Think of a job without stress, you can hardly think of one. Stress can be there due to the work-pressure, nature of the job. At times, we create stress and apply to ourselves; there are times when stress is caused by several other factors and people around us. You may have good many of them, right from a demanding boss, unreasonable customers or unproductive and scheming co-workers.
Malcolm S. Forbes once said, ‘If you have a job without any aggravations, you don’t have a job.’ Hence, work stress is inevitable and unavoidable. It depends on how well we handle those stresses and be productive in whatever we do. Knowing how to relieve stress impacts our jobs and shapes the way we look at them.
It is not always easy to live and work with others. You don’t have to like the people you work with, but you have to be resilient enough to build cohesion with them and co-exist with them. You can start by remembering that there’s a unique place for everyone in the organization. Enjoyable work environment is all about bringing a harmony to the situations.
How about bringing a little harmony to the workplace! Think of your job and yourself as being a member of a choir. If you have been in a choir, you must know that some people sing too loud, others too softly and some out of tune, but they are all still part of the same choir. You have your definite task sets and perform your job by adhering to them. You cannot sing louder to compete with the loud singers or sing so softly that you are not heard or sing out of tune just to fit in. That will lead to disharmony and disrupting the spirit and function of the choir.
It is not possible to change the way another member sings, you can only give your best shot and hope that others follow your lead. Remember, the famous quote by the Roman philosopher Sallust, ‘Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay.’ No doubt, they are wise words.
Whatever be your task, don’t try to add to the disharmony and noise, if you cannot make them sound like a good piece of music. It will only make matters worse and drag the choir further out of melody.
Your performance depends on how well you perform, and not the relative functioning of your co-workers. It’s not a race! The more harmony there is in a choir the better it sounds. The more harmony you can create at work the less stressful job you can have. It won’t be wise to let someone else singing out of tune ruin your song.
