How to stop being stressed to the nines

To mark International Stress Awareness Week, Law Society of Scotland Careers and Wellbeing Manager Lou Murphy has shared some solutions to help prevent and manage stress.

For 25 years The International Stress Management Association (ISMA) have been fighting stigma and raising awareness of stress. Considering this year’s theme “Beyond Stress Management – From Stigma to Solutions” I thought it would be valuable to provide some solutions that can help prevent and manage stress.

Many years ago, I worked with a trainer who often delivered sessions on time and stress management. She said one of the biggest stressors in a work situation is that activity that you never get round to. Not the task you most dislike but the one you never do!

This was in the time of assigned desks and in-trays that meant work would sit there just waiting to be done. This work probably wasn’t a priority, but it would sit at the back of your mind. She referred to these activities as “woolly mammoths” because they should be extinct. These tasks take up mental space and capacity, when you’re reminded of them your stress levels increase.

These tasks are often things that could easily be completed, but it feels like there’s never enough time. It’s the task equivalent to that box of items that used to live on your desk, but you never touched during or after the pandemic lockdowns – that box you always mean to sort and empty but never do. Or that article or book you said you’d read because it is going to be helpful for your practice.

So, what should you do? Book a short amount of time, just five minutes should be enough, to figure out how to eradicate your woolly mammoth. Often, you’ll be able to complete the task in minutes and other times you need to turn it into a frog!

Turning your mammoth into a frog will allow you to break down the activity and make it more manageable. Your mammoth is clearly not a pleasant task so taking an “eat your frog” approach can make it less overwhelming.

Eat your frog was coined by author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy. This approach is based on the idea that if you start your day by eating a “frog” – tackling your most daunting work task – then you’re pretty much guaranteeing that your day will improve from there.

By prioritising and conquering the most important tasks early, you not only build momentum but also reduce procrastination and stress, ultimately leading to increased productivity and a sense of accomplishment.

So how does it work? Well to summarise it’s quite simple, ensure you have set clear goals to achieve for the day, create a to-do list based on those goals and put the hardest thing at the top. Then, of course, you must do the activities in that order.

“A former employee set it up 20 years ago” or “We’ve always done it this way!”

If you hear people talking like this a lot, then you have at least one ghost in your office. Ghosts are the former colleagues who have left your company but still seem to linger in the workplace atmosphere, often through their legacy that continues to influence decision-making or through work-based activities that haven’t been reviewed for their appropriateness since they left. 

Exorcising your workplace ghosts can be challenging but it’s a worthwhile endeavour that will often result in a healthier and more productive working environment. By addressing and completing their unfinished business, reassigning responsibilities, or simply letting go of the past, you can free your team from the spectral presence of departed coworkers, allowing everyone to move forward with renewed focus and a sense of closure. Exorcising these workplace ghosts can be a powerful way to ensure that the organisation remains agile and able to fully embrace the opportunities and challenges of the future.

How do you do this? It can be difficult but, for those of you in decision-making positions, listen out for those key phrases that suggest something might not be right anymore. Review the processes that have been created by people no longer with the company and instead consider asking a newer colleague for their input.

Thinking is stressful! Thinking too much is unnecessarily stressful, so here is a framework to help you with stressful or circular thinking. I feel this one needs a little caveat given we’re the Law Society: When undertaking this activity, you do not need to create a full submission to the court or go through a full and formal trial process.

“Putting your thoughts on trial” is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) technique that is focused on examining thoughts, particularly those pervasive and potentially irrational thoughts, that occur when stressed. It's akin to a mental courtroom, where these thoughts are scrutinized and subjected to evidence-based questioning. This may all be sounding a little familiar to some of you.

So how does it work? The accused is an upsetting thought or issue. The defence is the side of the argument that allows you to present that the thought is true. You then need to go over to the prosecution side and consider the evidence that the thought is not true. This helps with circular thinking; it provides an avenue to break that cycle. As always, you need to make sure your evidence is not an opinion but a fact. You then take on the role of the judge and summarise based on the evidence. 

By identifying cognitive distortions and biases, you can assess the accuracy and validity of your thoughts, considering whether they hold up to scrutiny or if they are based on unfounded assumptions. This critical examination helps you replace negative thought patterns with more realistic, balanced, and constructive thinking, therefore reducing stress.

In embracing these practical strategies, you can take significant steps towards dismantling the factors enabling stress and instead move closer to holistic solutions that empower you to lead a healthier and more balanced life. It is always worth starting small and building up to certain activities, how about scheduling five minutes for one of these activities or even join us for an hour on the 7 December when we are offering a session on creating healthy habits.