Work can make our lives so much more enjoyable – from making long-term friendships with work colleagues to money to fund our expensive lifestyles – but on the flip side, work can become seriously stressful when so much of our livelihood depends on it. And no matter what field of work you’re in, no one has a free pass when it comes to work stress – it’s inevitable.

We’re going to help you (along with the experts) deal with it whether it’s happening right now or you’re just looking out for your future self.

Why It’s So Important To Deal With Stress at Work

Work can be extremely stressful, especially when you spend more time at your 9-5 than you do anywhere else. If you’re stressed at work it’s hard to escape, and choosing not to deal with it can slowly but surely take over your entire life. “For many people, what you do for a living can be viewed as an extension of who you are as a person, making it difficult to always separate personal and professional life 100% of the time,” says Brittany Becker, LMHC & Director at The Dorm. “Stress can start to permeate into other areas making it harder to ‘switch off,’ gain perspective, and take the time to recharge.”

Sometimes a healthy amount of stress acts as a motivation to push ourselves further, if there’s no sense of urgency to do anything it’s easy to become static. But people who have this style of working often lose touch with how quickly their stress level is building. “Work stress, if unattended to head-on, often can easily begin to impact and mix in with other life stressors, which can lead to larger mental health concerns like anxiety or depression,” says Becker.

She insists it’s important for people to take moments to check in with themselves daily to be able to identify what stress is specific to work, as stress in your personal life will most likely need to be dealt with differently. When you know the source of your stress, you’re able to problem-solve or utilize a coping skill in the moment. “Having a daily work goal or intention is a great way to remind oneself to not only check in sporadically but also to be able to identify the difference between work stressors and other personal life stressors and keep them at bay,” says Becker.

When thinking about coping skills, activities like movement and mindfulness breathing can be incredibly helpful. “Work stress in all its different forms is a difficult but often inevitable occurrence no matter the field a person is in or the amount of time they have dedicated to their job,” explains Becker. So here are 10 ways you can show your work stress whose boss.

1. Embrace Movement

Especially if you have a desk job and find yourself glued to your chair for the majority of the day. There are many ways you can get moving such as “shaking out your hands and feet, stretching, doing a few jumping jacks, walking around, or putting on a song and dancing it out,” says Abby Ruben, LMHC at Humantold. If you don’t have privacy at work don’t just cop out and go for a walk.

If you really want to get your groove on, there are always headphones and a bathroom stall! Get creative with it (but breaking out in dance in the middle of the office would sure raise office morale.)

“Punching a pillow, throwing a cup of ice, singing at the top of your lungs, or forcing yourself to laugh even if you’re not in the mood are additional ways to release built-up energy and stress.” Ruben encourages you to allow inhibitions to fade into the background as you lean into whatever it is you’re doing.

2. Write It Out

Ruben reminds us that the goal of writing it down is to decompress, not to create a polished piece, so leave the highlighters, fountain pens, and fancy paper out of it. “Utilizing good, old-fashioned pen and paper is optimal, as it typically forces you to intentionally slow down a bit as you go,” she says.

This will help you break down your day and give you some time to come up for air. “While stream-of-consciousness brain dumps are often cathartic, especially when you’re feeling scattered, it can also be useful at times to ask yourself specific questions.”

For example, check-in with yourself by asking the following: How am I feeling right now? Have I had sufficient water and food? What would I tell a friend or coworker if they came to me with the same concerns? What is the absolute worst-case scenario, and how likely is that to happen? 

3. Eliminate Unnecessary Distractions and Interactions

Turn off digital notifications, close your office door, and mute the ringer on your phone – disengage from anything that doesn’t benefit what you’re trying to achieve. It’s easier to say “no” when there’s no temptation to begin with. “Make monotasking, completing one task at a time, your best friend,” says Ruben.

“While multitasking may feel desirable when overwhelmed, it ultimately detracts from the ability to focus on each specific task.” Set a timer with a realistic time frame to complete the task at hand. She explains that as a result, you typically end up spending more time on task completion than you would have if you honed in on one task at a time. Consciously slowing yourself down can go a long way. 

4. Create and/or Rearrange a To-Do List. Having a Visual Aid Can Be a Useful Anchor To Keep Yourself on Track

Ruben recommends playing around with listing out all of the necessary tasks that need to be completed for the week or for the day. Then arranging tasks by how difficult and/or time-consuming they are.

You can spend a little bit more time on this one making it visually pleasing as you’ll be referring back to it all week and you want something easy on the eyes. “It can be helpful to start off completing smaller, simpler tasks to bolster your confidence about successfully completing agenda items, as well as to see clear progress,” she says. 

However, some find that tackling the most difficult items first can then lead to relief, which makes other activities easier to manage. Try both techniques when completing your next to-do list and see what works best for you. Either way, “setting specific, measurable, realistic, attainable, and timely (SMART) goals set yourself up for success.”

5. Intentionally Allow Distractions for a Set Period of Time

“While they tend to get a bad rap, distracting yourself can be a healthy coping mechanism in moderation,” says Ruben. She suggests setting aside 5-30 minutes where you can completely disconnect from work. While this can be guilt-inducing for many, a break is not truly a break if you’re subconsciously punishing yourself the entire time.

Take a break, you deserve it, and to get the most out of taking one, truly believe that you do. Remember, taking time to reset and manage your stress will ultimately help you to be more effective thereafter.

“Connect with a colleague or loved one, watch a lighthearted YouTube video, listen to a podcast, or get lost in a frivolously fun game on your electronics.” The key here is to actually return to the work at hand when the time comes.

6. Ask for Clarification From Leadership

“One of the biggest causes of work anxiety is poor communication and lack of clarity around different projects and priorities,” says Michelle Duval, CEO and founder of Fingerprint for Success, an online professional and personal development platform on a mission to empower individuals and teams to work better together. Managers are busy people but they ultimately want their team to succeed.

“If you consistently ask for clarification on what’s a primary project and what can wait, you will see less competing urgent deadlines, and that can reduce anxiety.” Getting an understanding of the bigger picture will help you figure out what’s urgent and what’s able to wait so you can prioritize tasks in the correct order. There’s nothing worse than spending hours, even days, on a project that could have taken a back seat to find out that the one you neglected was needed asap. 

Once you have clarity on your projects, insert these dates into a monthly calendar with a weekly or daily breakdown of what you need to do to complete each one. This way if you do fall behind, you’re able to notice and implement a backup plan before it’s too late.

7. Incremental Thinking

Rather than trying to achieve everything in one go, or seeking perfection, Duval recommends working on things in steps and stages. Don’t think of a project as a whole. For example, writing a blog outline, writing the first draft, editing the draft, writing a second and, if needed, final draft.

“Doing something to get moving – no matter how small it may seem – can help with procrastination.” Celebrate the small wins on the way to get the momentum going and before you know it you’ll be powering through bigger tasks. 

8. Eat Regularly

“When there is stress at work, many people tend to stop eating,” says Duval. “This can cause blood sugar drops and all sorts of issues which increases adrenaline and cortisol in our body.” Eating regularly can help to reduce stress.

Set yourself a consistent routine with healthy eating habits that include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. But make sure it’s healthy-ish, as eating large amounts of junk food is bound to make you feel worse – you don’t want to be stressing about putting on weight too!

9. Take Frequent Breaks

We aren’t meant to be switched on all the time. “In fact, according to research 55 hours a week is our ceiling on productivity, and most humans can only work optimally for 52 minutes and need at least 17 minutes off to reset,” explains Duval. Most of us shy away from frequent breaks because they’re seen as “unproductive,” however, they’ll actually help you perform better and feel less work anxiety.

No matter how busy your day is you have time for small breaks if you schedule them in. It’s hard to find time during the day for breaks if they’re not on your to-do list when you’ve got lots of things to do that actually are. 

10. Sleep Well

Getting a good night’s sleep is essential when fighting off stress. If you’re tired you’re less likely to be able to tackle anything the day throws at you, and for some of the fields we work in, it could quite literally be anything.

“It can feel really hard to sleep when you find yourself worrying about tomorrow’s list of things to do at work, but getting seven to nine hours of sleep has been proven to reduce stress by giving you more resilience,” says Duval. Getting enough hours of sleep per night will help you start each new day with a renewed vigor and focus, which can help to reduce work anxiety.