How To Have The Perfect Day At Work

By Liz Labrum

My friend who works from home was bemoaning yesterday how her workload is causing massive stress just now. What really upset her though was that despite working to the point of burnout nothing much was getting achieved.

That got me thinking how stress and lots to do go hand in hand. For most of us when we've too much work, our internal critic goes into overtime. Then in retaliation we get 'busy' but not necessarily productive.

This is because mentally we're not designed to be busy all the time. We work far better when we take breaks and allow some mental space for our natural creativity to lend a hand.

Give Yourself a Break
These breaks could be as simple as taking a walk to the other side of the office, or up and down the stairs. You could even hum a bit of a song out loud to snap out of stressful or anxious feelings.

It's a bit like the smoker who goes outside to have a cigarette break. It takes them away from the source of stress and gives their minds processing time to work out what to do next.

It's easy to get sucked into worrying and fretting in your head so that all day you're in a fuzz of anxiety that stops you thinking clearly and wears you out.

In fact working this way switches on your stress response and has you at high alert all day.

How did working life get to be like this for many of us?
The answer lies in all the beliefs we've absent-mindedly absorbed whilst growing up. Some could be from all those TV and Hollywood dramas we watched where the hero always solves all the problems and where everyone lives happily ever after. Others from adults in our lives that we somehow assumed were perfect. Either way it means we subconsciously believe that we must be perfect just like our heroes.

So we're acting on and living in the assumption that we can do it all and keep everything under control. It's like the story of that little boy keeping his finger in the dike hoping that would be enough to keep back the huge flood tide of water. We can all guess how things will end.

Avert this disaster by learning how to tap into the amazing mental abilities you possess. Put simply just give your brain clear instructions of what you want done. You do this by communicating in its language of imagination.

Here's an example. At the end of the day decide on next day's plan of activity. Keep your plan brief and limit it to just four or five things.

Then on the way to work next morning imagine yourself doing them and having got them completed. This will only take minutes but really feel what it's like to do each one and have them completed. Your brain is amazingly creative and when you apply this strategy it's like programming it.

During the day check in with your list of tasks and with your mental imagery of getting that stuff done. Do this especially when you're put off the scent by some interruption. It helps you build a sense of perspective so that you can ride out the rough bits.

Life won't change overnight and you'll still have too much work but what you are doing with these strategies is building resistance. You're changing from your normal stress response to one that's more flexible. Flexibility means choice and choice means you've more control.

From now on, everyday could be a mix of perfect moments around a mad day of demands and irritations.

Train your mind to mark out the perfect moments in your day. It's like setting a compass for a more enjoyable journey.

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Liz Labrum of Think-Right Now has helped hundreds of clients be more confident, less stressed, beat burnout, banish fears and bad habits. Her popular e-book Beat the Burnout Blues is a practical step by step guide that has benefited many. Visit www.Think-RightNow.com to download your free report Symptoms of Burnout and How to Recover.