How do we learn to deal with pressure on the job? It’s not easy, but developing certain tools can help.
By Jim Callahan
Really, when you get right down to it, stress is like any obstacle you either must master, learn to control or at the very least, come to terms with.
Whether it’s learning to manage a business, converse with family or handle yourself, there’s a certain amount of pressure to execute well while trying to meet expectations.
Often, stress is a by-product that accompanies your best efforts. However, self-induced pressure can become a strain if you allow it to be—or in many cases, allow it to build up until it becomes an impediment.
WELCOME TO MANAGEMENT
An example of what I mean happened early in my career. I’ve told this story before, but it bears repeating. At the age of 23, I was working as an accounts receivable supervisor for a medium-size company. Thanks to a gent named T.J. Reichert, I managed 17 accounts and worked with 23 employees. Part of the job was handling a closely-scrutinized, weekly ‘projection of income.’
Of course, the duties always changed. T. J. came into my office one afternoon and laid a large, special file of reports in my lap, which promised to be time consuming. Thinking quickly, I asked him if he could prioritize the reports.
Walking away from me, he replied to “do it all,” and then uttered: “But, nothing else must suffer.” Wow. Welcome to management, I thought to myself.
It was always my nature that I preferred to work extra hours than worry about missing a deadline. Then my $125 per week salary and position made me exempt from overtime pay.
You’d be right that T.J.’s expectations created some feelings of stress. I would also note that being able to effectively handle pressures in the early stages of my career enabled me to gain a measure of maturity, and thus be able to handle bigger stressors later in my life.
FULL-COURT STRESS
So, how do we learn to cope with stress on the job? It’s not easy, but developing coping tools can help. One means I would recommend is to set realistic goals and measure your progress regularly. You can sit down with your supervisor and go over your work objectives, asking them to be honest about how you are viewed within the organization and what advice they would offer to help make you more successful.
It’s important that you talk with someone you respect and that you listen carefully to his or her advice when it comes to projects and performance. Equally important is to be honest with yourself about the evaluation and whether you have the desire to strengthen your role within the organization.
As you find that the part you play in the organization is clearer and more transparent, those inner feelings that spur stress will become less looming.
There’s an old saying about “making oneself smaller and the world larger.” In other words, try to see the bigger picture and your part in it. It can also serve as a reminder that a career can be a long journey and if we don’t learn to deal with stress early on, it can be a bumpy road indeed.
There are many experts that can attest to the belief that controlling stress is a vital part of your well-being—both in your professional life and your personal habits.
Learning to achieve personal relaxation is a skill that takes practice. To that end, you can practice one or more of the easy relaxation techniques described below, twice a day:
• Find a quiet place.
• Get into a comfortable position—lie down on the floor or sit with uncrossed legs.
• Breathe easily and naturally.
• Keep muscles loose, limp and relaxed.
One of the very best ways that I’ve found to cope with stress is to exercise until I am tired (when I’m in decent shape, it takes a while; when I’m not, it takes much less time).
Moreover, I find the better I maintain good physical conditioning, the less stress bothers me and the better I sleep, which translates to being well-rested. I equate this to performing better because when you’re physically fit, you ultimately feel better about yourself. The feeling of being able to take on the world soon follows.
Jim Callahan has more than 40 years of experience as a convenience store and petroleum marketer. His Convenience Store Solutions blog appears regularly on cstoredecisions.com. He can be contacted directly at (678) 485-4773 or via e-mail at [email protected].