Common causes of work stress

造成工作压力的主要原因

Another colleague and I recently helped facilitate a workshop on how to deal with stress. It was a group of 13 professionals, so we had ample time for reflection and discussion. Participants shared some of the same concerns that I see popping up in blog comments:

最近，我和一位同事共同帮助促成了一个"压力缓解讲习班"的成立。这个讲习班有13位专家，因此我们有足够宽裕的时间来进行自我反省和讨论。 班里的同学们询问了一些我在博客的留言上也常看到的问题，如下 ：

How do you deal with increasing expectations in an environment of decreasing resources?

当自身周围的环境并不乐观，而外界的期待越来越大，你是如何应对这种情况的？

How do you deal with bullies, not only at school but also in the workplace?

你如何应对那些从校园一路蔓延到职场中的欺凌的？

How do you give your job your all and still have something left?

当你被工作搞得精疲力尽以后，是如何仍然保存心中理想的？

Here's some of what we talked about:

以下是我们讲习班的讨论结果 ：

It's up to you to determine what's crucial for your health and well-being, and how to balance that with responsibilities that are truly "mission-critical." For example, I recently agreed to participate in an early morning meeting I didn't have much interest in it. I had to get up especially early and consequently by the end of the day, I felt like I had the IQ of a zucchini because of fatigue. Not the best use of my time and energy.

对你而言，什么对健康最有益、最关键，是由你自己决定的。而如何在工作的责任和生活的健康两者中保持平衡，是更关键的议题。举例来说，我最近同意了去参加一项原本并不太感兴趣的早会，为此我得起个大早。到了晚上，我觉得我已经累得连字都不识了。这就是个没能把握好两者平衡的例子。

You don't have to be a perfectionist in everything you do. For example, if I spend 10 hours to prepare a slide presentation when 8 hours would've done, I've lost two hours. That time won't be noticed by my audience, but it might've been spent on another task or responsibility.

你没必要事事力求完美。举个例子，假如我用10小时去准备一次用8小时的准备就能搞定的演讲，我就失去了那2小时。但我的听众们对这2小时并不知情，而我原本大可以将它用在完成别的事情上面。

You don't have to allow yourself to be "bullied" by leaders in your organization. One woman shared how she addressed the problem privately over a cup of coffee and came away feeling empowered. She acknowledged that the situation will never be ideal, but she feels that by speaking up she's at least ensured that it won't be so unsettling.

在面对上级的"欺凌"时，你没必要默默忍受。讲习班的一位女士和我们分享了她的经历：她通过一次和上级私下里喝咖啡的机会，巧妙地反映了这个问题，并在离开的时候倍觉自己的强大。她认为，职场的情况永远不可能风平浪静，但如果你勇于开口，坦诚说出自己的感受，那情况至少不会变得太糟。

In the end, we all agreed that you have to find a way to take care of yourself physically and mentally, despite the pressures of the workforce. If you let your health deteriorate, your work performance likely will be affected and, thus, your job security.

最后，我们都认为每个人都需要找到照顾好自己的方法，无论在生理上还是心理上。别让工作的压力压垮你。如果你放任自己的健康问题，那么工作表现也会相应受影响，最终，你的职位或许也将不保。