I have alot of stress on me at work...?

Question

How can i get rid of this stress? I have so much to do in a short period of time. I have a week and a half to finish all this work. I am working 80 hours a week for the past month. My stomach hurts, i bite my nails, i don't sleep, i don't eat. What can i do or what can i take. I really don't want to take pills but if it helps i will do anything.

Answer 1

It is an old business proverb that about 20% of what you are doing will provide 80% of the value, and about 20% of what you are doing doesn't ever need to get done.  Find those 20%'s, and your life will become much simpler.  

Organize and prioritize your work.  List all of the separate tasks that you are working to complete.   Estimate how much effort, how long it will take, for you to complete each task.  Assess each task, and decide what is of greatest important, what is less important, and what needs to be done more quickly, and what can wait.  Once you have a summary of your planned work for the next few weeks, schedule some time with your boss, and explain that your workload is very high and you are concerned that there could be some missed deadlines.   Show him your summary of planned work and estimated effort, and ask if he can help you to prioritize the work.  Your boss will appreciate this early warning about the issue, because it gives him the opportunity to do something about it while there is still time.   Your boss may have some options that are not available to you to deal with this problem.   He may be able to alter some of the decisions about what tasks need to be done when.   There may be some tasks that could be delegrated to someone else.  There may be some tasks that could be delayed another week.    There may be some tasks that could be redefined to something simpler and easier to accomplish.

You need to take care of yourself.   Go see your doctor and describe your situation.  He may be able to prescribe something for anxiety until you can get through this.   You MUST get sufficient sleep every night.  You MUST eat regular healthy meals.   You also need to be taking a multi-vitamin and exercising (at least a 15 minute walk outside in the sunshine).    Skipping these things are causing your body to be less effective at coping with the stress of your job.  The anxiety makes you mentally less efficient, so that less work gets done in the same period of time.   You need to be MORE efficient to get all this work done.  Let's put it this way.   If you are a truck driver, you know that you must perform regular maintenance on your truck and keep gas in your tank, or your truck won't run, and you will no longer have a job.   Your body needs regular maintainenance and fuel to get this work done.  If you continue to abuse it, you will become ill, and even less work is going to get done.

Best of luck!!!   I hope you start feeling better.

  

Answer 2

Is this your usual work load, or is it the exception to the rule?  If it's your usual work load, you need to think in terms of finding another job.

If, however, this situation will be resolved in a week and a half, hang in there.  Take care of yourself, which includes getting as much rest as you possibly can, eating healthy (carry fruit or veggies to munch), do some stretching every half hour to relieve body tension, remind yourself "this to shall pass", delegate off-the-job responsibilities to someone else so that when your off - you're devoting that time to rest and relaxation.  Hang in there!!!!!

Answer 3

I would also suggest talking to your boss, especially as you're suffering so badly - you're going to burn out.

However, failing that I'd stay away from taking anything drug wise - it will lead to nothing helpful and you don't know how your body will interract so it could make you do the work even slower!  I would think to myself - ok, in a week and a half it will all be over - I can only do what I can do and if it doesn't get finished then it wasn't possible - I should've been given help.

I would try very hard to calm down a bit - perhaps try to slow down and give myself a bit of time on my own - maybe in a bath before bed or something - to clear my thoughts and make sure I understand that I am allowed this time, without guilt, to be totally thought free.  I would make sure I didn't have a nervous breakdown because, lets face it, no job is worth it and I would just give my best.

Finally, if I had asked my boss and received no help or if my boss had watched me struggling with the workload and not assisted in any way - I'd get a new job.

I hope you get through it.

xx