The Biggest Challenges With Stress At Work and The Most Important Thing To Do

Workplace stress is a common theme these days. And, with all the expectations in our days between our work and personal life, it’s easy to let the stress take over. It doesn’t have to be this way though.

I spent the past summer researching the biggest challenges professionals face when it comes to stress at work. As a result, I’ve put together the single most important thing to do, as well as practical strategies based on science, experience and results, to help professionals be at their best without letting stress get in their way.

As part of the research I conducted, I asked a simple question of corporate leaders and other professionals: “When it comes to handling stress well at work, what is your single biggest challenge frustration or problem you have been dealing with?”. I had over 250 responses and learned some surprising results.

I’ll get to those results, but first, I want to share why this topic is very near and dear to my heart.

I work with corporate leaders and others professionals who want to be the best version of themselves so that they can perform better, lead stronger, and simply, enjoy their days more.

And I used to really struggle with stress getting in the way. A lot of it was on the inside, and people I worked with didn’t even realize what was going on — I showed up engaged, calm and in good spirits — yet on the inside I was feeling quite differently.

Three years ago, I had an amazing corporate job. I was a high performer AND at the same time felt weighed down by all the expectations.

For years, I regularly found myself working evenings and always being “on”. It got to the point where it was affecting my relationships and I was constantly tired.

At the time, I didn’t understand the impact and I certainly didn’t realize I had more choices available to me. I thought it was just the nature of my work and the way it is.

But eventually I knew something had to change, so I made the decision to stop working outside of business hours – at the busiest time in my corporate career. Breaking this habit was challenging . . . and one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

I learned to leave work at work, and felt in control, performed better, accomplished what was most important (because it forced me to get clear on my real priorities) and changed my mindset to: “There is always a choice”.

But what I then found was that keeping up with all the demands during the work day left me with little energy and presence for my family or personal time at the end of the day. I made a few other changes, yet the stress was still there . . . just different.

So, in my last-ditch effort, I quit my job and left my great corporate career. I told everyone it was because I wanted more flexibility and fulfillment (which was true), but deep down it was because I felt out of options. That choice was my way out.

How is it that I had a great job, felt valued and a good salary, and I still wasn’t happy and feeling successful? I saw many other professionals feeling the same thing – they were brilliant and feeling overwhelmed or frustrated, so not showing up at their best.

That question drove me crazy so I started to read many books, spending hours researching, talking with others, and training on what really enables people to flourish and perform at their best. It opened my eyes to what really fuels our performance and success based on science, which is the focus of my work now.

And learned the single most important thing we all can do that makes a real difference. Now it seems so simple, yet at the time I didn’t even consider just how big of a difference it makes.

The biggest challenges when it comes to stress at work

From my research asking corporate leaders and other professionals their biggest challenges, a few themes consistently showed up when it comes to stress. What I heard from people, and have experienced myself in the past, are common challenges such as these . . .

The stress that comes with no time for all the things to do in a day – to be an effective leader, make informed decisions, projects, emails, issues, exercise, family, bring people along – it’s a lot!

Or when you are committed to high performance and constantly feel you are walking a fine line between that and being weighed down by all the expectations.

The feeling when the pace is moving so fast and things keep shifting or unclear, and it’s hard to keep up. And you are continually expected to do more with less and you feel spread thin.

Or you feel the need to work long hours just to keep up and think about work at home when you want to be focused on your family. You just want to leave work at work.

When you feel stress dealing with a colleague or manager you find hard to work with. They don’t listen to your ideas and you don’t feel heard. Or they just don’t understand the real issues and what’s really going on.

When you are frustrated by your employees, or on the flip side, leadership’s unwillingness to make changes that will enable success, and you feel stuck or out of options.

Or it’s more inside, and you are putting pressure on yourself to always deliver high-quality work. Some days, you feel stressed that you are not able to meet everyone’s expectations and worry you’re not enough.

Self-doubt and worry take over, and you feel weighed down or it gets in the way of you taking meaningful action forward.

Here are the four key themes that arose:

• Workload: I am dealing with many tasks, priorities, deadlines, expectations from others or constant change at work

• Balance: I don’t have the balance I want between my work and personal time, such as taking breaks, leaving work at work or presence and energy for my family

• Other people: Other people are not meeting my expectations, lack perspective or are difficult to deal with at work

• Internal: I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform, worry about letting people down or doubt my abilities at work

The most surprising thing I learned is the biggest response was around stress dealing with other people (I thought it would be workload!)

Which of the biggest challenge themes best describes your situation?

Single most important thing to do

Dealing with stress well, no matter what’s going on or your challenge, is a crucial skill for any leader and professional.

CLICK HERE to download your copy of the Be At Your Best Roadmap.

What Next?

You can sign up for Stacey's masterclass, The Confident "No" here.

Stacey L. Olson is a Leadership and Certified Positive Psychology Coach, has 15 years of corporate experience and has gone through her own transformational change from burning out to balanced in life while performing at a high level (both in her corporate career and own business). She works with professionals who want to work less, live more and be their best even with all the demands, high expectations and messiness of everyday life. Stacey is the founder of The Balanced Leader™ program and offers executive and leadership coaching, workshops, and speaking.