Do you have more to do on the job than you can possibly get done? Is your heavy workload causing you to feel stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted? If you don’t address the issue, then your long work hours can lead to burnout. Burnout can be detrimental to your job and your physical and emotional health.
If you find that your workload has increased beyond your capacity, then it’s time to meet with your boss to address the issue. Here are key points to cover in your meeting.
- Assure your Boss of your Commitment to Work – Explain to your boss that your work is important. You’re feeling overloaded with work, and you want to continue to be productive and perform at a high level rather than burn out.
- Clarify Job Expectations and Priorities – The first step is to make sure you’re clear on your job expectations and priorities. Make a list of your most important work projects. Review this list with your manager, and together prioritize your work priorities. You’ll need to focus most of your time and attention on these priorities.
- Cut out any Non-Value-Added Activities – Review your job description. Make a note of any tasks you perform that are not part of your job description. Your boss may not even be aware of the extra duties you’ve been saddled with. Then determine if there are any tasks that can be eliminated. Maybe you’re expected to write a weekly report, but you know that no one ever reads the report. If it’s not adding value, then get rid of it.
If, after implementing these changes, you find that your workload still requires countless hours a week to complete, then schedule another meeting with your manager to explore other options, such as hiring an assistant or intern, or balancing the workload by assigning it to someone else.
By addressing your heavy workload, you’ll be able to meet your work commitments and deadlines without burning out!
After a particularly stressful day at the office, do you find yourself feeling tense and uptight? Many of us carry that tension in our muscles, particularly in our neck and shoulders. At times like these, it can be difficult to unwind and relax. That’s when we fantasize about having a full body massage from a professional masseuse! But who has the time and money for that? Here’s a great way to help you relax and release the tension in your muscles. You can do this on your own and it only takes five to ten minutes.
This muscle relaxation technique involves systematically going through the body and tensing and then relaxing each muscle group. You can do this either sitting comfortably in a chair or lying down in a comfortable position (without crossing the legs). Tense each muscle group for about five seconds. Close your eyes and breathe deeply throughout this exercise. As you exhale, let go of the tension and release it completely. Experience the muscle as totally relaxed and lead heavy. Begin with the top of the head and progress downward to focus on all the muscles in the body. Be sure to include the forehead, ears, eyes, mouth, neck, shoulders, arms and hands, chest, belly, thighs, calves and feet. If you have limited time, you can do this exercise for just certain muscle groups. Be sure to focus on those muscle groups in which you feel the most tension. After relaxing your muscles, continue to breathe deeply and notice any remaining tension in the body. Let it soften and wash away as though a wave were washing over you. Then enjoy the resulting sense of peace and relaxation!
Stress and change are a given in today’s workplace. In fact, employees are experiencing on-going change. They’re asked to take on new responsibilities, learn new skills, and do more with less. Many workers today have bigger workloads requiring more and more hours.
Highly resilient workers have stress-resistant personalities. They are able to manage the day-to-day stressors, and also cope well with high levels of on-going, disruptive change.
How stress-hardy are you? Here are five attitudes of resilient people. Review these characteristics to see how stress-hardy you are.
A strong sense of purpose. Resilient people have a strong sense of purpose and meaning for why they are doing what they’re doing. They are guided by a vision that gives meaning to their work and lives.
A healthy sense of control. The emphasis is on “personal control”. Stress-hardy people focus their energy on those events that they have influence over, rather than situations beyond their control. They accept circumstances that cannot be changed. Entrepreneur, Tim Baumgartner, an independent sales rep who sold electronics to Circuit City, was blind-sided when the company filed for bankruptcy. Within months, however, he launched an online consumer electronics store. “Whining and complaining about how you find yourself here doesn’t help,” Baumgartner says. “I’ve refocused my energy on the start-up.”
See change as a challenge or opportunity. Resilient people tend to see change as a challenge to confront and overcome, rather than an unbearable problem or a stress to avoid. They also see change as an opportunity for self-reflection, learning and growth.
Optimistic. Maintain a hopeful outlook, expecting good things to happen. People with an optimistic outlook do better at managing stress and chaos. When you catch yourself thinking negatively, challenge yourself to reframe the situation more positively.
Have a good sense of humor. Research shows that humor can lessen the impact of stress. Stress-hardy people are playful and curious. They find the humor in rough situations, and can laugh at themselves.
By developing these attitudes you can become more stress-hardy, which will not only help you survive, but thrive, in today’s workplace.
To learn more about managing stress, listen to Managing Workplace Stress CD.
You’ve just hung up the phone with an irate customer who “read you the riot act” for not receiving his order on time. You’re feeling uptight, tense and stressed out! What do you do? Do you take it out on your co-worker who stops by your desk to ask a question? Or do you find a way to calm yourself?
These are the occasions in which we wish we were someplace else – like on vacation where we’re laying on the beach on a remote island. Well, you can go there – if only in your mind. Visualization is a great way to relax yourself. You can take a little vacation in your mind for a few minutes, and come away feeling refreshed and revitalized.
Try this exercise. Shut your eyes, and take a slow, deep breath. As you breathe in, feel the tension in your body. As you breathe out, imagine the tension flowing out of your body. Take several deep breaths until your body feels completely relaxed. Now let your mind go back to a time and place in which you felt totally relaxed. It may be a favorite vacation spot, a childhood experience, or special time spent with a loved one. Relive that experience as you continue to breathe deeply. Transport yourself to that time and place. See yourself in your imagination doing what you did then – seeing the sights, hearing the sounds, and smelling those smells. Mentally relive that previous time and place until you feel wonderful relaxation wash over you. When you’re ready, open your eyes and come back to the present time.
I’ve used this exercise when I’ve felt like I couldn’t take it anymore and needed a break. It helped refresh me so I could focus on work again. So the next time you’re feeling tense and upset, take a little vacation in your mind. It will do you wonders!
If you’d like to learn more relaxation techniques you can do in the moment, then listen to “Managing Workplace Stress” CD.
Do you take a vacation from work each year? More and more U.S. workers are forgoing vacation time. Many people put off taking a vacation and one day realize that they haven’t had a vacation in years. For some, work can be so overwhelming that they don’t think they can afford to take time away from their jobs. They fear that the work will pile up even more when they get back. Others are so dedicated to their job/career that they view their accumulated vacation time as a badge of honor. You probably know someone who boasts of not taking a vacation for years. Statistics paint a pretty dismal picture.
- Twenty-six percent of Americans take no vacations at all.
- Only 14% of Americans take two weeks or more at a time for vacation.
- Employees hand their companies more than $21 billion in unused vacation days each year.
- The average American spends more time in the bathroom than on vacation!
Even those workers who take a vacation are still tied to work via e-mail and voicemail. In fact, 61% of Americans check e-mail while on vacation. That’s not a real vacation! We need time off to rest, relax and rejuvenate. If we don’t take time for ourselves, then we’ll get burnt out. If we’re burnt out, then our productivity goes down and our health suffers. Health experts say that people can decrease their risk of a heart attack by one third if they take one week of vacation a year.
Karen Ruiz, a Project Manager at CalPERS, realizes the value of vacations. Early in her career, she went three to four years without a vacation, which negatively impacted her marriage. She and her husband set a goal to take two one-week vacations a year. Now she takes a vacation completely away from work and leaves someone else in charge. “You won’t find me with a laptop on the beach,” says Karen.
If you’re used to being available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you may find it challenging to take a work-free vacation. The key is to make arrangements ahead of time with customers and co-workers. If they know ahead of time that you won’t be available, and who they can contact instead, then they and the business will be fine. You’ll come back feeling refreshed and with more energy to tackle your work. Believe me; your organization will survive without you. Give yourself the gift of time off work!