Keeping Calm at Work

Work can be stressful – different personalities, too much to do, boring work, hard work, mistakes.

How can you stay calm among that?

• Clear your desk/work area before you leave work
• Write down every to do, don’t keep it in your head
• Create a check in jar for work so you keep aware of your emotions and needs and aren’t drained by the end of the day
• Take a 5 min break after 30-90 minutes depending on your focus level
• Do office yoga
• Don’t participate in gossip and complain sessions with co-workers
• Stay present to what you are working on and use a post it to remind you if you get interrupted
• Have a piece of nature in your work area
• Create systems and checklists for things you do routinely
• Aromatherapy
• Listen to calming music

In the book Working with You is Killing Me by Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster [affiliate link] they share how to unhook yourself at work.

First you unhook physically . Examples – breathing, pause, unclenching your jaw, maybe imagining a protective shell around you, a walk, time in nature

Secondly unhook mentally. Examples – think about the facts not the emotions, inventory the situation, talk back to the emotion, think powerful thoughts, calm thoughts, detach from the other person’s venom.

Thirdly unhook verbally. Examples – speak up. Speak proactively – how can we solve this. Setting a boundary. Making clear requests. Talk calmly. Set up a time to talk.

Finally unhook with a business tool to depersonalize the situation. Examples – policies, job description, documenting, time log, weekly meetings, forms