As recruiters, we make (first) impressions on people every day. Just as you are interviewing candidates, so are candidates interviewing you to determine whether they would want to work at your company, with someone like you. Additionally, you interact with your coworkers for at least eight hours, five days per week – and you have many interactions during that time. If you are carrying a lot of stress, how does that affect the people you see daily?
There are many articles and pages telling you that chronic stress is dangerous to your health and mental and emotional well-being, but the effects of stress don’t end with your person. Unfortunately, the physical effects of chronic stress – fatigue, headaches, tension, upset stomach, etc. – can lead to mental and emotional reactions – anxiety, lack of motivation or focus, irritability or anger, etc. – which can then lead to abnormal behavioral changes. These changes can be physically unhealthy, like poor eating, sleeping and exercise habits, but they can also include angry outbursts, social withdrawal and avoidance.
As you spend more time under stress, you are less and less able to manage your behavior, meaning that you are less able to hide the effects that the stress is having on you. This means that your work performance may worsen, your ability to cope with time pressures may decrease and you may not be able to keep calm when issues arise. Any one of these can lead to poor impressions on candidates (potentially driving the best people away) and strained relationships with coworkers.
So far, this has been pretty doom-and-gloom, but there is a light at the end of the dark stress tunnel: there are things you can do! Like any good program, the first step is to realize that your off-kilter reactions are being caused by an excess of stress. The second step is to dig down and find out what is causing that stress – which may not be work-related at all. Though there are plenty of things that can cause stress at work, any personal stressors may bleed into your work life. Once you have figured out what is causing you stress, take steps to address the issue and/or implement habit changes and learn how to better manage the stress that you may have to have.
Because none of us here at Cielo are doctors, we gathered information from expert sources: the Mayo Clinic, Psych Central and the APA Stress and Job Stress pages.
Habit changes could include:
- Meditation or yoga.
- Daily exercise, whether it is solitary or in a class with others.
- Physical activity in general – get up and walk around during the day.
- Join a club or group – or dedicate time to spend with just yourself.
- Eat a balanced diet.
- Avoid tobacco use, and excess caffeine and alcohol intake.
- Be diligent about taking workday breaks – and actually use them as breaks from work.
- Ensure that you have a regular sleep schedule and are getting the rest you need.
Mental and emotional methods of reducing stress include:
- Learning to walk away and cool down if you are feeling angry or upset.
- Setting reasonable standards for yourself and others, and make sure your manager and coworkers understand and accept them.
- Focusing on what you can control. Much of our stress comes from things that are out of our control, so out of all the things, pick out those you can control and develop strategies to address them.
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- Expressing empathy. We can get bogged down with our stress and begin to think only of ourselves and our issues. It can help to get out of our own heads and understand what our friends and family – even strangers – are going through. Take time every now and then to have a heartfelt chat with a friend, or volunteer at a school, shelter or hospital.
- Building strong relationships and utilizing those relationships as stress buffers instead of stress inducers. Talk to your boss about any personal issues that may be affecting your work. Lean on your coworkers for a 10-minute break in the middle of the day. Communicate with your spouse and family about what you are feeling and brainstorm things that you can all do together.
However, if your chronic stress is pervading every aspect of your life and you feel that nothing you tried has worked, you may seek professional help. There is no shame in this because “we all need somebody to lean on” (thank you, Bill Withers).
In today’s age of fast-paced, technology-imbued life, and in the “war for talent” where every day can be a battle, stress can get to the best of us. But we hope that you have found ways to make mountains into molehills and find happiness your way.
If there is something that works especially well for reducing the stress in your life, please share it with us @CieloTalent.