Do you know your stress signals?
If I was to ask you to tell me what your stress signals were, would you be able to tell me? And more importantly, if you do know what your stress signals are, do you listen to them?
Burnout is defined by the World Health Organisation as “…a syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Therefore knowing what our stress signals are and being able to act upon them is crucial when it comes to avoiding burnout.
So what can you do? The first step is to give yourself the time and space to be able to evaluate where you are. Are you experiencing stress? Is the stress manageable or do you feel overwhelmed by it? Are you doing anything about reducing the stress you are under? Becoming aware of where you are is the first step towards making a change.
And that’s why I love The Steps of Stress scale that has been put together by Marie Kingston and Malene Friis Andersen, who are the authors of Stop Stress - a Handbook for Managers. This great tool which you can see above is such an easy way to identify where you might be in terms of your stress levels. It makes it a little bit easier to identify how you might be feeling when it comes to stress and you can clearly see what might happen if your stress levels continue to rise.
Whether it be the Stress Steps or another tool, identifying and talking about where we are at when it comes to stress is crucial in order to be able to avoid moving from feeling maybe a little bit Heated to total Meltdown or Burnout!
So where would you place yourself on the Stress Steps? Do you feel confident in how you manage your stress or would you like some support to reduce it?
Look out for my next blog which will include tips on reducing stress and improving those all-important boundaries between work and play.
Linda x
If you are an organisation and would like support for your Managers on how to talk to their staff about stress management and overall well-being then I provide a workshop on exactly this! Why not email me to find out more hello@lindaloftsdottir.com