Stress is almost always a part of work. However, there are some occupations that are naturally more stressful than others, due to the type of service or the industry to which they belong.
If you are subjected to these stressors on a daily basis, you simply must implement ways to reduce the amount of stress you have to cope with.
In reducing your exposure to stress, you will become more productive in your chosen occupation.
Medical Care Professions
Doctors, nurses, social workers, or medical assistants have particularly stressful jobs. The nature of the job in itself is quite difficult, given that the health and well-being of others are at stake, and there is always that added pressure of your action potentially resulting in a negative impact to one’s health. Effectively. this means there is no room for error, making these occupations ones with especially high stress levels.
To learn tp deal with stress you must first identify its source, in order to find the appropriate coping mechanism to employ. If a Doctor or other medical professional is able to do this, it certainly reduces the possibility of making what could be, a fatal mistake in their work.
Law Enforcement Jobs
As with the medical profession, there is undoubtly an enormous amount of stress in law enforcement. It is, after all, their responsibility to protect the community and maintain peace and order.The amount of personal risk can be enormous as law enforcement officers are forced to put themselves in extremely dangerous and highly stressful situations.
You can reduce stress in your profession by giving yourself timely breaks which allows the body and mind to recuperate and rejuvinate. As law enforcers typically have a lot of work on their plate, having proper time management and organizational skills will also assist in dealing with stress.
Teaching Professions
While many enjoy the teaching profession, often people in this field will tell you that there is a high level of stress involved, as they deal with many children who can be difficult. Inner city teachers find their jobs particularly stressful due to high levels of crime in the area and often the children they are teaching have been exposed to violence and crime, and as a result do sometimes have behavioral problems that a teacher must also cope with, in addition to actually educating the child. Teachers are also often under close scrutiny by the community at large.
Teachers can deal with these stressors by trying these strategies:
• Try to be patient and calm, particularly with those students who are more difficult than others. Perhaps over time with patience, you can develop a deeper emotional relationship with these children.
• Set realistic goals. When you aim to teach your students something, understand not every child will learn at the same pace. Some will take longer than others, so your schedule to have something in particular taught in one day may well blow out to two days. Rather than get frustrated, try to factor this into your planning from the outset.
• Take care of yourself, whether physically or mentally.
Jobs Involving Sales
Sales roles can be very stressful as your livelihood is often dependent upon your ability to produce sales. Jobs involving sales therefore require you to meet high levels of standards and often require you to deal with the public and their demands. Since most of the stress involved in this job is associated with the results, learn how to set your goal and then forget it. Get on with using your skills and creativity to sell the service or product in your own unique way. Nobody likes a salesman with a hard sell approach and if you are constantly worried about meeting your target then you may well become one of these salesman and thwart your efforts in the process!
Telecommuting Jobs
Can be a stressful occupation, what with having to meet deadlines, to taking care of multiple clients and their inquiries. One way to reduce stress in this instance is to examine ways in which you can become more organised. Organise your day in such a way that you can accomplish what you set out to do, however with proper breaks built into your day so that stress if reduced. Make sure in this type of occupation, that distractions are kept to a minimum as these impact greatly on your ability to produce, and hence, cause more stress.
Whenever you feel stressed out, give yourself a break and do some deep breathing. Try to slow down, take 20 minutes out of your day to meditate, and you will amazed at how less stressful you will be. Bottom line is the lessed stressed you are in the workplace the more productive you are.
By MaryAnn Roche
Coping with change can be high on the stress inducing list!