There is no denying the fact that today’s environment at most work places has become quite demanding and challenging which makes everybody at work feel stressed or fatigued. An administrator feels more so because being at the helm of affairs makes it even more demanding for him or her. According to a study done on the pressures of working environment, it’s found that in an increasingly demanding work-place full of deadlines, targets, and `through put´, the human aspects of work can be overlooked and undervalued. The emotional and psychological impact of work can be challenging, resultantly, it becomes extremely difficult to remain easy or relaxed.
We are all aware of time-saving and time optimization techniques, we do maintain to-dos, we keep track of time and hours and try to keep its wastage to a minimum, but yet we are struggling to accommodate many of our activities in the available time. More than the time-saving techniques, let us examine the factors that cause stress or create pressure and do not let us relax at work. Learning a few methods can make us more flexible and easygoing.
Create a circle of Influence
Let us make two circles – circle of influence and circle of worry. Making a list of the things that we worry about the most and then deciding whether they are in our circle of influence or worry, will help us know what are thethings we can control and what are the areas in which we could waste our time if we try to do so. Dealing with such issues need a little of patience along with the knowledge of what we can really do to have an influence on each of them in an effective way.
By determining which of these two circles is the centre, around which most of our time and energy revolves, we can discover a great deal about our level of positivity. Positive people focus on the things they can do something about. If necessary, they change their attitude. They are aware that they may not be able to change the circumstances but they can improve their inner attitude. This is what positive focusing is all about: being creative, thinking differently, being open to listening, being more understanding, more communicative and showing more solidarity. On the contrary, reactive people focus on the problems of the circle and on the circumstances about which they have no control. From this worrying, accusations, destructive criticism, feelings of blame, a reactive language and feelings of weakness and frustration can arise. They want others or the circumstances to change first and they will change later. They think that the problem is on the outside. The negative energy produced as a result of this approach, combined with the lack of attention to the areas in which they could do something to improve the situation, means that the area of influence decreases in size. They give power to what is external so that it dominates them. In other words, they think that change must come from outside towards the inside.
Let Go
Micromanaging every aspect of your work can be exhausting. There’s no way we can control everyone and everything in our office. Taking control is not necessarily a bad thing in all situations, but we certainly wouldn’t want it to completely take over our thought process and relationships. There are a lot of reasons why people choose to control every aspect of their life. Whether it is from the fear of something bad happening or lack of trust in others – it is a behavior that needs to change so we can enjoy our work and workplace.
Try to find the core reason why we need to micromanage every aspect of our life. Is it because we have a fear of the unknown? Our business is the realm of things that we can directly influence. But often we are trying to manage someone else’s business. When we’re trying to control things outside of our own business, it’s not going to go well. Thus, trying to do so will only mean to waste our time and burden our mind.
Learn to Live in the Present
People tend to control things because they’re afraid of what the future might hold, or perhaps they’re scared to repeat a past mistake. But if we pay a little attention to the current moment at hand, we might know what is required of us right now!
Eckhart Tolle wrote in his best-seller book The Power of Now, “Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, guilt, worry – all forms of fear are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness and non-forgiveness- are also the result of ignoring the present”.To gain this power of present one has to be consciously there in the present moment or else the moment is gone before you even realize it.
According to Reader’s Digest, to fully be in the moment, try to do less. When we micromanage every aspect of our life, we tend to forget how to live because we have too many things on our plate, while we aren’t able to accomplish all of those. Try to figure out what’s most important. Do those tasks, and learn to delegate the rest, whenever possible.
Visualize
Just imagine what would happen if you didn’t control the situation. Being cautious of the future can be a good thing but it is different from being fearful of the situations. You need to find a healthy balance. Question the validity of your fear when you feel like you’re being a controlling freak. Let “Letting go” be a part of your vocabulary.
Just think if you let go of control, will the future alter in a drastic, negative way? If the answer is no, then let it go. It’s time to take charge of your life rather than letting your fears take control of you. When we are able to trust that we are okay no matter the circumstances, we open ourselves up to possibilities. These are possibilities that weren’t there when we attached ourselves to what we deemed was the “right” path. Oftentimes, the path we so desperately want to be on is not the most valuable or productive one. Letting go of control means more joy, freedom, peace, connection and support and a broader view of other possibilities.
Be Flexible
Often trying to control things makes us less flexible and more rigid. Being adaptable or flexible is a timelessly important skill as things are always changing at work – the economy is up and down, new competitors are popping up out of nowhere, coworkers come and go, and priorities shift. Being flexible is a key aspect of learning, having less control over things, and ultimately how to enjoy life more. A benchmark of mental health is the ability to be flexible in behaviours and responses, and also in relationship to feelings and thoughts. Flexibility is also about being able to do things a little differently depending on who we are working with. Taking the time to learn how people like to work, and modifying our work style to accommodate them, makes a world of difference. Some people are auditory learners and prefer discussions while others are very visual and need power-point presentations. Some people are hands-off as long as you get your work done while others are hands on and want a daily report. We will find some colleagues respond better when we speak to them face-to-face while others prefer communication through emails.Once we determine what issues you can be more flexible with, we may be able to use that energy for something more meaningful instead.
Have Some Fun
The words ‘work’ and ‘fun’ shouldn’t be antonymous. It is so important to have fun at work.Any one activity is not the purpose of life as a whole.Anything we enjoy, we are naturally going to do a better job at it and give more of ourselves to it.So, making our job something we look forward to, rather than simply a responsibility, is essential.
Admittedly, most of us could do with more of some activities and less of others. But the key to life isn’t only getting the mix of hours and activities right. The difference between people who accomplish a lot in life and those who accomplish only a little is not that they spend their time in completely different ways. For the most part, they do more or less the same things. The difference is that they do them for different reasons. The same basic ingredients yield different outcomes.If we are lucky enough to find something good at and also love doing, we are less likely to think of it as “just work.” Most successful people have in common that they enjoy what they do. Or they do what they enjoy. That doesn’t mean that every day is a load of laughs from beginning to end, but that they derive enough happiness and satisfaction from their roles overall to see them through the tougher moments. If we enjoy what you do, even the longest of the days will not seem so rough.Work doesn’t have to be all business, all the time.
Of course,we need to maintain our professionalism – but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it with a smile or with lightness and ease in mind. When we smile and laugh, others around you will do the same because it’s contagious and your office will be an all-around happier place to be.
Find Purpose of Life
Often people amble through their working lives feeling unmotivated and underappreciated, but they keep going. Even when they experience dissonance at work, many push it to the back of their mind continue to work. Some have their own sense of purpose, be that making money to support the family or getting through the 9 to 5 so they can begin their hobby. This is unsustainable; employees become unhappy, demotivated and stop fulfilling their potential. We need to pause to ask the question ‘What is the purpose of each activity I do?’ Giving your talent a sense of purpose at work can mean the difference between – doing a great job that brings a difference or striving to achieve a target ormerely doing a job that has to be done anyways. Unless each activity we participate in purposefully moves us toward a larger goal, we’ll never get anywhere. Studies consistently show that people who understand their lives in terms of some comprehensive aspirations feel happier and more fulfilled.
Basically, any purpose should have two characteristics. The first is that it should be our own purpose, one that gives us, as an individual, a sense of mastery and meaning. Howard Thurman, the early-20th century civil rights leader, once said: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive, and do that. Because what the world needs is, people who have come alive.” Whatever we do with the hours we have been given each day, and wherever we set your visions over the long arc of our life, we need to give yourself a chance to come alive. The second characteristic of our sense of purpose is that it should not be mainly about ourselves. Our larger purpose will not be primarily to boost our career or ensure our success or maximize our happiness. The novelist Frederick Buechner says that “you are called to the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep need meet.”
Spiritual Life Helps being Easy
Humans are spiritual beings. Understanding what our spirit wants and needs is a crucial part of living a well-balanced life. When we organize our spiritual life, we become clear on what our life is about. We become clear on what we stand for, and how we want to spend each day. We develop conviction for what really matters to us, and what is causing us uneasiness.
Take out just a few minutes of reflection, prayer or meditation every day. To know what our spirit is being fed feel deep peace and satisfaction is our responsibility.
