The key to sustaining a worry-free, organised work day starts with healthy habits, good self-management, being a confident communicator, careful planning and always working out what to prioritise.

Here are some strategies to help you sustain efficient workplace habits, gain mental clarity during times of stress, and optimise your workplace performance.                  

Tackle challenging tasks first.

According to an article by Fast Company, psychologist and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin explains the benefit of making major decisions in the morning, and minor decisions as the day goes on.

Over the course of the day, each decision we make, whether major or minor, uses up our brains resource power. Due to this it is crucial to tackle harder tasks first when our decision-making abilities are at its peak. If we start with more strenuous tasks, we can complete them in a quick and timely manner before the brain reaches a point of fatigue.

Key takeaway: Design your schedule in alignment with your top priorities. If one task requires more brain power, maximise the first hours of the morning to bring it to completion.

Know What Triggers you.

What usually triggers your stress levels in the workplace? It is vital to be able to promptly identity our stress triggers and to distinguish the most feasible way to work past them. We can identify our stress triggers by noticing at what point we slip into self-defeating behaviours and procrastination.

Sometimes it may be a physical response such as a sore stomach or elevated heartbeat; other times its psychological, such as catastrophising when faced with rigid deadlines. The good thing is, you can always turn to mindful techniques to combat more challenging and anxiety-provoking thoughts. If you are catastrophising, for example, make it a habit to ask yourself the question: Does thinking this way help me to feel good or to achieve my goals? Thinking a goal-focused thought redirects the mind back to the task at hand.

Another tactic, is to just breathe. Breath work can help you to detach from intense emotions you may be feeling. Following some breathe work, ground yourself and make a conscious effort to find your inner calm. This will allow the trigger to pass by and give you more clearer thinking.

Lastly, a good idea is to create a chart specifying what your stress triggers are, along with ways you can move past them, and ensure that this list is always in front of you. Just keep re-reading it during the day, breathe and remain calm.

Key takeaway: Being able to identity your physical and psychological responses to stressful or frustrating situations in the workplace. Practice breathing, have your stress management chart in front of you and  keep practicing it. By revisiting these strategies time and time again, you will become an expert at knowing how to manage your stress.

Bounce off the People Around You.

According to an article by Mates4Mates, social interaction has been shown to lower cortisol levels which reduce stress and anxiety, and increase our coping skills. Don’t be afraid to speak up if you need a little nudge in the right direction about something. It is always nice to acknowledge the efforts of our colleagues and to seek advice from them when challenges arise, as it demonstrates our ability to grow from challenging situations.

In addition, if you find yourself struggling to problem-solve a task, you might just need to go for a walk, in order to calm your stress levels. This can help to refresh your mindset and give you a new perspective on areas of concern.

Key takeaways: If you’re feeling stressed, stuck or in need of inspiration, ask for help. This may help in developing new ways of doing things and reaching goals. Don’t be afraid to share your ideas as this can provide reassurance that you are doing a good job.   

Prepare for the Coming Day.

Want to kickstart each day with structure and efficiency? This is an easy yet extremely handy productivity hack! Write up your to-do-list the night before. Each night before bed, note down a short list of tomorrow’s priority tasks. Keep it as concise as possible. Include as little as 1-3 tasks to complete and place each in order of priority. Now you can wake up feeling reassured and confident you have a solid plan of attack.

Key takeaway: Create a to do list nightly to optimise a successful workday. You can take it one step further by previewing your days shortcomings and revise on ways in which you can complete tasks in a shorter timeframe.

Self-managing stress is tough. It involves understanding your reaction to stress, its causes and identifying what helps you manage stress triggers. Remember to utilise productive coping strategies (such as a stress management chart) as soon as stress kicks in and revisit these as many times as you need to during the day. Make sure to plan each day the night before and tackle the hardest tasks first. It is only a matter of time that you will become better at checking in with yourself and building on your confidence to manage your stress. The more you practice, the easier it will become. Overtime you will notice an improvement in your ability to reduce stress, and the process will become easier. You’ve got this, just have to stick at it.