Finding Professional Calm in Body and Mind

Amidst these turbulent times, it’s easy to get stressed out and distracted. Which is why we want to provide you with tips and tricks to help keep that stress in check, allowing you to find moments of calm no matter what professional obstacles you find yourself up against. These strategies involve finding ways to engage both body and mind to find composure, whether your stressors are coming from inside your workplace or beyond. Remember that with workplace obstacles, your ultimate goal is to let your inner strengths shine; doing so may mean adopting a shift to your mindframe to allow for great positivity. Cultivating your positivity is key. The pros we’ve turned to below offer up phenomenal methods for dispelling stress and negativity in both body and mind no matter the professional obstacles you encounter.

First up, Kevin Kruse at Forbes highlights steps highly successful people take to keep their stress in check in any workplace: “They View Stress as a Spotlight on Their Values. We feel stress when something we care about is threatened. This is so important, I’m going to repeat it: we feel stress when something we care about—something we value—is threatened. We might feel stress over money because we value money. We might feel stress over a big presentation to our CEO because we care about what the CEO thinks of us (we care about our career). We might feel stress over a five o’clock project deadline because we care about customer service. Knowing this, highly successful people realize they are feeling stress and pause to ask: what is my body telling me? What is it that I care about, that I think is threatened? When you have that answer, it’s easier to thank yourself for the warning sign. Your stress is like a spotlight on something you need to protect. So you can literally just say to yourself, ‘OK overactive primordial brain, I understand. I care about being a good mom, and if I don’t leave work on time I’ll miss my kids’ play at school. Now I’m going to work the problem…’” We love this trick because it involves taking an experience you’d generally find frustrating and instead finding its silver lining. Let stress help you discover your focus, allowing you to build upon your areas of professional strength. View stress as an opportunity rather than an obstacle, and you’ll be better able to control and minimize it, allowing you to move through it rather than being overwhelmed—which is a surefire way to impress any employer!

We also love this suggestion from Faisal Hoque at Fast Company for how to experience a holistic sense of peace in your workplace: “Control Your Breathing. Whenever we are anxious, we tend to take quick, shallow breaths. This is called hyperventilating, and it can make us feel dizzy, light-headed, and panicky. It can also interfere with our judgment. If you catch yourself hyperventilating, try inhaling a deep breath through your nose, holding it a second, and releasing it from your mouth. Repeat this exercise until you feel calmer. This is a form of meditation.” This tip is fast, easy, and free. And is an exercise you can do no matter where you are. So if you’re reading this, make sure to take a deep breath! In order to exercise your best professional judgment while on the clock, make sure you’re getting enough oxygen to your brain. Check in with yourself throughout the day. And allow yourself to take moments to practice controlled, deep breathing in order to ensure a sense of calm that you can maintain all throughout your work day and beyond.

In considering stress a source of strength by highlighting what you truly care about, you’ll be able to dial down its negative impact. Think of it instead as a bit of a kickstart to get you into gear to better focus on what you most care about in your role, reminding you of your unique strengths and allowing you to appropriately allot energy to further developing those. Along the way, make sure you’re remembering the connection between both body and mind, taking deep breaths to very literally allow oxygen to reach your brain! This will also help minimize any negative physical symptoms stress may be causing that interfere with your work day. So, keep calm and carry on. And visit us again tomorrow for a midweek mood boost with our Wednesday Wellness: Calm edition.

This posting is brought to you by Contemporaries Inc., one of the best temp agencies in Boston MA. Also available for payrolling employees in Boston and Greater Boston