Flow and excessive demands: How does stress arise?
// By Simone Janson
You know that: If you are really in a good mood, the work will succeed on its own. But if you are overwhelmed, you will soon succeed in nothing more. How are the problems and what can you do about it?
Do not stress yourself!
As a perfectionist, you probably have one thing more than you'd like: stress! A high-percentage hormone cocktail that affects your body - including side effects.
It does not matter to your body whether you are in trouble with the boss or are almost hit by a car on the way home - each of these situations is a perceived threat and your organism releases the hormone cocktail. The stress hormones have a particularly strong effect at the workplace
Stress factors
Don't you swear violently sometimes when the phone rings again and again? And don't you have a busy schedule that needs to be kept? And wasn't there Project X that you absolutely wanted to box through with the boss?
But be honest: as long as you have the feeling that you can determine your own work processes, you also manage your workload and your work is appreciated, the hormone cocktail will probably even inspire you - positive eustress.
Outside pressure
Your work becomes really stressful, however, if you feel that you cannot determine what you are doing or your commitment is not recognized. When the boss constantly criticizes you instead of praising you. If you don't get along with your colleagues.
Or if you notice that something is fundamentally going wrong in the company and that your suggestions for improvement are not being heard. Because then Distress spreads and your motivation, the initial enthusiasm for one thing, gradually fades.
Behavioral physicians have even shown in Europe-wide studies that stress hormones and blood pressure are significantly increased in 30 percent of employees if they struggle without praise. This proves that a bad boss, bullying colleagues and miserable working conditions can be considerable stress factors.
The reasons for stress
The causes of external stress are not always directly in the company. When the economic situation as a whole is bad, when the media repeatedly talk about the economic crisis and recession, the stress factors increase. Income that is too low, for example, or the fear of losing one's own job drives perfectionists to want to do everything even better - after all, you want to keep your job.
Productive work quickly becomes a constant drive and a real race for the boss's favor. Some bosses and their own, also panicked colleagues add to this anxiety. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for such situations. And there's nothing to gloss over about the fact that stress is often caused by external factors.
Stress - homemade!
But perfectionists who want to have everything under control, make significant demands on themselves, and also tend to see things in a simplified way, are particularly susceptible to such stressors. First there is the penchant for high demands and exaggerated self-criticism. If you can't find a solution to a problem, or if the mountain of files on your desk doesn't want to get smaller, then you were probably lazy or just incapable - wasn't it?
If you have exceeded your time budget by five minutes because of problems with the computer, is that a disaster - or how do you see it? And if the boss comes to your office once a day and, instead of praising you, inquires about the progress of the project and also makes a criticism of your work - you may think that the boss just doesn't do anything to you trust and you are sure to be released next week?
Don't make things worse than they are
Above all, as a perfectionist, you can do one thing particularly well with your pessimism and catastrophe tendency: talking about an existing situation is even worse than it actually is. And make them even more stressful this way!
In this way, some perfectionists turn every mosquito into an elephant that increases their stress hormone levels considerably. A normal working day then quickly becomes a single string of stressful situations. â ? oAll right now, â ? you might say, â ? oI am fine and I even need it! â ? You have already learned that eustress can be positive and why. Therefore, you should never avoid stressful situations; what is much more important is how you deal with the stress. The same applies here: everything in the right measure.
Homemade stress
Christina, coordinator for missions abroad in an international organization, did not think about it. Your busy schedule leaves little room for spontaneous tasks. So she gets completely upset when the boss briefly informs her at the meal counter: â ? oMorning in the meeting you will report on the successful assignment last week. It should only be a short report, don't worry.â ? But Christina has suddenly lost her appetite for lunch, and she does without the important energy supply.
â ? oOf course, the report has to be absolutely perfect, after all, it depends on the satisfaction of the boss whether I get a new project, â ? she encourages herself with her high standards and begins to write a script and design it a presentation. When she is finally done, she still has to do her leftover work. She closes far too late. But it cannot switch off at home either. Her thoughts keep circling around tomorrow's presentation and the question of whether everything is perfect. She cannot sleep at night.
Relieving stress and relaxation are vital. A simple but effective way to do that: do nothing or drive away. It works, but it's not always possible. Does this situation seem familiar to you? You are sitting on the sofa, a cool beer in your hand, there is an exciting thriller on TV - and you are thinking about your current project? Then you are probably like many other people who also do not always manage to leave the stress of work behind in their free time. Perfectionists who constantly place high demands on themselves and have a certain penchant for pondering are affected.
Practicing relaxation helps
Only one thing helps: actively and vigorously combat stress in order to break through the perfectionist thinking pattern. One way: Consistent endurance training that helps your body activate the cardiovascular system. If the body has too much energy when under stress, the organism can react through physical exertion. In addition, the autonomic nervous system is balanced and you are more likely to find inner peace. Endurance training also releases happiness hormones such as endorphins. Therefore, the training ensures a better mood and makes the organism more resistant to stress. In this way, exercise also strengthens the immune system and you are less likely to get sick. Finally, regular exercise also has an impact on blood pressure, which is often quite high among stress-stricken perfectionists. It ensures better blood circulation and an improved supply of oxygen. The blood vessels are also strengthened; this significantly reduces the risk of a heart attack.
A good exercise against pressure and stress: humor and laughter. Because humor helps not to resign even in seemingly hopeless situations, but to relieve the psychological pressure and to look at things from a new perspective, correct attitudes and discover new resources. There are very simple biological reasons for this: laughter loosens the diaphragm, our most important respiratory muscle. And proper breathing relaxes your body and mind. Try it!
What can you do?
For you as a perfectionist, endurance sports are especially good, which you can do yourself without pressure from the outside. These include jogging, walking, Nordic walking, cycling, inline skating, rowing, cross-country skiing - but also active fitness courses such as aerobics or Tae Bo. But be careful: Perfectionist natures with high demands quickly come under pressure to perform even when doing sports. It is important, of course, that you get yourself into sports at all; But don't set yourself too ambitious training goals, because what is important is that the movement is fun and good for you. Therefore, ball sports such as football, basketball or handball are rather unsuitable for you, since these games often require an aggressive style of play and there is a certain competitive pressure.
Don't look for excuses like: "I don't have time to exercise because I have to work so much!" By reading this text, you should have realized how important relaxation phases are for your performance. If not, you should read the "Planning and Organizing" section. Screw down your perfectionist demands at work and reserve some free time for balancing exercise - you have more of it, but also your boss. You will find out how to manage this time despite your busy schedule. If you don't really know which sport to start with, go to a club or gym. Many health insurance companies are now offering up to 90 percent reimbursement for preventive measures - inquire at your health insurance fund.
Relaxation in between
If you notice that the stress is gradually gaining the upper hand, but you still have to sit in the office for the rest of the day, you can still start an anti-stress program quickly: very suitable - and in To perform the office relatively inconspicuously - is the progressive muscle relaxation developed by the American doctor Edmund Jacobson.
During the exercises, individual muscle groups are tensed one after the other, the tension is kept short and the muscle is then relaxed again. You focus exclusively on the alternation between tension and relaxation and on the sensations that go with the tension. The goal of these exercises is to improve body...
