Wondering how to stay sane at work? In this guide, you’ll find 10 simple ways to stay positive and energetic at your office while getting things done:
Corporate life can be extremely taxing!
The higher you are on the ladder of success the greater you have to concentrate on staying sane until you reach the next level. And of course, the usual stuff like deadlines, productivity, appraisals, client meetings etc are always there to amplify your mental pressure even more.
Here are some definite ways to keep sanity in place until you get where you want to. And once you start practicing them, yours ascend will seem faster and smoother.
How to Stay Sane at Work
Strategy #1: Stay Organized
For any manager to be successful he or she needs to be well-organized.
You can make use of organizing tools that seems the most convenient to you to make sure you have covered all your projects, schedules, meetings and all support activities too.
While you plan, keep some buffer time for recreations so that the team is never exhausted or brain-drained.
A good manager will always plan for contingencies such as resource crunch, network failure, hard-disk failure and regulatory changes which let him or her plan ahead for such contingencies. Once you are organized, you can lead your team with an example to stay organized to meet the deadlines.
Strategy #2: Have a Plan B
Competition and stress at the workplace can take a big toll on thinking straight which affects productivity.
When you are under great stress to meet a pressing deadline, sometimes you just concentrate on getting the work done and forget about the having to handle a situation if you are unable to meet the deadline for no reason of yours.
Sometimes, you are so stressed out that you miss out the basic need to keep backups of your work on a daily basis and just when you are 90% done you lose it all thanks to that virus or some other reason!
If you have no Plan B in place, you are long gone from the job! We can’t blame it on the management as they have a reputation to keep and policies to follow. That’s why it is important to fight stress and always have a Plan B which is periodically reviewed just in case you miss something out.
Strategy #3: Engage Effectively with Your Team
If you have a team working under you, you have to engage with them every day, if possible, to make sure they are right on track.
Even when you are away, use the technology to have video conferencing for team meetings and share the schedules, updates and reviews over a secured network so that your team always finds you available and totally in charge, even during your absence.
Great leaders never hesitate to ask the team’s opinion on the impending issues and accept the feasible ones. This builds a great confidence in your team and you can thrive on the innovative ideas shared by the young minds.
Don’t forget to appreciate their efforts verbally and with incentives. This will encourage them to discuss any impending issues even at the smallest levels and sometimes it can save the project.
Strategy #4: Help Out Your Colleagues
The corporate rivalry is a truth and it sometimes turns quite ugly when you have more people against you than vouching for you.
The best way to steer clear and get more people vouching for you is to offer unconditional help whenever they are in need. We are not talking about monetary help but some serious help on the work front.
There are many ways volunteering helps personally and at work front. You can build a network of colleagues who trust you for help when they are in need and they will definitely make sure you stay with the company longer.
Strategy #5: Gossiping is a Waste of Time!
Here’s another way to find out how to stay sane at work.
It definitely sounds a little boring to stay away from gossiping, with more than 90% of the fellow employees engaging in gossips during the breaks and sometimes even taking breaks to discuss the latest ones.
But then, have you ever thought what you gain out of gossiping?
Remember that those who gossip will definitely do that about you also when you are absent from the group. So why to waste time over nothing while you can help some junior out in the meanwhile. This will build some positive leadership reputation among his group.
Strategy #6: Your Boss is Your Boss!
There’s no point trying to complain and gossip about your boss just because he or she was not nice to you. They are where they are because of what they are. They cannot get work done just by being nice.
You can relate to your boss’ situation with the way you behave with your subordinates. Always understand that his stake is much higher than yours.
Once you start owning your job and responsibilities, you will be able to understand the same and appreciate a reasonable boss’ behavior.
And then there are bad bosses too! Dealing with them can be difficult but never take their remarks personally. When it comes to a point where you cannot tolerate it anymore, start looking for better bosses.
You cannot change your boss where you work, but you can definitely change where you work!
Strategy #7: Emit Positivity
It is like the half-full Vs half-empty perspective.
A positive attitude towards life is a must to steer past difficult times at career and personal front and finally to taste the success.
Studies have revealed that people with a positive attitude tend to concentrate on their work, are more productive and attain success that sustains.
Be positive to be successful.
Strategy #8: Network Extensively, Inside and Outside the Office
Maintaining a healthy network of official and unofficial contacts can definitely help.
Do not consider befriending someone expecting any gain.
Unconditional networking can prove quite beneficial over a long term.
Use it as a platform to share some of your experience and to help others who are in need of professional and personal advice.
Other than that never expect anything out of such contacts. But over a period of time, you will find a lot of followers who consider you as their mentor which builds a great reputation among the others, especially the vendors and the clients you deal with.
Strategy #9: Take Short Breaks Regularly
People who work in a 9-5 regular office find themselves glued to their chair all the time except during lunch. You will find the IT people spend 10 to 12 hours in front of their system because of their work pressure and deadlines.
We all know that spending long hours sitting in one place has a lot of health hazards, none of us tend to bother about it much. By the time we learn the value of health, most of us are way past the initial stages of cure and end up spending all the time and money saved, for recovery!
Even when we have a very tight schedule, we can definitely afford to take very short 5-minute breaks to move around, to the water dispenser every hour or the coffee machine twice a day.
A walk around the team, interacting with them will give you a break from the monotonous cubicle of yours and also let you supervise your team more effectively.
Strategy #10: Meditate/Yoga/Exercise
You will be shocked to know the productive and positive benefits of dedicating 20 minutes of your day for Yoga or Meditation.
Yoga and Meditation are proven ways to solve quite a few emotional and physical problems faced by all and that makes them another way to learning how to stay sane at work. They are simple and effective ways to keep away anxiety and obesity which are 2 major health hazards we all face.
Exercise also helps in keeping our body fit and minds fresh. So make these a daily routine for a healthy life and productive career. Exercise with friends so that you can network while you exercise and make the most of both.
Conclusion
Now you know how to stay sane at work. These are simple ways to remain positive and energetic at your office and to get more productive and successful in life.
Practicing these generally will help you in all fronts of life, professional and personal, to stay happier. After all, staying happy matters more than being successful and happy people become successful too!
About The Author
This is a guest post by Levin George, a Search Engine Optimizer at OfficeRock. He actively pursues interests related to latest internet marketing trends. He spends his leisure time reading, meditating and enjoying the joys of technology.