How to Keep Your Balance in High-Pressure Work Environments

If you’re like me, you have gone through more than one instance in which you feel under pressure at work. To be honest, this is more like a daily experience for most of us, rather than just an exception.

In any case, life is short, and complaining about something you can’t change doesn’t help. Don’t try to avoid dealing with the high-pressure situations, as sooner or later you do need to face them.

It is far more useful to learn a few tips that allow you to keep your balance, despite such circumstances.

Reduce your emotional dependence on the external environment. What does this mean? Well, we continuously have a stream of thoughts and emotions that determine how we feel at a certain point in time. Most people are in a reactive mode. If the environment is positive and relaxed, they feel the same. If it’s tensed, then they get stressed. You need to break this pattern! If you stay at the mercy of circumstances, you’ll have a hard time keeping your balance. First of all, realize that you do have a choice. You can choose the way in which you respond to external stimulus. Don’t react immediately. If you create a storm inside yourself, it doesn’t help in better managing the external one. Put things into perspective and keep calm.Develop inner peace rituals. The advice given in the first point is easier said than done. When you find yourself in a stressful environment, it’s difficult to keep calm and not let the toxic energy get to you. In order to make this possible, develop your inner peace rituals. When you feel great and at peace, try to associate that feeling with a song or a gesture. Repeat this process a few times and you will create what is called an anchor. Then, each time you listen to that song or make that gesture, you will find it easier to enter into the state of mind you associate it with. Research NLP if you are interested in more details about this technique.Establish positive relationships. We are social creatures, and reaching out to others during stressful times can be highly beneficial. Whenever possible, try to develop positive relationships with people around you. Spend more time with your friends and with the people that make you feel good. This will ease the tension and will fill you up with positive energy.Don’t get caught into a negative energy spiral. Whenever you feel full of toxic energy, try to do something to shift your mood. Take a break, listen to a song, go for a breath of fresh air, take a look at the picture of someone you love, or close your eyes and visualize a place that makes you feel at peace. Pay attention to what is effective in shifting the way you feel, and then apply that whenever it is needed.Take short breaks to do something you love. How do you feel when you have something pleasant to look forward to? Every once in a while, take short breaks to do something you like a lot. It may be listening to one of your favorite songs or doing 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation. Do whatever works for you, and you will feel refreshed.

The most important thing is to realize that the stressful environment should not dictate the way you feel inside. You do have means to influence the way you feel, in order to keep your balance. Make the most of the tips above at work and put a serene smile on your face!

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Featured photo credit: balance and harmony, yoga on the beach, silhouette via Shutterstock

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