Work Performance.

Have you ever wondered how people like Sundar Pichai, Tadashi Yanai, and Lisa Su can maintain their performance at work while managing their stress? It seems far reach to most of us. But does it? It might or might not.

But, the question is, “How to?”

Like most of us, we want to do well in our job. But, sometimes doing well at work seems like climbing Mount Everest. Everyone who ever experiences working felt work-related stress, at some point. Many factors can trigger stress, even though we enjoy and love our job, such as unreasonable customers/clients, tight deadlines, challenging decisions, and the list will go on. Another significant factor that can trigger stress is traumatic stress.

Trauma, one-time, multiple, or long-lasting repetitive events, affects everyone differently. Traumatic stress that an individual experiences growing up can have a lasting negative impact on their development, for example, a sensitivity to environmental factors (e.g. sound, lights, etc), intense or unpredictable feelings (such as anxiety, moody, etc.), and strained interpersonal relationships. All these factors can increase their stress level and further interfere with performance.

Stress can be harmful to both physical and emotional health when it becomes chronic and overwhelming. American Psychological Association (2014) reported that work is a significant source of stress. A stressful work environment can cause headaches, sleep disturbance, difficulty concentrating, and stomachache, and unmanaged prolonged stress can lead to anxiety, depression, and a weakened immune system (APA, 2014).

On the other hand, research has found that managing stress can help to improve our performance at work. By managing stress, we can improve our concentration and make us want to perform at work (Sarada & Ramkumar, 2015).

So, why not manage the work stress earlier and turn the “stress as liabilities” to “stress as our assets”? Some steps to manage stress are:

• Aware of the stressors. You can do this by keeping a journal for one or two weeks to find the patterns.

• Create and develop healthy responses. Explore ways of response that can be more productive or healthier, such as physical activity, being immersed in your hobby, etc.

• Know yourself, know your boundaries. Learn about your boundaries and intentionally keep the boundaries, for example, not looking at your office phone all the time when you are at home, etc.

• Take a break. Recharge! Do something enjoyable, connect with others, and connect with yourself.

• Get some support. Remember that you are not alone. It’s OK not to be OK, so it’s fine to accept help from trusted family and friends.

If the overwhelming feeling continues, you might want to talk to a professional (counsellor, psychologist, or psychotherapist), they might be able to help you better in managing the stress and give you some clarity.