In our fast-paced society, stressors are almost always inevitable to avoid, especially in the workplace. As hard as we try sometimes, there’s really only so many hours in a day to complete what is required of you. By being mindful, understanding your specific needs, and opening lines of communication in your workplace, you can create a healthier, happier and a longer lasting career. Here are a couple of tips to help you out the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed:
Mindfulness encompasses many different areas of self-care, and it often sounds simpler than it really is. Mastering mindfulness takes time and practice. One has to understand and recognize their moment-by-moment thoughts and feelings in relation to what is going on around them. While it’s easier to imagine what the future could look like, or look back and rehash what you could’ve done at that last meeting, the most beneficial approach is to rather focus on the present moment, and instead dealing with the current tasks at hand. Once you’ve conquered the more pressing, “in the moment tasks”, you can easily move those down your mental priority list to tackle your next responsibility!
One technique to stimulate mindfulness in these situations is to turn to your breath work. A simple inhale and exhale, focusing with inhaling from your mouth and exhaling out feeling the tip of your nose, will help immensely when coping with uncertainties and stressors. This will help regulate your emotions and bring you back to a neutral position.
Another solution is muscle relaxation, try this the next time you’re at your desk and need a moment to unwind. Take those shoes off and get comfortable and start with contracting one foot and relaxing the other, repeating this method on each side with a minimum 10 second count. Once you let go, focus on the tension flowing away as your feet become loose, and as your body relaxes, so will your mind.
If in-office tips don’t strike your fancy, try speak to your boss, manager, or supervisor, and let them know how you are feeling. If your issue is that your not fully happy in your role, perhaps there’s room for more flexibility and adaptation. Work-Life Integration programs are more prevalent than ever, after all its 2019 and businesses are evolving. If you have other priorities outside the workplace that take up time, speak to someone about remote work or flex days. If your firm does not have these programs implemented or the ability to facilitate these, be creative and find other solutions to combat this disquiet feeling.
At the end of the day, what matters most is achieving your organizational goals, and keeping yourself happy, healthy, and productive. Allow yourself that moment of mental clarity and reprieve, as after all your mental wellbeing is the first and foremost important thing to achieving your goals.
Complimenting your employees can often seem trivial, however neglecting its importance can lead to a number of shortfalls that will ultimately lead to damaging both you and your company. After all, no one’s heard of an employee who quit because they received too many compliments!
Yet, the art of the compliment is often misconstrued, perceived as an easy task that requires almost little to no actual thought at all. The recipient, in turn, almost always recognizes when its given without any real thought. If you want to give more meaningful expressions of recognition, consider these ideas:
Behavioral: We’re talking Pavlov and positive reinforcement. How do we do that? Easy: Acknowledge and Encourage! When your team or employee does a task that merits recognition, try identifying a specific behaviour in said employee that exceeded your expectations, and in doing so, continue to encourage this behaviour further. Use positive reinforcement by acknowledging.
Connection: You’d be surprised by the number of employees who are unable to make a connection between their daily duties and how they benefit the company’s overall performance. When soliciting a job well done, try tying in their efforts to the organization as a whole. By factoring achievements with the company’s overall big picture, you’re acknowledging that they, as well as the work that they do, matters.
Reflection: If you find yourself absolutely stumped on giving people the recognition they deserve, then perhaps you might be focusing too much on the negatives versus the positives.
Reason-based choice tells us that if spend our time looking for problems, we’re likely just going to find more problems, but if we spend our time looking at the positives, then we’re going to start recognizing people who are actually doing some really great work for the firm.
As Jim Rohn says: “Managers help people see themselves as they are; Leaders help people to see themselves better than they are” (Rohn, 2014).” Words are far more powerful than you think, and with the right intention and words in mind, you can easily find yourself impacting your employees in a highly valuable and positive way
