Work Stress and How to Deal with It.

Family, hosting, traveling, cooking, shopping, routine shifting - the holidays can leave you with a lot of stress. While everyone wants to enjoy the holidays, the stress of the season can be made even worse when everything is not going well for you at work or if you’re on the job hunt. Handling work stress is important for many reasons - you want to be pleasant to be around for the sake of your friends and family, you want to enjoy the holidays, you don’t want anything on your list to fall through the cracks, and most importantly you want your health!

Here are some tips to help manage the stress through the end of the year craziness:

• Manage expectations at work and at home. Don’t commit to projects that will put your already overflowing to do list over the edge. Make sure your family and friends are clear on when, how, and for how long you’ll be participating in the holidays. If you make your plan clear, there won’t be surprises for anyone.

• Set realistic goals. You might want to do it all and impress the socks off of, well, everyone, but that’s not healthy or effective when stress is mounting. Plan as much as you can around the holidays and make sure your goals are achievable.

• Get help. Too much on your plate and the work stress is piling up? Ask a colleague for assistance or to take on a task from your list. Ask your family to allow you to skip cooking this year so you can focus on your resume or job search. Explain your situation and they’ll likely be happy to help.

• Try time management techniques. These can help you break down your tasks into smaller chunks which makes them more manageable. They can also make you feel a little more at ease knowing that you have allocated time for everything on your list! The Pomodoro technique is a great one to try.

• Balance work and play. Don’t procrastinate and leave everything on your to-do list until the last minute. That is NEVER a good idea. On the other hand, you don’t need to skip all of the fun stuff because of your massive list. Figure out what needs done now, and leave the other stuff for later. It will still be waiting for you after you’ve enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with your family. What are the best ways you’ve found to deal with work stress around the holidays? We’d love to hear from you - leave a comment below!

If work stress is impacting your life negatively. Perhaps it’s time to switch careers. Let’s talk!