Stress at work is a fact of life, says Jenny Thai, writer at Asana. It can be caused by a number of variables, from loads or lack of assignments, conflicts with coworkers or nerve-wracking situations.

The truth is that work is one of the most important causes of stress. Even in workspaces that are fully committed to creating balanced and positive working environments, stress can emerge. So the question is what to do when stress levels rise?

According to Thai, the key lies in resilience. She describes it as “a set of skills that can be developed” and “one of the most powerful tools for managing stress at work”. In order to develop resilience, analyzing perception is a vital. Thinking of facts and situations under a negative perspective will increase stress. But, when we examine a stressful situation from a positive or even neutral perspective, we can “control our emotions and respond to stressors more effectively”, says Thai.

How can we change our perspective on certain situation? With “cognitive reappraisal”, defined by Kevin Ocshner, neuroscientist at Columbia University, as “the ability to cognitively change how we think about the meaning of events”. Cognitive reappraisal is a very strong mean to regulate emotional responses and it works basically in two ways.

On the one hand, when you are overloaded with work and your stress levels are going to the roof, you should start by deleting, deferring, delegating, and diminishing tasks, focusing on the most important work you must do. If after using this strategy you find that you still have too much work to do, then you should stop thinking about it, says Jenny Thai.

One way to train your ability to keep a positive perspective is by taking a few minutes every day to look back at the work accomplished the previous day. This can actually help you to focus on the important tasks and discard the meaningless ones.

On the other hand, your stress levels may rise if you do not have enough to do at work. Even though it seems quite the opposite from what it has just been explained, having too little to do or having tasks that are not engaging enough is also a source of stress.

According to Thai, the first thing to do is to reconnect with your goals and values, and gain awareness of your skills and strengths so that you may find “opportunities that let you spend more time doing work that truly engages you.”

Nevertheless, keep in mind that small doses of stress are necessary, as they keep you alert and fill you with energy. The key is having awareness of how your thoughts impact on your emotions and on the way you behave, and keeping a positive perspective.

Source: Asana