Stress and productivity. What is the link?

Stress In The Workplace Can Affect Productivity

Experts have long acknowledged that job stress plays an important role in employee performance. What happens when there is stress is that it reduces a worker’s ability to concentrate on multi-tasks, and all his energy is directed at the completion of those tasks. It has been established that there exists a level of stress, below which employees become unmotivated and above which, they tend to be overwhelmed.

We all deal with stress. It’s is part of what we are and even, who we are. You might say it is a part of how we are wired. And yet, while stress gets us moving, it also directly affects our ability to be creative and productive. Interestingly, we sometimes cause self-inflicted stress by our own lack of organization and very poor management of our time.

The $64 Million Dollar Question

So, the big question you will need to ask yourself is … “Is stress helping me or hindering me in my job performance?” To help you understand stress and get to the right answer, here are five ways that show how stress impacts your productivity:

• Stress drains your energy. It is funny. Stress can give you that adrenaline burst to get you going however a project, but after that initial rush, it quickly drains you. Physically and emotionally, you find yourself exhausted. And when you do not get enough sleep because of your stress, your best job performance suffers.
• Stress clouds your focus. For the most part, stress makes it hard to focus on what is important. It runs you down until you end up doing just the urgent instead of your priorities.
• Stress wastes time. It is simple. With stress, you worry. Sometimes just worrying all day long when you could have done other productive things.
• Stress reduces creativity. When you are under stress, you would most likely “lock on” to the first solution that comes to mind, and that is it. End of discussion. End of thinking. In other words, your mind doesn’t open up and limit your ability to come up with new ideas.
• Stress affects your personality. It would not make you a Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but have you ever heard the expression … you do not seem to be yourself today? Sure, you have. It is when, because of your stress, you would be irritable and snap at everybody within your circle and may even start yelling like a banshee without thinking.

So, there you go. Stress can get you jumping out of your seat right now. It will give you that light jerk your body needs to work on something. but consider the big picture. Down the road, stress can affect your productivity in such a negative way, it will put your job on the line