The signs are unmistakable. He’s sitting in the corner of Tully’s, tie askew, hair all over the place and an ashtray full of half smoked cigarettes on the table in front of him. It looks like he has been up all night working but I know it’s not the case, because at the same time each day, he drags himself out of the coffee shop to the office building across the street for the start of another day. I see him so often I have even come up with a name for him, “stress-man.” He is just waiting for stress to happen.
Just thinking about what he must be going through to look like he does in the early morning hours of each day made me think of the first time I met Taishi three months ago. He was typical of the overworked, hard drinking salaryman. He was only 33 years old and had been on the same “panic” train, as he called it, for the past eight years. He had to go out drinking at least 3-4 times a week with demanding customers, worked with the same boss and colleagues doing the same monotonous job everyday.

Little things were beginning to set him off, the odd shove by another passenger on the “panic” train, continuous complaints over minor issues from his customers and a lack of enthusiasm and team effort from his work colleagues.

He began to worry constantly about all the small things going on in his life, he found himself shoving back when on the “panic” train, he ignored customer complaints and showed his colleagues the same lack of team spirit he received from them, resulting in a poor work performance review.

I gave Taishi some very simple advice which I call “Basic Techniques in Analyzing Worry.”

Get all the facts – Write down exactly what it is you are worrying about. Simply by writing it all down will help you to look at your problems differently.
Analyze the facts – Think about the possible responses or solutions to each of the facts.  And don’t forget to think about ramifications of each option. Write them down as well.
Arrive at a decision – Decide on what would be the best possible solution and action. Weigh your options and chose a direction.
Act on the decision – Begin to immediately act on your decisions. This will give you control of all your stressful situations. You will find it amazing how your built-up stress will begin to slip away when you simply begin moving in a new direction, and importantly, a direction you set for yourself.

As a result of analyzing his stress, the first thing Taishi did was to leave his job. This move brought on even more stress in the short term but with a clear direction in sight and a strong determination to make a change for the better, Taishi is now working in a job he thoroughly enjoys, closer to home and at a company with a well defined work-life balance policy in place.

As I watched “stress-man” shuffle off to work, I thought that sometimes we can worry ourselves sick over something and it will end up being fine, sometimes not. Many times we just need to make a firm decision about something and then let it go. Here are a few more strategies that are worth putting into practice as a means to relieve workplace stress and worry.

Live in “day-tight compartments.“ If you feel overwhelmed by pressure and anxiety, take it easy. Live life one minute at a time. Deal with each situation as it arises and try not to dwell extensively about tomorrow. The main thing is to get through the moment.

Cooperate with the inevitable. Face the truth. It is amazing how quickly we can accept almost any situation – if we have to – and adjust ourselves to it and forget about it. Throughout life, we are going to come across a lot of tough situations where there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. We have a choice; that is, either accept them as inevitable and adjust ourselves accordingly or we can try fighting against what nature has thrown our way and end up stressed out as a result.
Don’t try to saw sawdust. A guest speaker at a college graduating class asked: “How many of you have ever sawed wood? Let’s see your hands.” Most of them had. Then he inquired: “How many of you have ever sawed sawdust?” No hands went up. “Of course, you can’t saw sawdust!” the guest speaker exclaimed. “It’s already sawed. And it’s the same with the past. When you start worrying about things that are over and done with, you are merely trying to saw sawdust.”

The writer is president, Dale Carnegie Training® Japan (www.dale-carnegie.co.jp)