Work stress suggestions

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Have a kid, that will refocus you.

There's a guy at my work who is the type of guy that works 7 - 6 everyday, and then some on weekends. Once he said he came to work on a saturday because his wife was out of town and he was bored. Work consumes so much of his life and it's not like he really has to, IMO. I've told him multiple times he works too much and takes it too seriously.

Well, apparently his wife is giong to have a kid. This guy I think is pushing 40, even though his wife is pushing 30.

I really hope for him and his family he is able to let go of work being such an important issue for him and he is able to focus more on his family.

haha, this dude has 3 kids now is stressed to the max, still takes his job way too serious.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Really I'd suggest booze or a hobby.

I'll stick with the same advice from 8 years ago.

[bubbsy]

great topic.

As a slightly offtopic to this, i was just talking about this to a friend yesterday (i am in Toronto, economy quite different from AB so may not apply). How, social media (facebook, etc) gives this impression that all our friends & family are always happy living these extravagent lives (all pictures shared are of these happy families, new cars/homes, vacations, etc). It is so easy for folks to feel like you are the only one struggling so must be doing something wrong. When in fact, we are all holding lots of stress (family, health, financial, job related, what have you) and i'm sure everyone has come close to a breaking point at some point.

i have hit the point you have hit a few times in my career. I'm basically a director of a midsized global tech company, am 35, with 2 little kids (1 and 3) a mortgage, yadda yadda yadda. i got extremely stressed out, irritable to my loved ones and became a person i didn't recognize, more over someone i didn't want to be.

Every time i have hit this point i have spoken directly to my management. Laying out all the tasks on my plate, with the level or urgency (ie. $ impact to company or some other crit kpi), required delivery date, amount of time needed to complete. When you lay it out in simple terms like that, and show how it would be impossible to complete all of these in the required time frame, so you neeed management to provide a prioritization (ie. which things you should work on, and which should be delayed) or give them suggestions on what you would need to meet all the deliverables on time (1 FTE or half a body for 2 quarters, etc). Perhaps i have been lucky but my manager has never said "well you could do this if you continue working 60-70 hour weeks, so get to it". I actually did once where he offered me more compensation. I told him i'm goign to have to start looking for otherwork in that case, thanks for trying to help. The next week, he came up with a better answer for me.

If you don't get any help from the 2 ways i have indicated, you gotta make a move. Your health, family are far too crucial to burdon yourself to the point of a heart attack, cholitis, ibs, etc.

As far as things to offset day to day stress:
1) get a gym membership as close to home as humanly possible (NOT a treadmill in the basement). Wake up an 1.5 hours early, and go to the gym everyday. Good for your health, good for your physique, and i find seeing pretty girls working out are all great ways to kick off your day.

2) create a hardstop end time for work. that means, you may come home and reply to mails up to a time (say 7pm) but at that point you either stop checking your work phone altogether, or simply click the task assignment flag in outlook on your phone as a reminder to look at it when work time starts. I've gone as far as keeping my phone upstairs (off my person) as soon as i'm home so my wife/kids get my undivided attention. If things are as bad as i get the sense from your post they are, then perhaps you can't do this, but then you gotta ask yourself if this is how you want to live.

3) i used to use a glass of scotch/wine/beer at the day as a means to relax, but quickly stopped that. It essentially offsets point (1) above, but also, i decided to leave drinking to the weekend, where i do my allotted quota for the week.

Great topic, really hits home. Good luck.

[Northendzone]

Some good suggestions in here, my thoughts are:

- ensure you are getting a full nights sleep, if possible
- try to ensure there is balance in your life - try and take time out for excercise, relaxation
- try medation
- that store in the mall saje sells some lotions and stuff that supposedly help you relax, maybe something from there will help you

My last suggestion would be to contact your employee assistance plan (if your employer offers one), they can put you in touch with some short term help

[afc wimbledon]

I don't think working out is as good a destressor as a team sport, I play 5 a side soccer, its the competitiveness plus the humour and camaraderie that I find works.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I don't think working out is as good a destressor as a team sport, I play 5 a side soccer, its the competitiveness plus the humour and camaraderie that I find works.

Team sport is great if everyone on your team is reliable. If you're the organizer, the stress of trying to find replacement players when someone bails sucks the fun out of team sports.

[Hockey Fan #751]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

Some good suggestions in here, my thoughts are:

- ensure you are getting a full nights sleep, if possible
- try to ensure there is balance in your life - try and take time out for excercise, relaxation
- try medation
- that store in the mall saje sells some lotions and stuff that supposedly help you relax, maybe something from there will help you

My last suggestion would be to contact your employee assistance plan (if your employer offers one), they can put you in touch with some short term help

Did you mean medication or meditation? Or both?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I don't think working out is as good a destressor as a team sport, I play 5 a side soccer, its the competitiveness plus the humour and camaraderie that I find works.

I'm th opposite, running alone is exercise and meditation. I'm too competitive with team sports so it's not really relaxing for me.

[topfiverecords]

Interesting how so many users that posted in here giving advice for being zen have a lifetime suspension.