What do you do if you can't pinpoint the root causes of stress in your work?

If you are feeling stressed at work and can't figure out why, it might be because you're dwelling on past setbacks or worrying about the “what ifs” of future triumphs. It happens! To tackle this, try grounding yourself in the present moment. Also, it’s important to note that you don’t have to do life alone. Share your feelings with someone you trust. They might offer you a new perspective; something you hadn’t thought of but that lights you up. It's common to get lost in our past (afraid we won’t get over it) or worry about our future (afraid we’ll never figure it out) but recognizing this and asking for help can be your first step to easing the stresses of work. Learn to embrace the now, and you might just lighten that load.

Listen to your body, or learn to. Certain interactions or situations may leave you feeling anxious or stressed and your body will tell you when those situations occur via tense muscles, shoulders, stomach, and heart rate going up, shallow breathing and less eye movement. When you become adapt at tuning into these physical sensations, and when they arise, you'll be closer to knowing what's causing the dis-stress. Keep in mind that the body often picks up on this type of subtle stress subconsciously but can't avoid sharing the information as it doesn't have the filter that the mind provides.

Try various stress management techniques like mindfulness or relaxation exercises. -Start a journal to track daily stressors, emotions, and thoughts. -Ask colleagues or a therapist for insights and perspectives on your stressors. -Reach out to friends, family, or professionals for additional support and guidance.

There is a very simple tool to identify stress patterns in our lives. Create a daily journal which can be as simple as bullet-pointed notes about what happened in the day. At the end of the day, rate the day on a scale of 1 to 10. Continue to do this for a month. At the end of the month, match your journal with the ratings for the days. You'd be able to identify, to a large extent, the exact things that made you stressed and impacted your ratings of the day. On the flip side, you'd be able to identify the patterns that served you well on the good days. The easiest way to handle stress is to build on things that work for us and maximize our happiness. This isn't a tool that can solve all our problems but it is a great place to start!

We may not always be able to pinpoint the exact cause of stress, especially in the workplace. However, acknowledging it is a first key step. Tracking stress and its' level of impact, can help to begin identifying patterns and/or triggers about when the stress occurs and is at a peak. It's important to gain new perspectives so talk to trusted colleagues or friends; what's their take on things. Also try to take stock about how you feel when your 'stressed', what do you think/say and what actions you take. Changing even one aspect, even a little can bring about instant relief in all areas. Find ways that will allow you to 'switch off and recharge'. like walking at lunchtime, learn breathing techniques to reduce the effects of stress.

If you can't identify the source of your stress that's not necessarily a bad thing... Stress is often triggered by a belief (sometimes unconscious...) that we're in some sort of danger. It's kind of like a low-grade fight-or-flight response. To address this, take deep calming breaths and use the five senses to bring your awareness into the present: Notice items in the room, experience the sensation of the chair you're sitting in, notice sounds and temperature. While doing all that, repeat to yourself the phrase "I am safe..." This technique reassures your brain that the autonomic fight-or-flight response is not necessary, causing it to deactivate the alarm (stress) and calm you down.

Take a Kolbe A Index, then ask your manager to do the same. The Kolbe A-A report and Kolbe A-C report are fairly accurate about the root cause of your stressors at work.

Here are some strategies to regain control of your mind and live serenely: 1.Focus on one task at a time instead of tackling everything simultaneously to avoid feeling overwhelmed. 2.Accept what you cannot control: acknowledge that certain aspects of your work may be beyond your control. Focus on managing your reactions and responses to these circumstances. 3.Practice mindfulness and deep breathing to quiet your mind and release anxious thoughts. 4.Listen to your body's cues for stress and take regular breaks to check in with yourself. Implementing these strategies can help you navigate stress effectively and promote balance and well-being. Remember, prioritizing self-care and self-awareness is key to building resilience and serenity.

Receiving objective feedback is so important to truly understand where your work stress initiates from. it also strengthens your self awareness because you gain a clear perspective on how you behave and your actions versus what you believe you contribute. I find it truly helpful. Also obtain feedback with different types of people in your organization for clearer insight.

This can be identify by: - Observe which tasks consistently provoke stress reactions. - Note any recurring negative thoughts or emotions during work. - Identify habits that lead to procrastination or avoidance. - Assess how interactions with coworkers or supervisors affect stress levels. - Consider how work-life balance habits impact overall stress levels.

If you're stressed and anxious, figuring out and analysing may not be your friend. Take time to breathe, to allow yourself to be present. With yourself. Slow down, and allow being. Rather than more doing. Be curious about your breath and your body and what info they are giving you. Not only your thoughts.

Identifying what you're not doing right can be a game changer sometimes. Take the time to sit with a pen and paper and reflect on the things that are bothering you, be it at work or outside of it. Most of the times we are unconsciously affected by the other things going on in our life that causes the stress we are not able to pinpoint.

Focus on one thing at a time: While it may be challenging to identify specific stressors, concentrate on managing one task or aspect of your work at a time. Prioritize your tasks and allocate time to address each one individually, rather than becoming overwhelmed by trying to tackle everything simultaneously.

Analyzing your energy balance is essential... 1. What is costing you energy or in other words, where are you leaking energy? 2. What activities are neutral to you? No gain or loss of energy... 3. And most importantly, what gives you energy at the end of the workweek? What makes you smile? What makes you proud? On what do you want to look back after retirement?

I 100% agree. The fitter and healthier you are the better you handle stress and pressure. I always find that when my life is balanced with exercise and healthy eating, my work shines and the stress and pressure has less impact in my life.

Listen to your body: Pay attention to physical cues and sensations that may indicate stress or tension in your body. Take breaks throughout the day to check in with yourself and assess how you're feeling both physically and emotionally. Engage in relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation to alleviate physical tension and promote relaxation.

Managing our own health is essential, it may be a well used cliche, but none of us can run on empty. We all service our cars and keep the water, oil and fuel at optimum performance levels so why do we not do this with mental and physical health? Taking care of ourselves should be a priority, we have one body and life is not a trial run. As passionate, dedicated and skilled as we may be in our professional lives, no one is indispensable or irreplaceable but our health is. Factor in 'you' time on a daily basis, listen to your body for signs of stress or burnout. #selfcare isn't about expensive gyms, simplify it and incorporate walking, meditation, yoga, listening to music, journaling, practice mindfulness and grounding. Invest in yourself.

A good night of sleep is important to manage your energies. How you breathe during the day, will impact how you will go to bed and sleep during the night. Slow down your breathing during the day and daily 10 minute practices before going to bed will lower down arousal.

One thing I've found helpful is to zoom out and consider the balance in the 4 types of energy we have available: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual (purpose) energy. A balanced mental pillar means we engage both sides of our brain- the left one with precision and tactical tasks, the right one with creative practices. A balanced emotional pillar means we forge ahead and focus on achieving and we also take time to connect with others and share appreciation. A balanced physical pillar means we put in quality fuel in terms of sleep, food and movement and we also allow ourselves physical rest. A balanced spiritual pillar means we are true to our values in the activities we undertake.

Taking some quiet time to meditate and create some open space as opposed to working hard to find an answer and generate more stress. Additionally, a strategic approach may be examining a daily, weekly or monthly schedule and notice how I might be somatically reacting to what I notice. Do I worry about getting things done by deadlines? Are there things that I don't particularly care for and try and put off? Am I getting sufficient support (up, down and around). Asking myself if I enjoy the work that I'm currently doing? Would I find satisfaction doing other things? How do I feel about life in general?

Your brains work like a muscle. If you don't use it, you will loose it... Learning and developing skills at any age keeps you mentally young and agile. This both in your professional work / environment, as in your private social activities / environment. Learning a new trade, hobby, activity at any age, even after retirement makes you feel resilient and can give you energy for new personal development.

Investing in your personal and professional development through continued education and skill enhancement is a powerful strategy to combat stress. Acquiring new competencies not only boosts your confidence and reduces feelings of inadequacy but also equips you with practical tools to navigate and mitigate stressors in the workplace. Whether it's improving time management, communication, or leadership skills, each new learning contributes to a stronger, more adaptable professional identity capable of handling the complexities and demands of modern work environments.

As high performers, stress often finds its way into our professional lives, yet its root causes may elude us. However, it's crucial to understand that our response to stress is deeply tied to the state of our nervous system. In our pursuit of excellence, prioritizing the regulation and expansion of our nervous system is paramount. By fostering resilience at the somatic level, we gain the capacity to navigate challenges effortlessly and effectively. Your hard skills and traditional soft skills become even more impactful when coupled with a regulated nervous system. Today, being a leader with this core competency is not just advantageous—it's essential for success and fulfillment without sacrificing everything.

Equip yourself with a robust toolkit of coping strategies and stress management techniques. Attend workshops, seminars, or online courses focused on enhancing your communication skills, time management abilities, and emotional intelligence. By cultivating these competencies, you'll empower yourself to navigate workplace challenges with resilience and grace.

Presence is important. When individuals are stressed, they tend to live in the future foreseeing all what will come ahead. (and many things will never happen). Your breath and your body are the only 2 things which are always in the present moment. Cultivating awareness for the here and now by breathing is key.

Take a step back and try for the 30,000 view. Allow yourself to be in a safe relaxing place. Relax and ask for inner guidance. Write down whatever comes up. Keep asking, Is there more? Allow yourself to drift and daydream. The answer is waiting to appear. You may try this more than once and be ready to receive.

Learn to prioritise in your life and work. You may be stressing about something that may not happen. Focus on right now, today. Things that need sorting today.

Stress exists everywhere we look in our lives. Whether it be our place of work, our commute, our family or relationships. Discovering that stress is at the very least amplified by our internal dialogue and frustration is a key step towards controlling the controllables we experience. As a Hypnotherapist, I focus less on causality and more on reaquinting the person on changing their perspective and reactions. An example I use frequently is that being stuck in traffic will effect some to absolute road rage while others are unphased at all. What is different is the interpretation internally not the external situation. So as an affirmative first step look within to adjust what your outward reactions could become. Be well.

Consider hypnotherapy for two reasons It will help you clear stress and deal with situations in a healthier way It will give you clarity and the ability to identify the cause of your stress and thereby deal with it

It may not be the work which is causing the stress lookout for other reasons like relationship, personal life, lack of exercise just to mention few....

We are responding to the world with all of who we are, all the time. It's possible that at some point, you were unable to resolve your response and your body got stuck in a loop and is now dragging your thoughts and emotions with it. As I've said elsewhere, this whole body/mind/spirit is artificial. It's just different layers of the density of who we are. So, what happens in your body when you feel "stressed"? (a term originally only used for architectural structures, btw) Are you holding your breath? tensing your jaw? Whatever it is, begin a practice of reversing it. Let that coworker be your reminder to breathe. Then, you can assess what's actually going on and address it, if it still exists. Trust your body, not the story.

We need to learn how to Love ourselves as we can only give from the abundance of our hearts. We need to learn how to listen to our every feeling, as this will strongly guide us and those around us on how to attend to each of those feelings. There are times when circumstances overwhelm us, and we have to wait till we meet a Therapist to share with them what we feel. Somehow if we were open enough with those around us, if they knew how we felt, then there would be no need to postpone issues and maybe some of the root causes of stress would be eliminated early enough.

Perhaps the stress is not work stress, but life stress taken into work. Stress management is much more effective when we consider life stress as a whole, not try to just deal with stress in specific parts of your life. Stress from every aspect of life blends together and can affect all areas of our lives.