Ten tips to leave your stress at the office
10 December 2014
Read by 2180 persons
Clients are reluctant to pay, the team is struggling to meet its objectives... Difficult to live with. Yet, you're giving it your all. Consequences: you find it hard to disconnect, even at home. Learn to take mini-breaks to save your evenings and weekends. Advice from coach Nathalie D'Hoker-Lacour to achieve this.
When it's time to leave the office, you need to know how to deflate your professional worries. Firstly, so as not to overwhelm your loved ones when you get home. Secondly, to clear your head. A good way is to create a decompression bubble for yourself on the way home. Rather than having a liberating drink, pick from the following ten easy and quick techniques. Practice them daily like relaxing exercises and combine them according to your tastes.
Just before leaving the office
1. Do some cleaning. Sorting out papers that are lying around, stacking current files, tidying up pencils, quickly dusting is an effective "closing ritual". I also advise rereading your "to do list", the memo of tasks to be accomplished during the day that you have noted. Cross out the ones you have completed, it feels good. Then list those for the next day. By this double "kiss cool" effect your brain will be truly freed. I know the boss of a design company who, in addition to all this, repeats aloud every evening: "That's it, my files are safe, everything is fine, I can leave them!".
2. Throw a stress ball. Transform your stress into an object, a paper ball for example that you make. This is how the boss of an SME in the construction industry externalizes the evil every day, and puts it at a distance. Like him, knead this ball to vent your anger, then tear it up and throw it in the trash. Better yet, burn it, if possible. Symbolically, you will be rid of your worries for the evening.
3. Change your look. Leave your stress in the cloakroom, change character. From superman or superwoman, become the father or mother of the family or the good friend of the intimate sphere. Therefore, modify a coded element of your executive outfit. A man will remove his tie, unbutton the collar of his shirt, put on brightly colored socks. Women will swap their city shoes for flat or higher, or sportier models. And they will primp themselves at the sinks. Think about this place, it's a real relaxation airlock.
4. Escape on the internet. A leading Parisian lawyer practices two exercises to let go of business. He visits the Drouot website to follow auctions. Antiques are his hobby. Follow yours. There are plenty of hobbies to discover online.
On the way home
5. Lengthen the journey. It's about grabbing time to expel your tensions and refocus on yourself. On foot, slow down your walk, stroll, stop on a bench in a park to read a few pages, look at the sky. Hum along the way, it soothes. On the metro or bus, get off two stations earlier to walk. By car, stop at the bottom of your house, like this manager of a consulting firm, who takes 5 minutes or more every day in his parking lot to listen to the music he likes. Time to lower the pressure.
6. Play detective. On the way, pay attention to the smallest details. Set a theme, and conduct your investigation on everything related to it, the color blue, the way you walk... Do nothing but that.
7. Do the rounds of the "pots". Stop by the baker's, the florist's, etc. to chat. Go into the bar to see if you meet neighbors to chat for a moment, about your worries or not. The interest: connecting with nice people from a different world.
Arriving home
8. Put your smartphone in the "kennel". Unplugging this "electronic leash" is not enough, especially if you keep the device in your pocket at home. To avoid being tempted to open it at inappropriate times, find its place at home. My husband, associate director of an IT company, systematically places it with his keys on the entrance furniture near the door as soon as he arrives. This object is finally ejected from the living and sleeping areas.
9. Perform simple tasks. Some people rush home just saying "hello" before rushing into a concrete action that lasts 5 to 10 minutes: repotting a plant, repairing an object, hanging a picture, doing the dishes, etc. Their hands are then occupied. They break the infernal cycle of their dark ideas to concentrate on physical things.
10. Time your "work" speaking time. Ideally, you should never talk about your work with your family. Not easy, but you can do it gradually with the help of your spouse. Like this manager undermined by the closure of his luxury car dealership. Every evening, bogged down in his problems, he would pour out his feelings to his wife. And one day, he decided to force himself to limit this time of complaint and fears. He used his kitchen timer, setting it for 10 minutes. Then he went to 5 minutes. And quickly he no longer needed to time himself. He had internalized the duration of the set delay.
Marie-Madeleine Sève.
Posted online December 10, 2014.
Lexpress.fr
When it's time to leave the office, you need to know how to deflate your professional worries. Firstly, so as not to overwhelm your loved ones when you get home. Secondly, to clear your head. A good way is to create a decompression bubble for yourself on the way home. Rather than having a liberating drink, pick from the following ten easy and quick techniques. Practice them daily like relaxing exercises and combine them according to your tastes.
Just before leaving the office
1. Do some cleaning. Sorting out papers that are lying around, stacking current files, tidying up pencils, quickly dusting is an effective "closing ritual". I also advise rereading your "to do list", the memo of tasks to be accomplished during the day that you have noted. Cross out the ones you have completed, it feels good. Then list those for the next day. By this double "kiss cool" effect your brain will be truly freed. I know the boss of a design company who, in addition to all this, repeats aloud every evening: "That's it, my files are safe, everything is fine, I can leave them!".
2. Throw a stress ball. Transform your stress into an object, a paper ball for example that you make. This is how the boss of an SME in the construction industry externalizes the evil every day, and puts it at a distance. Like him, knead this ball to vent your anger, then tear it up and throw it in the trash. Better yet, burn it, if possible. Symbolically, you will be rid of your worries for the evening.
3. Change your look. Leave your stress in the cloakroom, change character. From superman or superwoman, become the father or mother of the family or the good friend of the intimate sphere. Therefore, modify a coded element of your executive outfit. A man will remove his tie, unbutton the collar of his shirt, put on brightly colored socks. Women will swap their city shoes for flat or higher, or sportier models. And they will primp themselves at the sinks. Think about this place, it's a real relaxation airlock.
4. Escape on the internet. A leading Parisian lawyer practices two exercises to let go of business. He visits the Drouot website to follow auctions. Antiques are his hobby. Follow yours. There are plenty of hobbies to discover online.
On the way home
5. Lengthen the journey. It's about grabbing time to expel your tensions and refocus on yourself. On foot, slow down your walk, stroll, stop on a bench in a park to read a few pages, look at the sky. Hum along the way, it soothes. On the metro or bus, get off two stations earlier to walk. By car, stop at the bottom of your house, like this manager of a consulting firm, who takes 5 minutes or more every day in his parking lot to listen to the music he likes. Time to lower the pressure.
6. Play detective. On the way, pay attention to the smallest details. Set a theme, and conduct your investigation on everything related to it, the color blue, the way you walk... Do nothing but that.
7. Do the rounds of the "pots". Stop by the baker's, the florist's, etc. to chat. Go into the bar to see if you meet neighbors to chat for a moment, about your worries or not. The interest: connecting with nice people from a different world.
Arriving home
8. Put your smartphone in the "kennel". Unplugging this "electronic leash" is not enough, especially if you keep the device in your pocket at home. To avoid being tempted to open it at inappropriate times, find its place at home. My husband, associate director of an IT company, systematically places it with his keys on the entrance furniture near the door as soon as he arrives. This object is finally ejected from the living and sleeping areas.
9. Perform simple tasks. Some people rush home just saying "hello" before rushing into a concrete action that lasts 5 to 10 minutes: repotting a plant, repairing an object, hanging a picture, doing the dishes, etc. Their hands are then occupied. They break the infernal cycle of their dark ideas to concentrate on physical things.
10. Time your "work" speaking time. Ideally, you should never talk about your work with your family. Not easy, but you can do it gradually with the help of your spouse. Like this manager undermined by the closure of his luxury car dealership. Every evening, bogged down in his problems, he would pour out his feelings to his wife. And one day, he decided to force himself to limit this time of complaint and fears. He used his kitchen timer, setting it for 10 minutes. Then he went to 5 minutes. And quickly he no longer needed to time himself. He had internalized the duration of the set delay.
Marie-Madeleine Sève.
Posted online December 10, 2014.
Lexpress.fr
