help. Whether it’s a colleague, friend, family member or a professional, talking about your stress can help you to find ways to manage it. If it’s difficult to talk to someone you know, or you find that the issues can’t be adequately addressed through talking therapy, don’t be afraid to seek advice and support from a medical professional.
4. Eat a healthy diet: Eating well can help to reduce the inflammation that stress can cause in the body, helping to improve your overall health and wellbeing. Yes, it’s easy to reach for the Mars Bars or entire wheel of cheese when you’ve had a challenging day, but trying to balance out your treats with some fruit and veg, for example, might help provide you with a little more energy as well as some immune boosting vitamins and minerals!
5. Look after yourself: Stress can be incredibly draining, so it’s important to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. This means getting enough sleep, eating a balanced diet (mmm fruit and veg) and exercising regularly. If you don’t look after yourself, your small business is likely to suffer, so by taking a little time out now and focusing on your health and wellbeing, you could avoid the need to take off significantly more time in the future if you start to experience burnout.
Hopefully these simple tips can help you address some small aspects of stress in your working life, and help you to work more productively (and healthily!). However, if you’re struggling to cope with stress, please don’t hesitate to reach out for help from medical professionals.
