Mental Health Awareness Week 2018 aims to raise awareness of stress and how to cope with it. Research shows that two thirds of us experience a mental health problem in our lifetime and stress is a key factor in this (source mentalhealth.org.uk). At mentalhealth.org.uk, they focus on creating working environments where everyone feels values and supported. A big part of this is managing the day to day activities that can contribute to a stressful working life. You can find lots of resources and help here.

At FPSG we have been looking at ways to cope with stress at work by managing workloads. We asked our Office Manager, Richard Puglisevich, to talk us though his top tips.

1. Lists

Good old lists. Listing things helps you ease your memory a little as you won’t need to worry about remembering everything that’s still pending and hoping you haven’t forgotten something. If you write it down you’ve already taken a huge step forward.

(It also feels great crossing things off once you’ve completed a task)

2. Prioritise

See what’s urgent and what’s not. (Easier to do if you’ve listed things down.) It helps you focus that little bit more. One way of prioritising is by seeing who will bite your head off the most and ranking them higher on your list. Colleagues tend to back off if you tell them you’re working on something for someone higher up the food chain.

3. Finish the task before moving on

Starting up one task, to put it down five seconds later isn’t the best thing to do. Try finishing tasks to completion before moving on to the next one.

4. Notes

Write notes. Anything you can think of that will help. If someone’s giving you instructions or ideas, jot down everything and anything you can. They’re things you can refer to later on and will definitely come in handy in remembering what you need to do. Especially if you’ve put off doing it for a while.
You should also write down all your ideas as soon as you’ve thought of them. Even if you weren’t working on that particular task. You run the risk of forgetting later on if you don’t!

5. Getting rid of the quick and easy things first

Might seem like cheating, but it does actually help!

You’ll find loads of articles saying not to do this and to focus on the big stuff first, but I find dealing with the quick and easy tasks first reduces my stress levels at seeing all the things that need to be done.

It also makes you feel good crossing things off your list. It may seem petty, but it gives you the confidence you need to accomplish more of your other tasks.

It can even give you peace of mind. If you decide to put them off and focus on something that might be more important, but will take you ages to finish, you’ll still have the little things in the back of your mind whispering in your ear and causing you to lose focus. Getting rid of them quickly will do wonders for your focus.

Let FPSG help you meet your recruitment goals by contacting us on
0870 050 0525 or hello@fpsg.com

Author: Richard Puglisevich