Staying stress free at work: 64 tips to help you stay focused and effective

As part of our commitment to help raise awareness and to keep you safe from the clutches of debilitating stress, we’ve pulled together a definitive list of tips and tactics to help you stay focused, effective and (relatively) stress free. We’ve already given you practical advice on managing stress and helped steer you away from burnout and now, we bring you 64 tips to help you stay focused and effective in the workplace.

Outlined below are a host of articles stuffed with useful and practical information to help you break up your work day, free you from the shackles of unnecessary admin tasks, keep you creative and focused on work that matters.

1. 10 tips to manage notifications

Notifications are great when they support your priorities, but they are a liability when they create unnecessary interruptions and distractions. And we’ve all been there – email notifications, WhatsApp messages, Facebook notifications, weather updates, gaming notifications – the list goes on and on and they all disrupt our flow and steal our focus.

Well, now is the time to consider a notification reboot that puts every beep, badge, and vibration in service to you, rather than working against you and this article will show you how.

2. 10 ways to prevent admin tasks from draining your creative energy

Your workday is full of commitments that range from the sublime to the ridiculous. Each of them places a different requirement on your brain power and it can be all too easy to be snowed under doing the unnecessary administrative tasks. They can become a real drain, stealing your creative energy and be highly stressful if they persist.

This article shows you how to handle those admin tasks more strategically so you can stay in flow and free from stress.

3. Eight gains from a week without meetings

Meetings are supposed to bring teams together to help them move forward. But sometimes, they are a real hindrance that break up the day and actually prevent real progress being made. In a recent study by Salary.com, 47% of respondents said attending too many meetings was their biggest waste of time at work.

In this article, see what happens when you ditch the meetings and take back control of your time.

4. How to keep productivity from killing your creativity

When you think about your favourite day at work, what comes to mind? Was it the day you spent clearing your inbox, sending hundreds of emails? Or was it the day that you figured out a solution to a problem that you’d been struggling with for ages? Exactly!

When it seems like every app is asking you to fill every minute with new activities to track, measure, and optimise, sometimes just sticking to an idea can feel extremely gratifying. Creativity isn’t the enemy of productivity, it’s the fuel that keeps the engine running and keeps you happy.

With that in mind, here are five tips to help you keep your creative energy flowing while staying productive.

5. Five ways physical activity boosts your creative energy

Everybody knows that a certain amount of physical exercise is good for you. It helps clear your mind, keep you healthy and is a fantastic reliever of stress. And have you ever noticed how your epiphany moments happen when you’re on the go and out of the office?

Next time you’re feeling stuck and a little stressed, remember this: studies show body movement can unlock creative ways of thinking, regardless of what problem you’re trying to solve. Here’s a great article on how to use physical activity to get out of a rut and get your imagination in motion again.

6. Change your daily routine to find your creativity

Some routines are good – for example going to sleep at a regular time can help you stay healthy. Familiar patterns like regular exercise and brushing your teeth before bed can help reduce stress and keep you grounded. But if you take them too far they can stifle creativity and blunt your competitive edge.

Read our five tips on how to break your daily routine, stay creative and mitigate the workplace stress that prevents you from doing your best work.

7. Discover your most creative time of day

All of us are governed by our own internal clocks, or circadian rhythms, that determine when we’re wide awake and when we need toothpicks to keep our eyes open. We tend to think that we are at our best during peak awake hours, but this isn’t always true.

According to a study on how time of day affects problem solving, a little sleepiness may open our minds to more creative solutions.

Find out when your most creative time of day is and stop stressing over problems when you’re not at your best.

8. Learn how to say no at work

We’ve all done it at work: said ‘yes’ when everything – logic, reason and instinct – screams ‘no way!’ But this failure to turn down excess work comes at a price. Over 65% of executives see overwhelmed employees as a critical issue facing their business. On a personal level, a host of health issues have been linked to being overcommitted (not to mention you run the risk of burnout).

Here is how you can master the critical art of saying no and stay focused on what really matters.

For further advice and stories of how to stay focused and creative at work, click here.