Stress is defined as a physical, chemical or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and also may contribute to disease.    The most common currently accepted definition of stress is a sensation that is experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize”.  

We can’t always avoid stress, as it is a part of life. However, we can neutralize stress by implementing some positive principles.

This article will give you some techniques to equip you with effective coping mechanisms for dealing with work related stress:

1. Know Who You Are – Understand your strengths and weakness as they relate to the job that you are employed to do.   More likely than not, if you are in a job where you get energized  when you  go to work every day, then you are probably going to perform better  than if you are in a job that does not fit your skill and personality set.

2.  Develop a teachable and cooperative attitude in the workplace – You will experience a lot less stress if you go into work with a positive mindset that you are going to express a positive outlook and attitude throughout the day.  

3.  Avoid office gossip – Develop a reputation for getting things done, not talking about employees.  Focus on your priorities so that you focus on the most important job to do. Initiate doing more than just your fair share.  You will be surprised at who is watching your performance!

4.  Develop healthy boundaries in the workplace.  This means that you keep your personal problems and challenges out of the work place.  Spending a lot of time on your cell phone, emailing to personal friends, or talking to family members or coworkers during company time causes a company’s productivity to decline.   In these difficult economic times, when companies have to engage in layoffs, they will look at how productive you have been and what you have been contributing to their organization as they make their decisions.

Big Idea:  We can’t always avoid stress, as it is a part of life.  However, we can neutralize stress by implementing some positive life giving principles.  This blog will focus on some practical and useful principles, which if employed, will help to manage stress.

A commonly accepted definition of stress is that it is something that is experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.  One example is a situation where an individual has more debt than financial resources; another example in the workplace is an individual that is not working in her or her area of gifting, so is having a difficult time completing a given project.  Another illustration is an employee who is struggling with multiple stressors at the same time.  For example, going through a divorce, struggling with financial debt, and having career struggles all at the same time.  When stress happens, a physiological response to an internal or external stimulus happens that can trigger the fight or flight response.

Some people have great coping mechanisms and know how to manage the fight or flight response. Others have a difficult time and stress can result in depression, anxiety, time off from work and both physical and emotional illness.

Here are some practical ways to help you to manage the stressors that come into your life.

1.  Know Who You Are – Understand your personal strengths and weaknesses as they relate to your goals and objectives, both personally and professionally.  
   Everyone has areas where they are great and not so great.  If you know who you are, you will learn to take on things that fit your personality and gifting better, thereby reducing your level of stress.
2. Learn to Set Boundaries – Think of boundaries as an adjustable emotional fence; let the fence down when you want to take on more responsibility, and put the fence up when you need to set limits.  Know your limits and stick to them as necessary in all aspects of life.  
3.  Practice effective time management- Assess the value of your time, understand how to use it effectively, and improve your patterns.
4. Balance work with rest, relaxation, family time and fun!  In other words, learn to enjoy life. You can’t take any of it with you!
5.  There is wisdom in applying a scriptural principle in managing stress.  Surrender to a power greater than yourself.  It comes from Matthew 6:25-27.  It reads …Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life.   ^[1]

^[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Mt 6:26-27