Recruiters, whether you’re stressed about your work, about
personal matters, or about the general state of the world today, your feelings
are completely natural.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t just try to push those
feelings down and carry on like everything is fine. Take care of yourself.
Ignoring your anxiety will eventually lead you to get burnt
out, become disengaged in your work, or worse.
When a rush of anxiety comes over you, there are various ways
to quiet the panic and find a sense of calm. Step back from connecting with
clients and candidates for a moment and try these 3 tips:
Mantras are helpful to cut through a negative thought spiral with something positive. They give your mind something to focus on rather than letting it run wild with negativity.
Find a mantra that you connect with and repeat it to yourself for a few minutes at a time.
Some examples:·
• I am okay.
• I can do this
• All is well.
When stressed, your body’s automatic response is to speed up your heart rate and to tense up your muscles. Consciously adjusting your breathing to a slower pace can send a message to your brain to relax.
For starters, try the pursed lip breathing technique for 5 minutes:
Before you begin, sit back in your chair and get comfortable. Relax, try to keep all your muscles loose. Close your eyes to better focus on the sound of your breathing.
• For 2 seconds, inhale through your nose.
• Purse your lips as if you were drinking through a straw.
• Slowly and deliberately exhale through your mouth for 4-6 seconds.
• Repeat.
You can gradually increase the time of your inhale and exhale counts the more you practice.
Mentally tracking all your work tasks can quickly become overwhelming, especially when other things are clouding your mind. Taking abstract thoughts and forming concrete lists can help you feel more prepared to tackle whatever it is you need to do.
There are many different focuses your lists can have:
• Everything that needs to be done for the day; or zoom out further and list what needs to get done that week, or month.
• All the projects you need to work on, ranked in order of priority.
• A step-by-step breakdown of what needs to be done on a single specific project.
Imagine the relief of cleaning a messy room that had no space to move around and was impossible to find anything. Creating an organized list is like decluttering the mind.
A little bit of extra care goes a long way, be kind to yourself. When you actively try to combat stress instead of ignoring it, your workday can vastly improve.
