Since it is difficult not to have stress in the society in which we live (getting up to date with new technologies, difficult access to the job market, work overload, uncertainty, combining personal life with professional life...), we need formulas to be able to either Eliminate it or minimize the effects they produce in our body.

We will focus on professional stress, that is, stress derived from work, and I will give you ten management strategies. We will start with the most important:

Establish good relationships with colleagues

This is the determining factor to be able to tolerate more or less stress. The social network, feeling valued by colleagues, taken into account, supported in difficult times, feeling understood in the face of difficulties, is the most powerful tool that we humans have to better tolerate what exceeds us. If, in addition, we have the possibility of sharing with our environment everything that gives us a feeling of lack of control, the strategy is even more powerful. If the institution where you work has good relations with colleagues, you are lucky in this regard and will be more resilient when overwhelmed by work circumstances. If you lead a team of people, foster good relationships, take care to establish a good working environment among all of them.

Organize and get organized

If you have the feeling that you are not getting everything but you are not organized, before asking for help you need to organize yourself. If you lead a team of people, to work well, the tools they use to work must be in good condition, the space must be tidy, things must be in their place. Values ​​such as meeting deadlines, punctuality, order, etc. are necessary to work well. It is not necessary to go to the extreme but it is difficult to work well if these basic values ​​are not followed.

Your workspace must be functional, not only for you, but also for all those who work with you. Not everyone works well with the same level of order; maybe you are one of those who works with a table full of papers and works well; Or maybe you need to keep everything in place and manage issues one at a time. Be that as it may, a good criterion to know if it works well is to know the time it takes to find information each time it is needed. The time spent searching when we can't find things is a time that alerts us to something that can be improved.

delegate

If you are overloaded with tasks, one option to have a less loaded list is to delegate; but think of the others too, if they are like you, the only thing you will do is change the person's problem, but the problem will continue to exist. Properly understood delegation -do not pass tasks that you do not feel like doing- is a tool that contributes to organizational growth, helps maturation and the acquisition of new learning. Keep in mind that you must delegate time, capacity and knowledge to someone who wants to do the proposed work. And when you delegate, assess whether you have to say how to do things; keep in mind that with people with initiative and self-confidence, the best way to turn into performance talent is to say what needs to be done, by when it has to be done and leave room to go. Talent always finds the path of least resistance, and it is the one that goes through the capabilities of each one.

set limits

Often when you take on tasks that you think you shouldn't take on or when you don't put words to the things that cause you discomfort, you end up “bad”. Assertiveness is the tool that helps us individually to combat this uncomfortable feeling. Expressing at the right time, to the right person, in the right context and in a respectful way what has bothered us helps us feel good about ourselves and at the same time tries not to make our interlocutor uncomfortable. It should also be clear that being assertive does not ensure that the other will take what we say well. By the same rule, we can be aggressive with a person and they don't experience it badly; In any case, if we are assertive, it is more likely that we will feel good about ourselves and our interlocutor will receive our message better. An assertive organization will not keep discomfort, discomfort; people will express what they feel, although expressing does not automatically imply that the environment pays attention to us, but it does generate a culture in which things can be expressed in a respectful manner.

breathe consciously

Breathing is necessary to live, but if we breathe better, we will live better. Perhaps you have never paid much attention to how you breathe, people who have been trained on this subject know that if we breathe using the diaphragm properly, we inhale more air and ventilate better. If we practice this breathing we will have less anxiety, less depression, less fatigue, and we will help the cells of our body to oxygenate better. It is true that if we have never paid attention to this aspect, it is unrealistic to expect to always breathe using the diaphragm in a few days. A more realistic approach is, once you have learned to breathe using your diaphragm, to try to do it a few times throughout the day. Perhaps in the morning, when you get up, before starting the day's rhythm, it can be a good moment; maybe before starting a difficult task, maybe when you go to sleep. If, in addition, while practicing breathing, you get sleepy, then perfect.

Jacobson progressive relaxation

Edmon Jacobson was a doctor who around 1929 devised the well-known "Jacobson progressive relaxation". It is about, in a few minutes and a little practice, achieving a state of body relaxation and releasing the tension that stress makes us accumulate in our body. The idea is to work with your own body, tensing and releasing muscle groups for a few seconds, so that with a couple of passes we can release the tension that accompanies us.

Certainly, as we practice this exercise, we will be able to relax more in less time, so more time will have to be spent in the first few days to achieve some relaxation.

mindfulness

Researching on stress, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medicine, Jon Kabat-Zinn, created, in 1979, the MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) program. It is an eight-week program whose objective is to improve attention and reduce discomfort or stress, in this way complex situations that arise throughout life can be better managed.

There are authors who affirm that the program helps to increase resilience, well-being, physical and psychological health, reinforces skills and allows more presence and more empathy; that we will be able to connect better with the people with whom we interact and we will reduce the level of conflict.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback consists of increasing awareness and control of some internal processes such as muscle tension, heart rate or skin surface temperature that we normally ignore; This practice needs the help of a professional who, through the use of a device, guides us and gives us tools to achieve this goal.

Workout

Exercise helps release endorphins, an endogenous opiate that helps us feel better emotionally and physically, so it's a natural way to try to feel good. Now, if you have to choose what type of sport you do, choose something you like, and above all, be regular, it doesn't need to be very intense: there are authors who recommend that while you practice it you should be able to talk and shouldn't to be able to sing. Often, people, when we start in some sport practice, we have an enthusiastic start and little by little the motivation and dedication decreases; With this in mind, set yourself a realistic goal that you can achieve with some ease (don't set yourself an excessive milestone that may be great, but you won't be able to achieve it).

do less things

And finally, if you are stressed and practicing mindfulness, going to biofeedback sessions or exercising are factors that still generate more stress, stop doing things. Look at your agenda, review commitments, talk to your colleagues, collaborators, partner, friends, acquaintances and stop doing some of the things that cause you stress. Perhaps now you can still handle everything, but in the long run you may pay the price of having such a full schedule.

Keep in mind that stress can be an expensive experience and we only have one life. Surely this will be more fulfilling if, instead of living it stressed, we enjoy it from the tranquility, joy and well-being with oneself.