1. Work Stress and its
Management
Prepared by: Sabira Qamar Gilani
Manager Human Resources
Harvest Group

4. Nature of Stress
What is Stress
Signs and symptoms of Stress
Cause of stress
Factors affecting Stress
Performance vs Stress

5. How do you know
when you’re stressed?

6. What is stress?
 Feeling of being under too much
mental or emotional pressure
 The adverse reaction people have
to excessive pressure or other types
of demands placed on them

7. Signs and Symptoms of
Stress
 Signs: What you can see in yourself
and others
 Symptoms: subjective experience-
what you feel

8. Signs & symptoms

9. Performance Changes
 Difficulty in
concentrating
 Failure to prioritize
 Putting things off
 Loss of confidence
 Antagonism towards
senior colleagues
 Isolation
 Reduced quality or
quantity of work
 Absenteeism
 Time keeping issues
 Poor performance

10. Cause of stress at work?
 Limiting beliefs
 Not leaving the Comfort zone
 Poor Time Management
 Competition and change
 Uncertainty
 Being in the wrong job

11. Cause of stress at work?
 Unreasonable Deadlines
 Change in working practices
 Personality Clashes
 Office politics
 Not able to meet the target
 Downsizing

12. Psychology and Anatomy of Stress?
 Psychological factors
 Physiological Factors

13. PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
Its not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you
carry it

14. Limiting Beliefs
Belief: A thought not necessarily a
fact
 Related to person’s values
 can be learnt, accepted, experienced
or changed
 Influence your perception, judgment
against any situation

15. Limiting Beliefs
Core Beliefs
 Established from childhood
 learnt from parents or
 Other significant people around us
 Influence our behavior

16. Limiting Beliefs
Can cause a tremendous
amount of stress and hold us
back from being who and what
we would like to be.

17. Common Limiting Beliefs
 I can’t do that ….
 I have to eat everything on my plate
 Taking time for myself is selfish
 I’m too fat/not fir enough to go to the gym
 I can’t do it as well as others can
 I must be the perfect BDE
 I don’t like to say NO, its not nice
 I need
cigarettes/chocolates/caffeine/alcohol/drugs
to get me through it/help me to relax

18. Belief- I don’t have a chance of
Becoming a Trader (self talk-negative)
 No point of making calls
I know what will happen
It is very difficult
My health is affecting
because I am worried
Zero result
I prove my belief to myself

19. Belief: I have the potential to become
a trader (self talk-Positive)
I work and enjoy because
there is purpose to it
I can see my dream coming
true
I am more confident
I put my full attention
I meet the target
I prove my belief to myself

20. Personal Stressors
 Unrealistic Expectations we
have of ourselves- Life scripts :
fixed beliefs of how are lives
should be
 Comes from direct instructions,
by modeling behaviors to us, by
rewarding certain behaviors

21. 5 Main Personal Stressors
 Need to be perfect
 Have to be strong
 Always be helpful
 Should be stubborn
 Must be busy

22. Religious Quotes
 "Verily Allah does not change men's
condition unless they change their
inner selves" (Quran 13:11)
 TIE YOUR CAMEL

23. Religious Quotes
 “Cast your burden upon the Lord:
and he will sustain you; He will
never allow the righteous to be
shaken.”(psalm 55:22)
 “Cast your all anxiety on Him
because He cares for You.”
(1Peter5:7)

24. PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTORS
The body is the battlefield for the war games of the mind.”
—Brian Luke Seaward

25. Fight, Flight or Freeze?
Survival Mechanism –When your body goes
into these states, changes happen automatically
in your body

26. Fight, Flight or Freeze?
 Fight or flight response
– Stimuli from senses are sent to the
brain
– Brain deciphers it as a threat or not
– If threat, body systems are activated
for defense or escape, and stay
activated until threat is over
– Body returns to homeostasis
 Same response
– Whether threat is real or imagined
– Whether physical threat, or threat to
the ego

28. Signs of Adrenal Stress and
fatigue
 You might find it hard to get up in
the morning
 Takes longer to complete every day
tasks
 Forgetful and unable to concentrate
 Need stimulants to get you through
the day

29. Signs of Adrenal Stress and fatigue
 Feeling tired and lack of energy
even after lots of sleep
 Poor immune system
 Impatient
 Craving salty foods

30. Types of stress
 Eustress or Good Stress
– Good stress from motivating or
inspiring situations
 Neustress or neutral stress
– Stimuli that have no consequential
effect
 Distress or Bad Stress
– Nick name “stress,” includes acute and
chronic stress

31. Why do we care
if we’re stressed?
 Stress can help, or hinder our
performance
 Between 70 and 80% of all disease
and illness is stress-related

32. Stress Versus Performance

33. Stress vs Performance
Excess stress › Poor performance
› Dysfunctional
behaviour
› Health problems
› High performance
› Job satisfaction
› Involvement
› Optimum
performance
› Poor performance
› Dysfunctional
behaviour
› Health problems
Too little stress
Moderate stress

35. You may not be able to smooth out the
surf,
but you can learn to ride
the waves!

36. Manage your Stress Through…
 Recognition: Understand reactions
to stress
 Thinking Strategies: Managing
your mental state
 Health, Exercise and Relaxation
 Integration of Strategies

37. Thinking Strategies
“Begin challenging your own
assumptions. Your assumptions are
your windows on the world. Scrub
them off every once in a while, or
the light wont come in.”
Alan Alda

38. Thinking Strategies
 Selective Perception
 The compounding Process
 Filtering process
 Manage your emotions
 Positive Beliefs/Affirmations

39. Video

40. Focus on Health
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!
(Gillian Mc Keith)

41. Health Facts & Benefits
 60% of all world deaths are related to poor diets,
with people consuming high amounts of salt and
sugar.
 It is estimated that 30% to 40% of cancers could
be prevented with better diet.
 Eating healthy strengthened immune system
 Increased concentration and mental clarity
 Stabilizing hormones and mood swings

42.  Hydrate your body through drinking
water at least 12-16 glass of water
daily.
 Eat more fruits and vegetables
 Eat essential fats: Unsalted Nuts,
oily fish- tuna, trout salmamon
 Eat less meat approx 4% of daily
consumption

43. Exercise
 Dancing
 Walking
 Running
 Gardening
 Swimming
 Skiing
 Skipping
 Yoga
 Pilates
 Team sports
 Cycling
 Aerobics

44. Relaxation techniques
Breathing
Yoga
Massage therapy
Nutrition and exercise
Mental imagery and visualization
Music therapy

46. Stress Beating
Strategies

47. BREATHING EXERCISE

48. Time management
 Roadblocks
– Workaholics
– Multitasking
– Procrastination
– Perfectionism
– Can’t-say-no
 Myths about time
management
– Time is adjustable,
not fixed
– Time-management
techniques do not
work
– Being organized is
boring – longing for
the rush of crisis

49. Skills of time management
 Prioritizing
 Scheduling
 Execution
 Managing
interruptions
 Allowing for personal
time each day
 Organization
 Decision-making
 Delegation

50. Summary and Tips to Beat Stress
 Recognition
 Beliefs & Attitudes
 Positive self Talk
 Embrace Change
 Analyze your current
position and desired
position
 Healthy eating and
hydration
 Exercise
 Breathe
 Seek help
 Manage your time
 Take good Sleep
 Make a Plan, take
action