Too much
of stress is bad for our health. And I believe the
stress is not coming from the work or environment. It is coming
from our thinking. I mean, it is generated by our own mind.
Many people think that stress is coming from the work( or your
boss ), environment or certain situation. It is not. When we are
facing something, our mind is generating the stress. It is also
saying that, we have the choice not to generate the stress, if
we can adjust our mind.
We may work without stress. It is all depends on how we think
when we are facing something. One of my regular jobs( on credit
card system ) is to solve or to find out the cause of system
problem. The System Support department always keep telling me
that "The problem needs to be solved fast". For me, I won't tell
myself or keep emphasizing that "I need to solve it fast". I
will tell myself, I just need to do whatever I need to do now
and I don't need to care about other things, just concentrate on
looking for the cause of the problem. By this way, the stress
does not exist at all. I just doing whatever I need to do now.
This is the most important part. I have to know what should I do
now. And the concentration is the first entity that making the
stress does not be generated at all. If I don't waste my time
and always be trying my best, even though I pass the due date or
due time, I won't feel guilty. But most of the time, if I really
concentrate on my work, I am able to deliver fast.
If you keep telling yourself that "I need to solve it fast",
then you can't be concentrate on your job. When time goes by,
you will be sweating and feel the stress. And sometime, how you
handle the job is important. For example, we received some
orders or directions from our boss or supervisor which is not
clear. We have to ask for the clarification instead of starting
the job blindly. This is common when we are a technical staff
and our boss is a management staff. Terms used by management
staffs usually are different from terms used by technical
staffs. As a technical staff, we have to get the correct
definition from our boss. When we know very well what should be
delivered, then there won't be any stress. You won't generate
the stress.
I fix my lunch time. Everyday I go out for lunch at the exact
time. I will forget about my work temporary and fully enjoying
my lunch time very much, no matter what I did during the working
hour. I may say, this is also a kind of concentration, I
concentrate on my lunch. In other words, balance between work
and privacy is important. I am also saying that I never bring
the job back to my home. I seldom talk about my work with my
wife, unless it is a happy event happened during working hour.
When I am at home, I will be doing my own job( on music ). This
making me no time to think about my work at office. I am the
kind of person, if you give me 25 hours a day I will still
telling you that it is not enough for me. I have no time to feel
boring. Where is the stress? It is not generated at all by my
working style or my thinking.
If you think you are facing too much of stress, please think
deeply and ask yourself, where does the stress come from. You
may practice what I do everyday. It is just a habit of thinking.
It is not difficult to practice it. The most difficult part in
our job probably is when we work together with somebody who does
not know very well their own job function. Some staffs may not
know what should they do and could not be taking their own
responsibility. They may affect us. Stress may be generated from
there. If everybody knows very well what should they do, there
should not be any stress.
If you are given a responsibility to complete a job within a
time frame, and if you can't complete it before the due date, as
I said, stress won't be generated with my mentioned working
style. There is another possibility that you totally can't
proceed with the job. I believe you have to report it to your
boss or supervisor, asking for help. Stress is still won't be
generated. If the job is totally owned by you ( you are the boss
), then you are generating the stress for yourself. By adjusting
your mind, stress is also won't be generated. Just like my music
business. I own Double Melodies. I try to get more traffic to my
website. I keep learning. Where is the stress? I won't generate
the stress on myself because I know what should I do for the
moment and I keep trying.
Does the game or competition gives us the stress? I play bowling
every week with my wife. I joint some bowling tournaments
before. When I come to the tournament, I won't tell myself "I
have to win". Every time I will keep reminding myself to hold the
ball firmly, to swing the ball consistently and keep staring at
the target( the arrow ) even after ball releasing. If I follow
all the rules which I set for myself, I usually play well. The
most important thing is, I may play well without stress and
pressure. You will have the stress if you keep thinking that
everybody is hoping you to play well or you think everybody is
looking at you. I believe, for all kinds of games and
competition, they are part of psychology game. If you are not
prepared mentally, you will lose the game. What does it means by
"prepared mentally"? It is just what you think and what you
can't think before the game.
Does the traffic jam gives us the stress? If we start our car
engine early( spare some time for the traffic jam ), we have
done our best. When we are caught in the jam, we can't do
anything to improve the traffic flow. If you think you have the
stress, then the stress is generated by your own mind, not by
the traffic jam. If you say, the stress is generated by the jam,
how come I don't have the stress? I enjoy driving in the jam.
There are a lot of beautiful scene you may enjoy at the jam. If
you worry that you will be late, then you are not live at the
moment. You are at the future. You can't do anything on your
future because you cannot control your future. What you can
control is the current moment. Please come back to the current
moment and enjoy the current moment, which is the jam. And
concentrate on your driving.
When you keep guessing on what will be happened, stress will be
generated. Guessing on what will be happened is a harmful
thinking habit. This is refer to what you can't change and
control. This is different from your planning. If we really live
at the moment, enjoy the moment, stress won't be generated. So,
have I prove that stress is generated by your own mind?
No matter what you are doing, please enjoy the process. Don't
keep thinking of the destination. We may think of the
destination only when we are doing our planning. And the best
way to live without stress is to avoid generating the stress,
not to keep thinking on how to handle the stress after it is
already exists.
By Fong Sau Weng
This article is written by composer of www.doublemelodies.com who is also a credit card system consultant for a local
bank.
