You can stay calm in your job (even under a stressful situation)

At work we have many situations that challenge our character and self-control.

It can be difficult to go through a high stress situation and not feel the impact in ourselves, so it is not rare to see people at the work place reacting in a highly emotional way by crying, shouting or even reaching the point in which they can have an anxiety attack.

But the truth is that any emotional reaction we might have under stress, is a reaction we will most likely regret. To avoid reaching that undesired situation, we can learn to control the impact of a stressful situation on ourselves and get ahead of the problem before it explodes.

But how? How do we prepare ourselves to handle stress and to have a logical and controlled reaction when we are under the pressure of stress, especially in the work place?

To help you navigate this kind of situations and keep your cool, here are our best tips to stay calm in your job even when things get hectic.

1. Don’t go with your first response

That is right, your first response when you are in a stressful situation will most likely be influenced by emotions that might confuse you. What you want is to handle things with calm and get the best outcome possible of a difficult situation.

So take a moment and hit pause, go through what would be your first response before you express it and analyze whether that is the message you want to send or not. If it is not, then give yourself the time to give the answer you know you want to give and react on time but being in control of the situation.

2. Don’t let things trigger you, including emails

Sometimes at work we receive news or comment that are essentially sent to trigger us and make us jump.

The answer to those mails or comments is NO. Don’t jump back feeling like you have to defend yourself.

Once again, give yourself the time to think about the answer you want to give and what would be more productive and smart, instead of sending an emotional message that might make things worse, especially for you.

3. Find the solution and move on from the actual problem

In stressful work situations is quite normal to see people drowning in the problems and going over and over the same comments and topic. That is focusing on the problem instead of focusing on the solution. That attitude only makes a stressful situation more stressful. Is unproductive and it also shows whether or not you are a resolute professional or not.

So there is the answer, be the light in the problem and focus on finding the solution, lead your team to the answer you need. Remember: if you don’t provide solutions, at least don’t provide more problems.

4. Be prepared

Problems will come and stressful situations will arise and some of them you won’t be able to avoid. So be smart and prepare for “the worst”.

This does not mean at all to become a negative “what if” 24/7 kind of person. Being prepared is not being negative, is being productive and resourceful.

So go through the most feasible situations and plan a strategy, be one step ahead an analyze your team, identify those people that you know would be helpful if things get crazy, so you know who to reach in case a situation comes up.

Also, be prepared to be strong and in control of your emotions whenever you have to stand for yourself before a stressful situation. Again, don’t let emotions define you and go through what you need to say, fight for and clarify. Be confident of your words because you have planned them and once you are done, stay calmed and strong knowing that you were in control of yourself and the situation.