If you are feeling tired and lethargic all the time after coming back from work, you might be f too much pressure at work. Not discounting the fact that lethargy can be caused by many other factors such as an unbalanced diet, lack of exercise or one or another physical ailment, pressure at work are known to be a leading cause of lethargy.

The ever increasing demand for our time from employers, the threat of losing our jobs, the need to keep up with the Joneses, our vanity and many other situations that demand more from us than what we can give, puts pressure on us.

Pressure is not all bad; you only have to look at a diamond to confirm that. You see, diamond and graphite are after all from the same material, carbon. While one is adored and highly valued, the other is not. What made the carbons in the diamond into a gem was the pressure. Pressure it had endured for millions of years. Pressure, in this instance was good.
Pressure can also be bad.

Too much pressure can lead to stress and stress; well …, we don’t want to go there, do we?

Here are 10 things to help you handle pressure.

1. Know the cause. Why are you feeling pressured? Get a clean sheet of white paper and write down the causes. This helps to take the pressure out from you and sort of transfer it to the paper. Be honest about the causes.

2. How are contributing to it? Are you in any way contributing to it? Look at your lifestyle. Are you leading a healthy one? Do you have unrealistic expectations of yourself? It is a virtue to have dreams and work to achieve it, but you must also be realistic. For instance, if you are middle aged and overweight, do not set a goal to break the 100 meters world record. Have goals, work to reach them but be realistic about it.

3. Know your priorities. Do you have a list of your priorities? If you don’t it is a good time to start one. Knowing what matters in life is crucial so that you don’t waste your time on things that have a little or no value to you.

4. Learn to take breaks. After you have a reached a certain milestone in any project, take a break. Depending on the project, your break-time can also vary. If you had just completed writing a report which you labored for the whole week, why not treat yourself for a movie after sending it in?

5. Leave the office early. And leave the pressure in the office. The simple act of leaving the office early can do wonders to your mind and spirit. Don’t make staying late a habit, no matter what your job is.It is not worth it.

6. Go away. Take a vacation. Go mountain climbing, hiking or white water rafting. Or simply go the beach. If you have the means, why not fly away to exotic places and get yourself rejuvenated.

7. Meditate. You don’t have to be a Buddhist monk to do this. There are many simple ways to meditate anytime, anywhere. There are an abundance of resources on this topic in the web.

8. Remove clutter from your environment. Clear your workplace, your living room, bedroom and every other place where you spent your time from clutter. The physical clutter in your environment subconsciously affects your mind and in time, your mental state is cluttered as well. A cluttered mind exaggerates pressure.

9. Celebrate success. If you had achieved something, then go ahead and celebrate it. This will motivate you further. And motivation is a great ally in dealing with pressure.

10. Exercise. Enough said.

Author Bio: A. Majid is inspired by the greatest self help book ever written, A Touch of Greatness. He shares his passion and lessons from from the book at A Touch of Greatness

Category: Self Help
Keywords: pressure, handle