How Mindfulness Can Help You Overcome Stress and Maximize Performance at Work

Americans continue to grapple with surging levels of stress at work. According to an American Psychological Association (APA) survey, 63% of employees report their work significantly contributes to their stress. Another recent survey found almost half of respondents said life was easier during the pandemic than it is now!

Workers have reported troubling levels of stress for years, along with symptoms of burnout such as such as lack of interest, motivation, or energy; feelings of loneliness or isolation; and a lack of effort at work. Considering how much time we spend at work, and how important it is to our lives and livelihoods, we clearly need ways to better manage stress.

Fortunately, there’s an easy-to-learn tool anyone can use to tame stress — and it becomes more effective with practice: mindfulness. Here are five mindfulness methods to reduce stress and improve focus and performance at work:

1. Name It to Tame It: The faster you can recognize that you’re becoming stressed, the more quickly you can choose a different response — one that’s healthier for you physically and mentally. Identify what you are feeling and where it is occurring in your body. For example, “I feel stressed; my neck is tightening up. I feel anxious; my stomach feels upset. I feel agitated; I’m tapping my feet a lot.” Labeling the emotion you feel allows you to step into awareness and out of the intensity of the emotional state you are feeling in the moment.
2. Treat Yourself Kindly: How would you respond to a dear friend that was “having a moment”? Give yourself that same courtesy. Observe your reactions with kindness and compassion, not judgment, and ask your inner critic to take break.
3. Practice the Pause. Pause for one minute to take slow, full breaths, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. Repeat this four or five times. Focus on your breath and count the number of breaths. This takes you out of the intensity of your stressful feelings. If your exhale is longer than your inhale, your heart rate and blood pressure will go down.
4. Set yourself up for mindful moments. Give yourself little reminders to pause, get present, and step away from stress. I like to place little colored dot stickers on my computer, my phone, or even my car dashboard. Give it a try! When you see the sticker, take that as your cue to take a slow, deep breath.
5. Stay Grounded: There are many great grounding meditations and practices out there, but one I particularly enjoy is a Here-and-Now Stone. Choose any stone that feels good in the palm of your hand. Find one in your yard, on a walk, or even at an arts and crafts store. Keep it on your desk at work and pick it up any time you feel stressed. Really feel it in your hands. Focus mindfully on its texture, temperature, and weight. Observe its shape and color. Let yourself sink into focusing on the stone. This pulls you out of the litany of stressful thoughts you were caught in before.

Mindfulness practices such as these are available anytime we need a mental and emotional boost. To make it simple, I developed a method I call SNAP that encompasses several of these practices in a way that’s easy to remember and practice in your daily life. When you feel stress rising within you, try this:

Soothing Touch: Place your hands where you find it most soothing — your heart, cradling your face, giving your upper arms a hug, hands on your belly, or hand in hand. I place my hands on my heart, feeling the warmth and care for myself.

Name: Name what you are feeling. If you are feeling multiple emotions, name them all trying to get down to the lowest, softest emotion available.

Act: Ask yourself: 1. What do I need to hear right now? Then tell it to yourself. 2. What do I need to do right now to shift my mood? Then do what you can reasonably do in the moment. You might try a breathing exercise, breathing in for a count of four and out for a count of six, doing this for three to five breath cycles. This will lower your heart rate and blood pressure. After that, you will be in a calmer state to choose another tool from your joy list — things that make you feel good! Some examples that you can do while at work include:

• Drop your attention to the soles of your feet as you control your breathing.
• Connect with other humans during breaks, or call or text someone you hold close.
• Bring to mind people who care about you and people you care about to help you feel loved and safe.
• Call yourself “sweetheart” or another term of endearment.
• Practice taking in the good any time you notice a positive mental state, letting it land for a few breaths so you push the good mental state to a neural trait.
• Move your body. When you feel tense, get up to stretch, walk, and move.
• Change your view: Even looking out the window can help shift your mood and open your perspective.

Praise: Give yourself a pat on the back for managing the situation with aplomb! Thank your teachers, thank your deity — all this thanking moves you into feelings of gratitude, which is beneficial for mental health.

We spend so much of our lives working, so let’s make the best of it. The better we feel, the better coworkers, friends, family, and community members we’ll be. The career and life we want to experience starts within our own hearts and intentions.

Written by Julie Potiker.
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