Change work habits to manage stress

The key is to identify your unique pressures, and then take charge of reducing your stressors both on the job and away from work.

Ensure you and your peers clearly understand your areas of accountability, priorities, goals, deadlines and supervisor expectations. Request a meeting with your manager to discuss and obtain resolution regarding any differences of opinion in these areas. Confirm that your supervisor understands the amount of direction you require.

If you have too little to do, seek additional work from co-workers and supervisors. If you believe you have too much to do, conduct your own time study to statistically prove your job duties require more than the time allotted. If the demands from others for your time is an area of concern, ask your boss to prioritize your obligations.

No way out?

Strive to obtain a transfer or seek out a position with another company if the following issues remain unresolved:

o Do you feel under-qualified or overqualified for your job?

o Do you have too little or too much interaction with people?

o Do you exhaust your time fighting fires instead of performing according to plan?

o Do you only receive feedback when your performance is unsatisfactory?

o Does your supervisor routinely interrupt your work for new priorities?

o Are determinations or changes that affect you made regularly without your knowledge or participation?

o Are you required to support the decisions of others without being told the rationale?

o Do you lack confidence in management?

o Is there recurring conflict between you and an individual or a group within the organization?

Lifestyle changes

Numerous personal lifestyle changes will decrease your vulnerability to stress. Obtain at least seven hours of sleep four times a week. Regularly work out until you perspire and maintain a weight suitable for your height. Use deep breathing exercises. Eat at least one hot, balanced meal a day. Reduce or eliminate usage of caffeine, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages.

Create weekly occasions just for fun. Laugh daily. Routinely establish quiet-time opportunities for yourself. Be who you are, and respect yourself. Maintain a network of friends and have at least one relative upon whom you can rely. Do not spend past your means. Obtain strength from religious beliefs.

Live for today. Create and utilize relaxation periods. Be positive and minimize self-criticism. Notice the small, ordinary things that make you feel good. Talk honestly about anything producing anger, worry or frustration. Make your needs and desires clear. Be assertive but not aggressive.

Remember that everyone does not have to like you. Stop making excuses and blaming others. Determine your pet peeves, accept those behaviors in others and forgive. Organize time efficiently. Slow down your feverish pace. Do not expect yourself to be perfect or overdo the details. Stop procrastinating.

Life is short. Don't make your lifetime and quality of life even more brief because of poor stress-management choices. Make a resolution to begin healthier stress reduction techniques, both personally and at work.

Lynne Haggerman is president/owner of Haggerman & Associates, a retained search, outplacement, in-house management training and human resources consulting firm.

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