Destressing Workplace Stress

Your Workplace was pleased to sit down and talk with Dr. Jamie Gruman, expert on work-life balance and recharging our batteries. Although Dr. Gruman is a business school professor at the University of Guelph, we focused on how to overcome workplace stress and exhaustion. He conducted extensive research that he compiled into his recently released book, BOOST: The Science of Recharging Yourself in an Age of Unrelenting Demands. His research has deep implications not only for how we use our leisure time but for how we view our leisure time and what makes it different from work time. Note: this interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness. After a busy summer, talking about the importance of vacations is important. What would you like to share? JG: It’s been a good time sharing how to really use vacations to energize and unwind. It’s important, for example, to build in extra time so you don’t rush into vacation then rush right back. You have to consider if you want to detach and do a digital detox on your vacation and how you want to do that. Think about your out-of-office responder and what that says. And build in time when you get back to the office to deal with the backlog if no one else has managed that for you. But now that we’re out of the summer vacation mode, I’m thinking that readers would be interested in how to manage stressful work environments and balance their lives. Vacations tend to be big pieces that we don’t get to do every day, but we spend a lot of time at work, and there are little things that people can do to ReNU and give them a boost each day. I notice that you’re still using the phrase “work-life balance” Is this meaningful for today’s employees?JG: Yes, I’m still using that phrase, though I recognize for some people may have fallen out of favour. I think it’s largely about semantics, because here’s what we know: people today report being exhausted and 42% of employees say it compromises their job performance. The question, therefore, becomes why are people so tired and what can we do about it? It’s undeniable that life is more demanding, and there are more dual-income families with less time to get chores done and live a healthy life. People have this idea that they should always be productive, but that’s wrong-headed. Transplanting the role of productivity in your leisure time undermines your leisure time and diminishes your ability to recharge your batteries. That’s how we got here. So how are you suggesting that we address this problem?JG: The solution is to “boost.” I surveyed the research literature and consolidated the information into a quick and easy to understand model, which I call the ReNU model: Rebuild, Nourish and Unhook. This model summarizes what you need to know about how to transform your downtime into uptime. A boost is when you not only recharge your batteries but also promote your own health, happiness and enhancement. Effectively, you leverage your leisure time to be more productive at work. Any free time is an opportunity to boost. it’s all about making smart choices. There’s no extra work involved — just smart choices. Can you say more about that? It sounds like work to have to keep an eye on my leisure time and use it well.JG: Here’s an example: if you go to a restaurant and you want to eat healthily, there’s no work — just good choices. This is a very important point. Many people don’t need “more advice” about what to do in the leisure time — it’s about making replenishing choices. You can do this even in five minutes. The research shows that five minutes of meditation can help. It’s not a full charge but it’s something. You can take a 10-minute nap and there is evidence to support that this reduces fatigue and improves performance. You just need to focus on something different for a while, and here’s the key: it needs to be something that you enjoy and that you freely choose for yourself. Well, I know I should meditate — I hear lots of good research on that. But it’s not something that I would freely choose and it’s not something I really enjoy. Would it still give me a boost?JG: If you choose something out of obligation or research (like meditation), it may not work for a boost. What you need to do is shift from activities that you are required to do to activities that you want to do. This is a new area of research. If you’re continuing to engage in an activity that you don’t really want to do — you aren’t intrinsically motivated — then that won’t get you as big of a boost. It could still be better than doing the previous draining activity, but it does need to be something that doesn’t feel like work. What about something like playing video games, or watching videos of cute kittens, or scrolling social media?JG: Those can work, but there is a dose-response approach, as I outline in the hobbies chapter of my book. Don’t overdo it and don’t neglect other elements of a good life that can also make you happy. Everything in moderation — there is a need for balance. Also be aware that social media can put us into worse moods. You may need to interact in socially positive ways to get the boost and not just scroll. Use social media for positive connections and to fulfill that need for affiliation. This is about filling the Nourish bucket. Also, you should not just do what’s habitual — don’t mindlessly give into your old habits because your habit may not be helping you. It’s time to make more conscious choices and determine which activities actually do help you be engaged and refreshed. So try new activities and consider what hobbies you have that you gave up and try doing that again. I used to love making these pencil drawings, but I had given that up and thought I didn’t have time for it anymore. While researching my book, I decided to try it again, and I took my pencils outside and started drawing and it was amazing — I completely got lost in it. It was very renewing. These sound like a lot of reactive strategies — things I should be using when I’m already in a stressful situation. Is there anything I can do to be more pro-active? To prepare ahead of time for stress?JG: I would say yes. It is possible to do some of these activities in order to build your resilience proactively. If we take a look at a model like Barbara Fredrickson’s “broaden and build” for positive emotions, then it would be easy to see how taking the time to build your resources can help you when adversity hits. There is considerable research showing that something like meditation is an example of an activity that can help preventatively — you build your mental wellness resources and draw upon that resource when needed. Another example is exercise: as long as you give yourself the recovery that you need, then the difficult situations don’t feel as difficult. What you’re creating can be an upward spiral — the creation of better resources now can lead to better access to those resources later — so you don’t languish and fall as far. What else did you learn that you are now putting into practice?JG: While I was working on the book, which was an enormous undertaking — I call it running a marathon at the pace of running a sprint — every hour counted. During that time, when I was very busy and would get really drained by 2 in the afternoon and I was starting at 6 in the morning. So what I would do is implement all the stuff that’s in the book — I started to go for a 20-minute walk in nature, I would take a nap, I would call up a YouTube video of nature scenes. I tried all of the things that are discussed in my book. I do them sometimes because that’s who I am and I am interested in making the most of my time, but because of my research I became highly sensitized to the value of these activities. And you know, every single time it worked — I would go for a walk and boom. I was ready to come back again. I was doing something different and getting a boost, all because I genuinely and more consciously and regularly implemented all of these things. I still do, and I get more out of each productive working hour. What would you say to someone who says “I’m too busy” and feels that they can’t possibly do this?JG: This is the person who needs this information the most. Of course, context matters, and if your life is in shambles each tool will only take you so far. But busy people tend to be so overwhelmed with the demands of work and life and they are so driven to succeed and have good lives that they don’t question why they are doing what they are doing. They are in a comfortable and habitual routine, but it can be difficult to manage. When you find time for yourself — walk in the woods or meet up with friends — that’s an opportunity to reevaluate your life. Get out of your standard way of thinking and feeling about the life that you have. It can put you in the place where you see other options. It’s never true that you have no leisure time. It’s choices and what you do with those little chunks of time. Busy people are the prime candidate for these tools. Make smarter choices — don’t just turn on the news automatically.

COVID-19 Information Hub

Destressing Workplace Stress

By:

Get your FREE trial now!

Already a subscriber?

Share

Related Posts

Drip Irrigation Coaching Programs Work Better than a Flash Flood

The Performance Imperative

Coaching as a Management Competency

Get Started

About

© 2020 Your Workplace. All rights reserved. Your Workplace is a registered trademark of 1427509 Ontario Inc.

Whoa! Don't Go Yet