Everyone has experienced some level of work-related stress. Dubbed the “21st century equivalent of the Black Death, stress is the top cause of workplace sickness. While some workplace pressures can be stimulating and motivating, when they become stressful, it means you are struggling to cope. The tension and anxiety resulting from stress plays out on your health and well-being. Its negative impact transcends the office to include other areas of your life – your relationship with your partner, family, friends and even your finances.
If you have a hint that your job (or your lack of having a job) is making you or a loved one sick, this seminar is for you. Leave feeling empowered when dealing with one or more of 13 work stress archetypes discussed. Which one is you?
Is Work Making You Sick?
13 Work-Stress Archetypes: Which One Is You?
Archetype | Profile |
1. Underdog Underling | You’re busy from the time you get to work until the time you leave, but you have little freedom while you’re there. You don’t have much say over how you do your job or the types of projects you work on, and you’re always on someone else’s schedule. |
2. Frustrated Prolific | You work your tail off, but you feel you don’t receive enough credit—or compensation. With lots of sweat (and maybe a few tears), you’ve made your bosses look good. Still, you haven’t received a raise, a promotion, or sufficient recognition. |
3. Deserted Outlier | You feel like you’re all alone, and not in a good way. If you require help or guidance, your boss won’t give it to you, and when you need to vent, you don’t have a trusted ally to turn to. |
4. Doormat With A Smile | You deal with demanding and verbally abusive customers, but through it all you’re expected—no, required—to swallow your resentment and maintain a facade of professionalism, calm, and courtesy |
5. Technology Incarcerate | Thanks to the mobile phones, smartphones, and laptop your company so generously provided, your boss can now reach you 24/7. You’re constantly (if virtually) connected to the office, and your work and personal life are indistinguishable. |
6. On the Brink | You’re terminally exhausted, both physically and emotionally, to the point where it becomes difficult to function. You feel as if you’re on the verge of a breakdown. |
7. Punching Bag | Your boss insults you, gives you impossible deadlines, assigns you busywork just because she can, and dresses you down in front of your colleagues. Or you’ve seen her do those things to others—and you’re worried that you’re next. |
8. Hell In A Hand Basket | Work just isn’t fair. Your boss plays favorites, management decisions are mystifying and arbitrary, and employees are treated like children. |
Archetype | Profile |
9. Globe Trotter | You spend at least half your time on the road or in the air making your way to your next meeting. Work is your life and you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night not remembering which city you’re in. |
10. Undercover Covert | You’ve chosen to keep quiet about something that you believe if shared with co-workers, your boss or management might jeopardize your job or that promotion you’ve been eying for some time now. You struggle to remain undercover. At times you feel torn between who you really are and who you pretend to be. |
11. Means to An End | You see your job as a placeholder to what it is you really want to do. You know THIS job isn’t in alignment with your goals, talents and what truly fulfills you. You are merely biding your time while able to pay your bills. |
12. Tension Between Two Priorities | You are torn between your career and another priority in your life, e.g., marriage, motherhood, caring for a sick parent, earning a degree. Trying to give both 100% of your energy, you never seem to find the right balance. You carry feelings of guilt when one of the two gets more focus than the other. The success or victory of one implies you’ve forsaken the other, meaning there’s never anything to celebrate. |
13. Waiting For The Other Shoe to Drop | It’s not a matter of if you will lose your job, but when will you lose your job. Today’s uncertain and highly competitive job market means you are always on your guard, waiting for something bad to go down. Whether it’s layoffs, no raises or increased workloads, you know this is the new normal and somehow you need to be able to adjust accordingly. |
Discover ways to modify how you relate to work-related stress, both at work and away from work. Learn how to activate your self-healing potentials by starting with how you think. In this highly engaging seminar you will:
1) Receive support and validation respective to what you are feeling; and,
2) Obtain tools to assist you in creating a new and more advantageous experience, thus allowing for greater control over your situation.
Far be it from me to minimize the dangers of workplace stress–this is a serious problem. But “equivalent to the Black Death”? Let’s get real. In the course of a year and a half (1347-49), between 40% and 50% of the European population died–many people within 24 hours of the first symptoms. Whole villages were emptied, local government collapsed, fields went unharvested for lack of workers. And after that first catastrophic outbreak, the plague continued to return at regular intervals. There *is* no modern equivalent. It was a calamity on a scale we cannot imagine.
Barbara Newman
You’re right!
Dr. R
Who is teaching this class?
evie