Summary
- Control your emotional response.
- Stay focused.
How can you keep your cool and maintain productivity when working in a pressure-cooker environment? Try a combination of strategies that help manage both acute and ongoing work pressures.
Dealing with acute pressure
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re dealing with competing priorities or a fast-approaching deadline—particularly when “surprises” that come up steal your attention away from the task at hand.
These ideas will help you handle immediate crises:
Bust that stress: You might feel like you don’t have time to let off steam. But doing so will help you stay calm and be sensible in your approach to the high-pressure situation.
Quick, stress-busting techniques you can do at your desk include deep breathing, guided imagery, and progressive muscle relaxation.
Control your emotional response: Your thoughts can determine the emotions you experience. So, if you take control of your thoughts, you can control your reaction. For example, self-defeating thoughts such as “I’m never going to get this done” or “I’m not good enough” will serve to delay and hold back productivity.
Stay focused: Give your full attention to one thing at a time. If you are interrupted by something that will take you two minutes or less, take care of it right away.
To help you prioritize and stay focused, ask yourself these questions:
- What is really important in this situation?
- If I could only do one thing, what would it be?
- What does this situation need of me that only I can contribute?
- Can somebody else handle this?
Managing ongoing work pressure
Consider these ideas for keeping stress at bay:
Get organized and clear your head: It’s hard to be productive when our minds are “full.” When you have many deadlines, priorities and to-dos— both at work and at home and of varying levels of importance—you have a steady source of mental stress that interrupts and hinders your productivity at work.
Although there is no single “right” way to get organized, find a system that works for you so you can be a top performer while keeping track of it all.
Maintain work/life balance.:Simple habits such as getting enough sleep and eating right can make a big difference to how you face the workday each morning.
Also, giving serious thought to what renews your spirit—such as spending time with your children—and carving out time for these priorities can reduce job pressure and keep you productive.
Summary
- Control your emotional response.
- Stay focused.
How can you keep your cool and maintain productivity when working in a pressure-cooker environment? Try a combination of strategies that help manage both acute and ongoing work pressures.
Dealing with acute pressure
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re dealing with competing priorities or a fast-approaching deadline—particularly when “surprises” that come up steal your attention away from the task at hand.
These ideas will help you handle immediate crises:
Bust that stress: You might feel like you don’t have time to let off steam. But doing so will help you stay calm and be sensible in your approach to the high-pressure situation.
Quick, stress-busting techniques you can do at your desk include deep breathing, guided imagery, and progressive muscle relaxation.
Control your emotional response: Your thoughts can determine the emotions you experience. So, if you take control of your thoughts, you can control your reaction. For example, self-defeating thoughts such as “I’m never going to get this done” or “I’m not good enough” will serve to delay and hold back productivity.
Stay focused: Give your full attention to one thing at a time. If you are interrupted by something that will take you two minutes or less, take care of it right away.
To help you prioritize and stay focused, ask yourself these questions:
- What is really important in this situation?
- If I could only do one thing, what would it be?
- What does this situation need of me that only I can contribute?
- Can somebody else handle this?
Managing ongoing work pressure
Consider these ideas for keeping stress at bay:
Get organized and clear your head: It’s hard to be productive when our minds are “full.” When you have many deadlines, priorities and to-dos— both at work and at home and of varying levels of importance—you have a steady source of mental stress that interrupts and hinders your productivity at work.
Although there is no single “right” way to get organized, find a system that works for you so you can be a top performer while keeping track of it all.
Maintain work/life balance.:Simple habits such as getting enough sleep and eating right can make a big difference to how you face the workday each morning.
Also, giving serious thought to what renews your spirit—such as spending time with your children—and carving out time for these priorities can reduce job pressure and keep you productive.
Summary
- Control your emotional response.
- Stay focused.
How can you keep your cool and maintain productivity when working in a pressure-cooker environment? Try a combination of strategies that help manage both acute and ongoing work pressures.
Dealing with acute pressure
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re dealing with competing priorities or a fast-approaching deadline—particularly when “surprises” that come up steal your attention away from the task at hand.
These ideas will help you handle immediate crises:
Bust that stress: You might feel like you don’t have time to let off steam. But doing so will help you stay calm and be sensible in your approach to the high-pressure situation.
Quick, stress-busting techniques you can do at your desk include deep breathing, guided imagery, and progressive muscle relaxation.
Control your emotional response: Your thoughts can determine the emotions you experience. So, if you take control of your thoughts, you can control your reaction. For example, self-defeating thoughts such as “I’m never going to get this done” or “I’m not good enough” will serve to delay and hold back productivity.
Stay focused: Give your full attention to one thing at a time. If you are interrupted by something that will take you two minutes or less, take care of it right away.
To help you prioritize and stay focused, ask yourself these questions:
- What is really important in this situation?
- If I could only do one thing, what would it be?
- What does this situation need of me that only I can contribute?
- Can somebody else handle this?
Managing ongoing work pressure
Consider these ideas for keeping stress at bay:
Get organized and clear your head: It’s hard to be productive when our minds are “full.” When you have many deadlines, priorities and to-dos— both at work and at home and of varying levels of importance—you have a steady source of mental stress that interrupts and hinders your productivity at work.
Although there is no single “right” way to get organized, find a system that works for you so you can be a top performer while keeping track of it all.
Maintain work/life balance.:Simple habits such as getting enough sleep and eating right can make a big difference to how you face the workday each morning.
Also, giving serious thought to what renews your spirit—such as spending time with your children—and carving out time for these priorities can reduce job pressure and keep you productive.