Transcript
Sarah: Hi everyone. Thanks for zooming in, I am here with Abduh again. And today we are gonna talk about something that I feel is an essential part of working life. It’s sometimes a necessary evil, and that is stress management. Abduh would you consider yourself an emotional person?
Abduh: Nope. I don’t think I am. Yourself, Sarah?
Sarah: Okay, great that we’re on different pages here because I feel like I can get pretty emotional at times, especially when I’m watching Korean dramas as you would know. But true story actually, I was reading an article on Harvard Business Review about how to comfort a colleague who was crying. And I think it was a pretty interesting read for me because I feel like we live in a society where we’re always hustling hard at work, making time for our friends and our families and pursuing other interests. And sometimes we forget to acknowledge any negativity that we face in life, or we are just simply too tired to acknowledge our feelings. On that note, Abduh I’ve known you for around two years now and I’ve always felt that you had this sense of zen and calmness, which I really admire, and I really want to understand how you developed it. But let’s be real, I feel like everyone experiences stress at some point in their lives, whether it’s worrying about the future, making time for activities, meeting deadlines, et cetera. Could you maybe share a little bit about how you have managed stress and weariness?
Abduh: Okay. I’m glad you say that, I’ve always come across as being zen and all that because granted I’ve had my fair share of days that I feel a bit overwhelmed and a bit stressed because of the pressures of the day to day nature of our job. For me personally, when it comes to managing stress, managing the overwhelming workload that we have, in the office and outside of the office itself. It’s always about taking breaks during the day. One thing that I think one of our colleagues has shared with me that I practise pretty much for the past few months, is to use a time tracker. We don’t have an attention span that’s too long. This app actually helps you track the time that you take into working on certain tasks and it forces you to take a break after a specified period of time. This actually helps me manage my activity level and stress level as well. The other thing is really to understand your stress level, you know yourself best. You know when you feel overwhelmed, you know when you feel a bit more pressure as compared to the usual. It’s always a cycle, when it comes to stress, even at workplace and all that. There will come a point where you feel a bit of a burnout. You will need to be able to identify that point of time and learn of ways of how you can actually manage it either by taking a day off work, just to go out with your family or something like that.
Sarah: Okay. Now I think I know your secret. I feel like we are in a pretty, I would say difficult time right now, because of whatever’s happening, economically and health wise. And it’s pretty interesting to see that the majority of the people who voted in our poll, voted that the one thing that was giving them stress was actually preparing for the future. I think as a team lead, since you are the Group Account Director, you definitely have been a pillar of support for our account managers and for me also. And I think we can both agree that sometimes being stressed, whether it’s about worrying about the future, managing tight deadlines, it can take a toll. What advice would you give to someone who might be feeling overwhelmed right now?
Abduh: Okay. It’s always about taking it a day at a time, taking small steps to whatever that you have to accomplish. This is why I always share with my account managers, if they have 101 tasks that they have to check off for that given day. Prioritise the ones that is crucial or critical that needs to be done within that few hours first. And then once they start checking off all these priority items they will become easier. And another thing that I would like to point out also, is sometimes it’s okay to share with your colleagues or whoever that you feel comfortable to speak with, about whatever you’re feeling at that point of time. If you feel a bit overwhelmed share it with a colleague or share with a supervisor, they at least they can empathise. You can actually, just be able to rant out and be able to feel better after a good session.
Sarah: Okay. Really inspiring. I’m not gonna lie, I feel like this year has been a pretty rocky one for numerous reasons. Do you feel that way also?
Abduh: Yeah. Yeah. It’s been a very different kind of year, I would say.
Sarah: Thanks for sharing that Abduh. I think really inspiring words. So yeah, on that note, if you are our viewers, you have been feeling anxious about the global situation, workplace stress, or really any other issue, just know that some things are beyond your control and it helps to track your time and to really discipline yourself to make time for rest and work. Focus on things that are within your control because you are going to be fine. Thanks for joining me Abduh. We really, really hope this video inspires you. Please leave a comment, letting us know what you’d like for us to talk about in our next video. Till next time. Bye.
Abduh: Bye bye.