10 Mindfulness-Based Suggestions for Reducing Stress at Work

We all experience stress. Stress is a normal part of daily life including work. Stress at work can be positive like having a deadline that motivates you to complete a task or project or it can be negative like having to cope with long term work overload or under-load. Exposure to excessive negative stress can be harmful and trigger physical and mental health problems. So it’s in your best interest to maintain an awareness of signs you’re experiencing distress and be ready to address them before they become problematic. Here are 10 mindfulness-based suggestions you can do before, during and after work to help keep your stress manageable while building stress hardiness and resilience.

1.      Your first stressor of the day might be the ring of your alarm clock signaling to you it’s time to get up and get the day going. After you turn it off, take a few extra quiet moments for yourself to affirm your gratitude for the day ahead. Acknowledge that YOU ARE CHOOSING to go to work today. Being able to choose how you view your work can go a long way in determining how stressful work turns out being.

2.      Be mindful of as much of your process preparing to go to work as you can. I find this helps me to enter a positive head-space before I arrive at work. Try starting your day with 15 – 30 minutes of mindfulness-based activity like mindful movement/yoga to help you become aware of your body and breathing. As I leave my home in the morning, I’m aware of my walking, standing and waiting at the bus stop, riding and getting off the bus, and finally the walk into work. As I’m walking into my work-space for the day, I’m aware that I’m crossing a different threshold.

If you drive into work, try driving into work without the radio on. All that information about traffic, news headlines and yesterday’s sports scores may be informative but it can also be distracting and could be triggering your stress response without you even knowing. When you arrive at your parking spot for work, take a few extra minutes for yourself again to simply breathe deeply before you get out of the car and head into work.

3.      Try smiling at people as you walk into work. I once worked with a manager who did this all the time. No matter what was going on in her life or in the office, she made it a priority every morning to stop by and check in with each and every person who worked there and greet them with a smiling face. This simple gesture had such a positive impact on me and on many occasions, helped to lift my mood into a more positive one.

4.      While at work, take frequent mini-breaks to monitor how your body is feeling. Try mini-meditations of one minute duration to tune into your breathing on a regular basis throughout the day. Self-Care moments like these can help maintain focus and replenish your energy throughout the day.

5.      The ability to competently multitask (or “task switch”) may be a required skill for work these days but it can also create a lot of stress. Research supports it actually takes more time to get tasks completed if you switch between them than if you do them one at a time. Instead, reduce stress by focusing on doing just one thing at a time and giving it the full attention it deserves.

6.      Biophilia is defined as the inherent human inclination to affiliate with nature and it doesn’t require you making a special trip out into the wilderness. An urban forest close to where you work will do just fine. Make it a goal to get out for a daily walk in nature as part of your break at lunch. Set out to really pay attention to the environment around you using all your senses. Pause a moment to touch the bark of a tree, smell a flower, listen to the sound of wind moving through foliage, follow with your eyes a bird in flight or try foraging for an indigenous berry or two along your way. Slow down and just be for a while in nature.

7.      Consider “greening” your work-space with a plant(s). Evidence supports that plants in a work-space are associated with a decline in employee health problems like fatigue, headaches and complaints about dry hands and sore throats. People and plants share a rhythm of life; they both evolve, change, respond to nurture, live and die. Plants are non-judgmental, non-threatening and non-discriminating and in our unpredictable and ever changing hi-tech world, plants have a fixed cycle we can rely on.

8.      Think about how you can be more sensitive to the needs of your fellow workers and how you might help others at work. Communication breakdowns are often cited as a key reason for stress in the workplace. Improve your own listening skills by practicing mindful listening. Try to maintain focus during conversations with colleagues and wait for the other person to completely finish talking before you begin your response to them. Be aware of your tone and body language too when communicating with others.

9.      At the end of your work day review what you have accomplished and make a list of things you want to do for the next day. Prioritize what’s most important so that when you come back in the next day you’re starting from a place of awareness and clear direction of what you want to accomplish.

10.  As you are leaving work, make a conscious effort to let go the events of your work day and be aware that you are now entering into a different world “coming home”. As soon as you can when you get home, change out of your work clothes and into your home clothes. Take 5 minutes to just be quiet with yourself before you do anything else.

So there you have it; ten simple mindfulness-based suggestions to help make your work day a more healthy, positive and mindful experience.