New Year’s Day brings with it grogginess, reminiscences of the year past and the thought "Man — tomorrow, I have to get back to work."  (Unless you are like me and have to work today.)  Forget about making the usual New Year’s resolutions (stick to a diet, write The Great American Novel, conquer the universe) and take action to help you reduce your stress at work (or wherever you are going to be stuck most of this year).

By reducing work related stress, you will not only perform better at work, but you might have enough energy to start all of the New Year’s resolutions you broke in the past.

 Find A Point To Your Job

Viktor Frankl managed to get through Nazi concentration camps because he had a purpose in his life — to write his experiences down and get them published.  This resulted in the incredible book, Man’s Search For Meaning.  Now, I’m not implying that your job is as bad as a concentration camp, but at times it can make you feel helpless and very, very stressed.  Who would you rather listen to for advice on reducing work related stress — someone who survived the Nazis or someone who appears on Oprah?

The point is to find a point to your job.  What good do you do at your job?  Who depends on your job — either your performance or the paycheck?  Making money legally is hard — congratulate yourself that you do.  Finding a point to your job can help you get through another shift.

Turn The TV Off

How much time do television shows eat into your free time?  Having to keep up with these shows seems a job in and of itself.  Your free time should be spent in reducing work related stress and not making even more stressful situations for yourself.  Having the spontaneity to stare at a fish tank, read a good book or meditate gets greatly reduced when you spending too much time watching the telly.  Pick one night a week for no TV — or, at least, drop one show you would normally watch.  This will free up more time for you and help ease any home or work related stress.

Prepare What You Can

In order to help yourself with reducing work related stress, you need to get enough sleep.  Not all of us can spring out of bed wide awake every morning.  Look at your pre-shift routine and see what can be done before you go to sleep.  Set out your outfit for the next day, make your lunch, take a shower — all of those take up time in the morning that might be best used catching a few more minutes of sleep. 

Don’t Rely On Chemicals

The worst habit you can get into is to rely on some form of chemical to help you with reducing your work related stress.  You should not drink, smoke, stuff your face with junk food or take sleeping pills in order to force your body to relax.  I used to work the graveyard shift at a Kmart.  I depended on Excedrin PM in order to get groggy, and needed an entire can of soda in order to wake up.  My body got used to the pills, and soon I needed to take a handful in order to get a few hours of sleep.  I could not get groggy all by myself. It’s taken me many years to get over that.

Know When To Quit

There are times when you can’t quit your job.  But if you have a choice of being able to leave a job that’s making you miserable, do so.  Taking a handful of pills to get to sleep should have been a sign to me to quit.  Your instinct will let you know without a doubt when it is time to quit.  Trust it.  Even explore your options of how long you can last unemployed.  Prepare for unemployment.  That is perhaps the biggest way you can reduce your work related stress.  That way your employers can’t threaten you with firing you — the fear of that threat vanishes.

Hope this helps.

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