Deal with stress due to a burden of responsibility

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How potentially stressful situations affect us not only depends on our character, education and experience, but also on our level of responsibility. If our responsibilities increase without us being prepared for it, we might suffer from stress due to a burden of responsibility.

What is stress due to a burden of responsibility

This type of stress can affect us when the possibility of a small mistake can have serious consequences. This may be the case of professions like air-traffic controller o surgeon for example. In this type of job, the worker needs to maintain total concentration during a long time period and a brief distraction can have fatal consequences.

But these are not the only jobs where one may suffer from this type of stress. Executives with responsibility over the fulfillment of certain goals and in charge of people may also succumb to it. Same as business owners and entrepreneurs due to their responsibility over a business.

And even though we might not have one of those jobs, being responsible for dependant family members or being the only source of income in a family might also lead us to suffer from stress due to a burden of responsibility.

Symptoms of stress due to a burden of responsibility

Same as in the case of stress due to overload, it is common to feel anxious, tense and overwhelmed. We might feel like we carry the world upon our shoulders. This can lead to mental block, thus not being able to decide which task to do next or which decision to take. Or, if the burden is a private matter, it may prevent us from being able to concentrate well on our job due to feeling overwhelmed by our obligations.

In both cases, this may cause procrastination. But we may also enter a vicious circle of thinking that things will not work without us. It turns out the stress can be addicting.

If symptoms worsen we may suffer palpitations, serious anxiety or panic attacks and depression.

Carry the world upon your shoulders? It may be #stress due to a #burden of #responsibility Share on X

How to relieve stress due to a burden of responsibility

Dealing with this type of stress involves a combination of becoming aware, looking for a good balance in our life, reviewing our responsibilities and setting up a good organisational system.

Becoming aware and looking for a balance

Become aware and relativise

The first step is to analyse what stresses us exactly and think about what could be the worst that could happen. In case of the surgeon and air-traffic controller the answer is obvious.

But in other jobs and issues it is helpful to realise that it usually is not a matter of life or death. Therefore, we need to relativise the importance of what stresses us so much.

To relieve #stress, become #aware of what stresses you and relativise its importance Share on X

Worrying about what has not happened yet is no use

Although it might be a matter of life and death, we ought to remember that worrying about things that can happen but have not yet or maybe never will, will only overwhelm us. It will lead us to not enjoying the present moment and the good things in our life. What is more, we will have a hard time concentrating properly on our work.

Look for the balance

In executive jobs and those with a high level of responsibility there is usually a tendency to work long hours. But an executive or businessperson are also human beings after all who need to take care of themselves and not neglect their private life.

In order to perform at our best, our body needs rest and good nutrition. Otherwise we will feel a negative effect on our ability to concentrate and make decisions. Therefore, do not skip meals and take care of what you eat in order to provide your body with the necessary nutrients.

As well, take regular breaks throughout the day in order to disconnect even just for a few minutes. Get up from the desk to stretch your legs and back or take a little walk to clear your head.

When planning your agenda, remember to keep time buffers between meetings and reserve time blocks for tasks requiring some thinking. I often see agendas full of meeting marathons which do not leave time to breathe, rest or even work.

Finally, same as you plan meetings why not plan also sports, wellness and leisure activities which allow you disconnect from work and recharge your batteries.

Your colleagues or collaborators will appreciate rather working with a rested and well-balanced person than one addicted to work.

A #relaxed and #balanced person is less prone to suffer #stress Share on X

Live the present

As executive or businessperson it is usual to work towards the future, making forecasts, projections, strategic and actions plan etc.

However, that should not send you into a spiral of anxiety and worry for the future, making you neglect the present moment. With that I do not mean to say you should work reactively as issues come up. But that, after making plans for the future, you decide the next steps. Then return mentally to the present in order to work with concentration on the next step bringing you closer to your goal. All this, without worrying about how far the goal is away, about not being able to achieve it or about all the could go wrong. One thing is being far-sighted and another being a misery guts.

If you have a hard time with this, you might want to introduce Mindfulness into your life.

Making #FuturePlans should not cause #anxiety and #worry. #LivethePresent to relieve #stress Share on X

Organise and delegate

Review your responsibilities, priorities and goals

I suggest you take time to review all your obligations and tasks. Write down everything that is going through your head. Because this simple action will help you become more aware of what is on your mind and gain perspective.

Then analyse whether these obligations are inevitable. Perhaps there are self-imposed commitments which do not contribute to your life or goals but do create pressure and stress.

Also clarify which are your priorities and main goals.

#Overwhelmed by your #responsibilities? Check if there are self-imposed #obligations. #stress Share on X

Do not fall victim to micromanagement

When we feel overwhelmed by our responsibilities it is easy to fall into the trap of getting done any task in order to give us the feeling of being busy. But if we do not dedicate time to priority issues, at the end of the day we will still feel the pressure of overload; and have the feeling of not having achieved anything.

Therefore it is essential to be clear about your priorities in order to dedicate your time to what is important and work effectively.

#Micromanagement gives a feeling of being #busy but is not #productive. #stress Share on X

Learn to say “no” to certain commitments

Knowing better your priorities will also help you refuse certain commitments and thus alleviate your agenda and workload. Sometimes we get inundated with invitations to meetings, events, requests for help and so on. For this reason, you need to realise that you cannot do everything and you will not be a bad person for not saying yes to everything.

Delegate and trust

It is also important to review whether you need to carry out all the tasks on your list. Ask yourself if you can delegate some issues or ask for help. Delegating correctly means assigning somebody a job completely and letting him/her do it their way. An executive will still have the final responsibility over the result. But in order to delegate effectively, it is necessary to explain the job well, show how it is done and then trust the other person’s skills without interfering.

Let us take example of our home. It is not effective to delegate the preparation of a meal to a family member if we then criticise how he/she does it. That you would do it quicker or your meal tastes better. That they leave the kitchen in a mess. No master has dropped out of the sky, so we need to let others learn and gain confidence. If, otherwise, we undermine their self-esteem, we will only manage that they take a dislike to the issue or tell us to do it ourselves.

#Delegating effectively means letting others do the job their way. Relieve #stress Share on X

Create a good organisational and follow-up system

In order not to lose perspective over the issues under your responsibility, be it tasks to be done by yourself or by others, it is essential to have a good system to keep track. It is advisable to have on one hand lists with your tasks; and on the other lists with issues you are expecting from other people. Look for the system that makes most sense for your job.

David Allen of GTD suggest to create list by workplace or tool (office, computer, telephone, home…), by functional areas (marketing, finances, human resources…) or by projects (client ABC, Management Committee, innovation project etc.). In case of delegated tasks decide whether it makes sense to create lists for people, departments or projects for example. Reflect which is the best order for your type of job and try how it goes. Do not obsess with the perfect and definite system. You can introduce improvements further on when you see that something does not work.

Set up a routine for review

An organisational system will only be as good as the use you make of it. Hence, you should review your task lists as often as you need in order to know everything is under control; and your mind at peace. In some cases that can be every one or two weeks for example, in others every day or even several times a day.

For tasks with a deadline, set up reminders in your agenda to avoid checking over and again your task list in order to remember by when to get it done or expect it from others.

Maintain the #perspective with a good #organisation, #followup and #review system. #stress Share on X

Train yourself and learn

We suffer stress when we feel that our resources are not enough to face a situation. Therefore and at last, I recommend you take advantage of the varied offer for training available nowadays. Depending on the case, this can be improving leadership skills, learning organisation techniques or working on the personal development such as emotional intelligence.

Have you heard about stress due to a burden of responsibility?

Have you ever suffered from this type of stress? Did you manage to deal with it and, if so, how? Do you think the different tricks we have seen can help you relieve it?

If you want to learn about other types of work-related stress and how to deal with them, check out this post.

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