6 Tips to Get Over Job Depression

A new study from Tufts Medical center implicates psychological stress at the office as a root cause for depressed workers finding it difficult to do their jobs. So, if you find yourself a bit down and depleted when you first begin your work day, things will not improve until you change.

Work requires that we integrate our personal rhythm with daily routines and other people. As we get busy, life gets rushed; our personal equilibrium gets harder to maintain and as a result we are giving others partial attention. We make mistakes and misunderstandings occur. That’s when negative “situations” begin to occur at the workplace.

 “In many cases the depressed employees had problems at work, Dr. Debra Lerner lead author of the study said. “They’re often very fatigued and have motivational issues. They also may have difficulty handling the pacing of work, managing a routine, performing physical job tasks and managing their usual workload.”

Here’s a typical misunderstanding which could lead to a depressed mindset:  Mark and Tom work for a software company and were assigned a prominent market research project evaluating the competition for the company’s new software product. During the first week of the project Mark kept seeing Tom working on other assignments and finally lashed out at him for not pulling his weight. Fortunately, Tom calmly explained that he was tying up loose ends, clearing his desk, so that he could devote his complete attention to their project. Mark’s mind-reading almost sabotaged the team spirit and most importantly, his peace of mind.

Instead of expending useless angry energy, or constantly tallying up every additional remark or action, try allowing people to be who they are and not forcing them to be who you are!

Here are some suggestions for improving your mood at work:
* Fool around when you start to feel negative; just do nothing and relax. Remember when you were a child you doodled while the teacher was talking? You will reap the amazing benefit of the creative process by opening up a conduit for creative ideas. There is great productivity in rest.

* Become more alert when you cross the line into negativity. Know your personal triggers and deal with them immediately.  If you are hungry, take a break and eat. If you are sleepy, take a ten minute power nap. If you are irritable, take a walk outside in the light. Don’t bring your problems to work with you. Use work as an opportunity to get away from them!

* When you feel negative – go counter-intuitive. Look for positive qualities in the people who annoy you and go out of your way to be helpful. “Exchange places” with your adversary at work. How does he or she see you? How can you help them?

* Maximize your abilities instead of turning your attention to what others are doing or saying.

* Adapt to the “situation” or the person, rather than impose yourself.

* Don’t worry about failing. Worry more about failing to be kind, open and understanding.