Tell me, as a leader are you being pressure cooked?
When you think about it, do you feel that you are being pressure cooked and slowly stewed at work.
Most of us dedicate at least 10 to 12 hours to our work life each day. It’s time to start asking yourself “am I doing what I want to do or what I have to do?”
Think about it – are you being pressure cooked!
You probably set your alarm clock for 6:30am this morning, worked a full day, then arrived home tired in the evening wondering where the day went – No wonder we are stressed.
Ask yourself this simple question “am I in control of life or is life in control of me?”
If life is in control of you, you will simply get caught up in the game of life you wake up, go to work, go home, wakeup, go to work, go home and so it repeats.
Now is the time to break free to empower yourself to achieve all that you want to be.
It all comes down to doing those activities that are going to improve your workday and to enhance your work and life, to become a more effective worker through balance.
Seven Critical Principles
There are seven critical principles that will empower you to take back control of life:
1. Predisposition
2. Physical fitness
3. Nutrition and diet
4. Personal well-being
5. Emotional balance
6. Emotional habits and control
7. Work & Life Balance
Understanding these themes that may contribute to feelings of stress, or have a negative impact on your health is vital in maintaining work life balance.
Today, more than ever workplace members want to balance their work and life. Stress and well-being is currently recognised as a key concern, not only in the context of the workplace. Remember, the quality of your thinking will determine the quality of your future. Keep an open and optimistic mind as we look at each of these principles in a bit more detail.
Predisposition
Your character predisposition or your internal drive and pace of living. This principle asks the question “how much pressure do you feel or put on yourself?”
You may already have discovered that you operate with the so-called “Type A” behaviour. This means that you are likely to be under constant pressure and you may view life in general as competitive, and that you need to be hard driving on yourself and others.
If you are a “Type A” person, you are inclined to get things done in a fast and action orientated manner. You may naturally be disposed to bite off a lot to chew, cramming a lot into your day to impress others with your capacity to manage time with great pace and energy.
However, you are often obsessive about cramming and sometimes fail to design in enough contemplative time or to relax or quietly reflect on where you might be going.
Are you being pressure cooked ? – Read on….
Physical Fitness
This looks at your overall levels of physical health and the extent to which your regime maintains your desired health and fitness. Dedication to your job may have led to the direct decline in your physical fitness, especially if you are desk bound from 9.00am to 5.00pm. Like many “Pressure Cooked Leaders” it is likely that you have been neglectful of good exercise, or only exercising lightly or infrequently at best.
Those workers who are most at risk of being pressure cooked avoid exercise and often drive or be driven almost everywhere. To have effective work life balance, think about becoming more serious about your on-going fitness and health, and make sure that you do at least the minimum to ensure that you remain strong and resilient. Develop some kind of fitness regime to include exercise into your life every week.
Nutrition and Diet
What do you eat and how healthy is it? Are you maintaining a healthy and nutritious diet? The “Pressure Cooked Leader” is likely to be the ingredients in their own stew.
Most people are unaware of general or particular diet needs and more prone to consume enjoyable foods regardless of their effect on your body – good and bad. Effective work life balance means becoming aware of the need to maintain balance in your overall diet. Plan and organise what you eat in order to avoid what is not good for you and include what is good for you.
Start by reading a good diet and nutrition booklet, guide, APP or go and see a professional. Design a varied but healthy regime that you can stick to until it becomes a normal part of your daily habits.
Are you being pressure cooked ? – Read on…
Personal Well-being
Do you consciously act to look after your body and avoid substances or practices that are likely to cause you short or long term harm? As a “Pressure Cooked Leader” you may neglect your body and not think about the regular “wear and tear” that can occur until it becomes a more significant problem.
In the worst case scenario, you are likely to give low priority to your personal well-being and to looking after your weight, diet, physical health, and relaxation.
This is typical of a “reactive” type of person, and the low value they place on their own well-being.
To have effective work life balance, think about becoming proactive in looking after your body with prevention and protection in mind. To improve your wellbeing start by picking one or two areas in which you can specifically change your habits to help get you started.
This might be to give up smoking (if applicable) or drinking less tea, coffee or alcohol.
Are you being pressure cooked ? – Read on…
Emotional Balance
This refers to the extent to which you consciously act to look after your mental and emotional well being.
This principle asks the general question “Do I feel emotionally comfortable most of the time.”
Have you ever found yourself being insular and concerned with your “patch” and prone to see each day as “a challenge to be overcome?”
If so, it is likely that you give low priority to your mental and emotional well being, and relating to others in a balanced and reasonable way. This can lead to high levels of introspection and withdrawal.
To have effective work life balance, think about becoming more easy-going being happy with your life, and see each day as a “new experience” to be savoured. You may be a relatively open type of person that is quite comfortable in relating to other people in all kinds of positions, environments and situations.
Make “Taking things as they come” your daily motto.
Understand that it is difficult to stop worrying and to become more self-aware. With self awareness it is often the first step in a long journey towards thinking more positively. You may find that being more accepting of what comes along in life will be easier by having someone that guides and supports you or do it yourself with focus, determination and self discipline.
Are you being pressure cooked ? – Read on…
Emotional Habits and Control
Listen to your internal feelings or thoughts, then control your life and your environment as much as necessary to achieve your desired level of control.
As a “Pressure Cooked Leader” you may often worry about what others think and be concerned about acting in the “right” way.
If this external influence continues it is likely that you will become relatively “volatile” emotionally. This may mean swinging from quietly worrying about an action to openly showing irritation (or even anger); even if you think you are keeping it to yourself.
Think about becoming more self reliant to increase self control in your life. By doing this you will become entirely comfortable in your own company and accept your imperfections without much personal angst. This will help you become comfortable to ask for help when you need it.
Consider one or two areas to improve upon. This might be to treat yourself to something when you think you have done well. It could also involve identifying an issue on which you think you might have been “wrong” or “unfair” and admitting this to the person(s) involved.
Are you being pressure cooked ? – Read on…
Work & Life Balance
This looks at how you feel about your work and how you think about managing and controlling it rather than it managing and controlling you.
Believe it or not, some people see work as “a necessary evil”, a place to “tolerate” as best they can and are often glad to get away from it.
You may find that over time you have developed general worry, stress, fatigue or even a long term illness by letting your work frustrations consume you without a non-work stress relief outlet.
See work as a challenging and interesting part of your life in which you get out what you want; without letting it become dominant on your home life.
You have a choice. Either find your work enjoyable or change it so that it becomes more satisfying or fulfilling. Make a list of what you currently enjoy about your work. Test if it is possible to change what you do to adjust this balance to become more positive.
If this isn’t possible, or only makes a marginal difference, think about what steps you would have to take to change roles altogether.
Are you being pressured cooked ? Take a day off…
