Your workload has increased, so have your boss's expectations. But scaling back could mean losing a job.

你的工作任务更重了，老板的期望值又升高了。但退缩则可能意味着丢掉工作。

Talk about stress.

这就是职场压力。

Paul Baard, an organizational and motivational psychologist at Fordham University's graduate business school in New York, knows just how stressful a work environment can get. He has consulted with athletes in the high-stakes, high-pressure world of professional sports.

纽约福德汉姆大学(Fordham University)商学院组织和动机心理学家巴德(Paul Baard)了解工作环境中的压力究竟有多大。他曾为风险高、压力大的职业体育竞技领域的运动员们做过咨询。

What secret has he passed along to those clients? When you are in a slump, you can still contribute by encouraging your teammates.

Christoph Hitz 他向那些客户们传授了什么秘诀呢？那就是：即使你状态不佳，也可以通过鼓励队友来为团队做出贡献。

Rather than burdening a team with distracting self-doubt and pity, try to help others, he advises. "In order to remain self-motivated, research has found that the innate psychological need for competence must be satisfied,' Mr. Baard says. 'This drive pertains not only to the ability to do a job but to achieve something through it─to have impact, to contribute. A way an employee can expand opportunities to satisfy this need is to help her team succeed by encouraging others, even if her direct contributions are limited."

他建议，与其让自我怀疑和后悔等负担干扰团队的表现，不如试着助他人一臂之力。巴德说，研究发现，要保持工作主动性，就必须让胜任感这一内在心理需求得到满足。胜任感不仅取决于完成某项工作的能力，还取决于通过工作取得的某种成就──比如产生某种影响或者做出贡献。对一名员工来说，要扩展满足胜任感需求的机会，途径之一是通过鼓励他人来帮助自己所在的团队取得成功，即使个人的直接贡献有限也不要紧。

Age, occupation and family circumstances, among other factors, can all play a part in how workers respond to different stressors. But experts say there are steps that can help you take control of your happiness at work this year.

年龄、职业和家庭环境等因素都会影响员工对各种压力源的反应。但专家们说，有一些方法可以帮助你在今年掌控工作中的幸福感。

Find meaning in your tasks. Commitment to a goal beyond self-promotion can help a worker manage stress levels, says John Weaver, a psychologist at Psychology For Business, a Brookfield, Wis.-based employment consultancy.

从你的工作中寻找意义。总部位于威斯康星州布鲁克菲尔德(Brookfield)的人力资源咨询公司Psychology For Business的心理学家约翰•韦弗(John Weaver)说，专注于一个比自我提升更高的目标能够帮助员工管理压力水平。

Several years ago, Mr. Weaver consulted for a long-term-care facility in Wisconsin that had flooded. Because of the water damage, the residents and employees had been forced to move into an already occupied facility. Employees felt cramped and annoyed, he says, and pettiness abounded.

几年前，韦弗为威斯康星州一个遭遇洪灾的长期护理院做过咨询。受洪灾影响，护理院住户和员工被迫搬进一个已被占用的建筑内。他说，员工们感觉很拥挤，并感到不快，常常会为小事发生摩擦。

To help the workers regain a positive attitude, Mr. Weaver asked each person this question: Why do you do this work?

为帮助这些员工重新树立积极态度，韦弗问了每个人这样一个问题：你为什么要做这份工作？

"People don't work in nursing because it pays so much or it's glamorous or it's easy," he says. "As they heard the question you could see their attitude change. They could see the reasons why they needed to work together, to put aside difficulties and compromise, and residents were treated better."

韦弗表示，人们从事护理工作并不是因为报酬高、有意思或是轻松。他说，你能发现，他们听到这个问题后态度有所转变。他们能认识到为什么要齐心协力地工作，为什么要不计较困难，互谅互让，住户们也得到了更好的照料。

Remembering why you are in a business can help you manage stress, Mr. Weaver says.

韦弗说，牢记你从事一个行业的原因能够帮助你管理压力。

While working on his dissertation, Rick Best, now a health-services scientist for Lockheed Martin, researched stress among nurses who work with veterans, a group that faces high demands with low resources. One might have expected elevated levels of burnout. But there were high levels of satisfaction.

里克•贝斯特(Rick Best)现为洛克希德•马丁(Lockheed Martin)的健康服务科学家，他在撰写毕业论文时研究了从事退伍军人护理工作的护士所承受的压力问题，这一群体面临的要求高，而享受的资源较少。人们也许认为他们会对工作十分厌倦。但事实上他们的满意度却很高。

"The meaning they got from their job was high," says Mr. Best. "They went into the profession of nursing to help people. As a consequence, they derived much meaning from what they were doing, and they were better able to handle stress."

贝斯特说，他们从工作中获得了很多有意义的东西。他们从事护理工作是为了帮助别人。所以他们从自己所做的事情中获得了很多意义，能够更好地处理压力。

Reduce your expectations. Given how much energy employees devote to their job, there can be quite a few expectations wrapped up in work. Workers often look to employers for career, socialization, and personal and intellectual growth opportunities.

降低期望值。鉴于员工在工作中投入了大量精力，他们对工作也会抱有相当大的期望。员工通常期望雇主能为他们提供事业、社交、个人和才智发展机会。

"With so many expectations, it's no wonder that work can't meet all of that. So we get disappointed, but I don't know that work could fulfill all those things," says Ken Pinnock, associate director of employee relations and services at the University of Denver.

丹佛大学(University of Denver)员工关系和服务部门副主任肯•平诺克(Ken Pinnock)说，员工的期望太多了，难怪工作无法满足他们的所有期望。于是我们会失望，但我认为仅凭工作是无法满足所有这一切的。

Due to so many layoffs in the last few years, many have lost friends and colleagues, and have realized that job security, taken for granted at times, is gone. There have also been cuts when it comes to extras, such as educational opportunities, celebrations and room for career advancement.

过去几年出现了太多的裁员，许多人在裁员中失去了朋友和同事，并且意识到，他们曾经不以为然的工作安全感不复存在了。此外，福利也有所削减，比如教育机会、庆祝活动和职业升迁空间等。

There can be an element of loss when employees realize that the workplace has changed. However, personal and professional goals can still be pursued without an employer's support.

当员工意识到职场发生变化时，他们会产生一种失落感。但即便没有雇主的支持，他们仍然可以追求个人和职业发展目标。

"The way back from this is to try to gain perspective about work, realizing that we are still ultimately in charge of our careers and work, and we don't have to turn to our employers to develop ourselves, or look to them to be responsible for us," Mr. Pinnock says.

平诺克说，要摆脱这种失落感，就要对工作有更全面的认识，要认识到我们最终仍然能够掌控自己的职业生涯和工作，我们不需要靠雇主来获得自我发展，或者指望他们来为我们负责。

Look at "challenges," not "problems." Rather than perceiving problems at work, look at them as challenges.

看挑战，不要看问题。不要把工作中遇到的困扰视为问题，而要把它们视为挑战。

"The people who approach work as an opportunity to learn are much more satisfied with their jobs and performance, and find themselves eager to take on new challenges," Mr. Weaver says. "They aren't trying to prove that they are the smartest. They are more likely to learn from their own experiences and mistakes."

韦弗说，那些视工作为学习机会的人对自己的工作和表现更加满意，并且愿意接受新的挑战。他们并不想证明自己是最聪明的人。他们更愿意从自己的经验和错误中学习。

Setting intermediate goals can also help workers derive a sense of accomplishment, and keep pace with longer-term targets, Mr. Best says.

贝斯特说，确定短期目标也能够帮助员工获得成就感，并促使他们向中长期目标迈进。