Curious Rami

Most workers know whether they are stressed at work or not, but it is usually difficult to identify the cause of the stress. Are they stressed because they feel undervalued or because they have to work long hours? Maybe they are irritated by coworkers, for example; seeing others not pulling their weight or being constantly interrupted by mangers.

33 News/WYTV has an article listing the top 10 most stressful professions, the top 10 work stresses, and the top 10 colleague irritations. Stressed professionals should read the article to identify the root of their stress.

Here is a quote from the article which can be found at: http://www.wytv.com/news/health/2788381.html

TOP TEN WORK STRESSES
Workload
Feeling undervalued
Deadlines
Type of work people have to do
Having to take on other people’s work
Lack of job satisfaction
Lack of control over the working day
Having to work long hours
Frustration with the working environment
Targets

TOP TEN COLLEAGUE IRRITATIONS
Seeing others not pulling their weight
Managers changing their minds about what they want doing
Lack of support from managers
Pressure from managers
Feeling put-upon by managers
Interruptions by colleagues
Interruptions by managers
Bullying behavior by managers
Lack of support from colleagues
Bullying behavior by colleagues

I just came back from a much needed three weeks vacation. The transition form a stressful lifestyle to a stress-free lifestyle is incredible.
Here are some of what I learned and did on my vacation.

• The longer the better: Save your vacation days and take them all at once. Try to make your vacation as long as possible. Moreover; when working overtime, take lieu time instead of overtime pay whenever possible.
• A new start: Try to book your vacation in between the end of your current project and the start of your next project. This way you will be back fresh and relaxed to start a new project.
• Take care of your health: Most people put off seeing their doctor because appointments are usually during work hours, and seeing the doctor always seems to be a low priority task.
  • See your family doctor for a general check up.
  • See your dentist, most likely it has been a long time since your last check up.
  • See your optometrist, if you are feeling those strained eyes, you might be due for a new pair of glasses.
  • Sleep as much as possible.
  • Eat well and while on vacatioun learn to cook few healthy meals.
  • If you are not athletically active; then start while on vacation. Jogging and squash are my favorites. You will have enough time to sleep off that tough first week.
• Disconnect yourself from work: Leave your work’s laptop, PDA and cell phone at work if possible. Make sure you have a back up person that knows enough about your projects to answer most questions while you are on vacation. The main idea here is to do whatever possible to avoid being called while on your vacation.
• Blog break: Take a break from blogging and reading blogs. This way you will have fresh prospects in your blogging when you come back.
• Time to think: Think about your future and what you want form life. Is your job satisfactory? Do you want to go back to school? Etc.

Please feel free to share your vacation tips with me in the comments section.

Public service announcements are usually lame and don’t work. Lezlie Lowe form http://www.thecoast.ca/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=2006-05-25&-token.story=138374.112113&-token.subpub=has a review of one; checkoutmybreasts.com; aimed at women to check for breast cancer.

Well, that got me on the look for one aimed at men, and guess what; I found one. It is sexy and works, featuring a hot model explaining the importance of checking your testicles. Check it out at: http://www.break.com/index/psa.html

Gretchen Rubin has a good article on her blog; The Happiness Project; summarizing few points that would help you plan exercise as part of your weekly routine. Here are some of her suggestions:

• Always exercise on Monday.
• Never skip exercising for two days in a row. (This is a good one.)
• DON’T link exercise to weight loss as a way to motivate yourself.
• Give yourself credit for the smallest effort.
• You must exercise frequently.
• Look for affordable ways to make exercising more pleasant or satisfying.

Check it out at:  http://happinessproject.typepad.com/happiness_project/2006/05/this_wednesday__3.html

The following website has good tips regarding healthy workstation setup.
http://web.mit.edu/atic/www/disabilities/rsi/workstation.html

I've been working long hours for the past month, averaging 11 hours/day. The result is looking at a computer screen at least 10 hours/day at work and home. One of the drawbacks is strained eyes, and what do you know, they have a wiki on how to exercise your strained eyes at http://wiki.ehow.com/Exercise-Your-Eyes