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Tips to Manage Your Emotions at Work

Guest post by: Terri Levine

Article Overview: It's hard separating our work and private lives and our experiences tend to color our days and overlap each other. But there is a time and a place for everything, and the professional environment of your workplace is not the right environment for unleashing the animal in you. Here are some tips for keeping your emotions in check.

Tips to Manage Your Emotions at Work

You're probably familiar with the advice that you shouldn't take your private life to work; that you should keep the two separate. And maybe you have experienced days when you found keeping the two separate difficult. Anything that makes a strong impact on our lives, whether it be work related or private, is going to be with us whatever we are doing, wherever we are. We can't just switch off mentally, for example, when we are experiencing extreme financial problems, going through divorce, trouble with a boss or co-worker, etc. We end up taking our work problems home and complaining about it to our partners, and taking our private problems to work with a grumpy attitude and complaining to our workmates. (Well, some do!) Problems arise when we can't manage our emotions, especially in the workplace, and we allow our feelings free expression. The workplace provides neither the time nor the place for emotional meltdowns, and even if you have sympathetic workmates and an understanding Boss, you will find little tolerance in the long term for emotional outbursts. Fortunately, there are some things you can do before too much damage is done.

1. Identify the source of your problem. You need to know what's really wrong before you can fix it. If it's work related, speak to your Manager. Maybe it is possible to change your work tasks, or maybe you want to try a different job or department altogether. Maybe you want a career change. Whatever the issue is, it won't go away by ignoring it.

2. If your problem is home-related, utilize self discipline at work - your workmates are not responsible for your private problems and do not deserve to be 'grumped' at. It has nothing to do with them. Keep it that way. Speak to a therapist or counselor or trusted friend - all healthier and more appropriate outlets for your emotional angst.

3. If it isn't a specific work or home related issue, maybe you are simply the victim of stress. Stress doesn't only result from major life challenges or dramas; small things can build up, such as too many people placing too many demands on you, one too many disappointments you have been forced to swallow due to other people's thoughtlessness or lack of planning, etc. Stress can display itself physically and emotionally, and many a regretted outburst has stress as its source.

Take steps to relieve your stress. Learn relaxation techniques. Take regular breaks. Stretch. Walk. Learn breathing techniques to help calm you. Consider relaxation and meditation tapes. Join a yoga or tai chi class. Make sure you include "me" time in your weekly schedule so you can recharge your batteries and simply "feel better".

4. Learn to say no. People will only take advantage of you if you let them. It's not possible to please everybody all the time anyway, so why stress yourself trying? It just isn't possible or realistic to do everything everyone else wants when they ask. Point that out to them when you tell them No. There is only one of you to go around, after all!

5. Are you a perfectionist? Get over it already! Nobody is perfect. You are your own worst critic. We are allowed to be imperfect and as humans, we make mistakes. Beat yourself up if you refuse to learn from your mistakes by all means, but don't beat yourself up for making mistakes in the first place. Mistakes help us learn and give us valuable lessons and experiences.

6. Learn healthier ways to express yourself without losing self control. If you are losing your temper take deep breaths and count to ten before you reply, or excuse yourself and return later when you can be calm. Don't respond when your emotions are high.

7. Learn how to be assertive, not aggressive. React to others rationally and not emotionally. Again, take deep breaths before you speak.

8. If you can view things from a different perspective, you can more easily control your emotions. If others are seeing roses and sunshine, and you can only see thorns and clouds, remember every cloud has a silver lining... look for your silver lining and try and be happy for that, knowing that winter never lasts forever and your summer is just around the corner.

Ultimately, exploding or remaining calm is a decision that only you can make. One of the pleasures of being human is having the choice. But remember this, life is too short to spend it being miserable and alienating yourself from others with your misery or inflicting it on them - they don't want to be miserable either!

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Article Tags: emotions, managing your emotions at work, self control, stress management



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Business Tips - How about: Tips for managers to handle employees more effectively? Tips on how to deal with difficult customers? Tips on how to deal more effectively with suppliers? The only three I have in mind right now, but will try to come up with something else. Chris
Re: What's your top tip for balancing your business and taking t - Proper Work management meeting your all deadlines....
Re: Five Personality Traits of Successful Business Owners - 1. Focus 2. Ability to Adapt 3. Hard Work 4. Good planning 5. People Skills
Re: Books for the Entrepreneur - Another great book for internet entrepreneurs is The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris MichelleJ
Try wikipedia.com for more information - That depends what type of business you are involved in. Maybe if you share that, we can help you a little better. I work mostly in the Work at Home industry so my advice would only be along those lines.


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