Craziness on the job? How to stay sane at work

Do you ever feel like keeping your sanity during the workday is a challenge? If so, you're not alone. A 2017 study found 52 percent of full-time workers were more stressed than they had been the year before.

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Stress can creep in at any time but perhaps is especially true for people working in fast-paced environments with high-pressure requests (demands) and deadlines. People who find themselves anxiety-ridden at work may end up having problems in both the workplace and at home due to excessive amounts of tension on the job (one executive reportedly even toted high divorce rates as a metric for career success!?)

In some cases, stress on the job is only seasonal, but in others, it may have become part of an entire organizational culture, which means it'll be an ongoing problem that won't go away unless changes are made.

Be proactive

When too much "crazy" arises in the workplace, try being proactive rather than reactive. It typically yields better results. When you look at a problem and carefully examine your options, in the long run, this can help reduce your stress. If you react quickly without considering consequences you may not exactly get the results you had hoped to achieve.

If you find yourself in need of maintaining your sanity during your workday, try to look for ways you can reduce or eliminate stress so you don't become ill or totally frustrated with your job. While you may not be able to effectively rid of all the forces that are driving you nuts on the job, you do have control over yourself and your own personal space.

Take designated breaks

Breaks are important because it gives you a few moments to have a reprieve, brief as it may be. While you may feel pressured to work non-stop throughout the course of your day, this can actually work against you. By falling into the mindset of putting more time in yields better productivity, you couldn't be more wrong. In reality, you can easily fall into the pitfall of being counterproductive.

The mind and body both need time to rest and take a break to recharge and rejuvenate. This is beneficial even if only for a few minutes to get a change of scenery or to break the monotony. Taking a break can also have a positive impact on keeping frustration levels down. After your lunch hour or quick coffee break, you can reenter the workday with a fresher perspective.

Leave work at the door

When you take your work problems and stress home with you, you don't give yourself a rest from the problems and stress occurring at work. Try your best to leave these problems behind as you punch in your time card and clock out. When you log off for the day, clock out 100 percent and spend your leisure time doing things you enjoy and/or spending quality time with family and friends.

Avoid gossip

Getting caught up in work gossip can quickly lead to insanity. Whether or not the gossip is true is irrelevant. Either way, it still inserts negativity into the workplace which can open a whole new can of worms to deal with in terms of stress. Even if the gossip is true, by staying out of it, this doesn't mean you don't need to be concerned with problematic issues plaguing your workplace; all it means is that you'll do yourself a large favor by not putting yourself smack in the middle of it.

Once you fall in the middle of gossip, this can either backfire on you or reflect upon you negatively or it will simply stress you out even more. Avoid gossip as much as you can because doing so, you'll increase chances of keeping your sanity intact.

Brighten your environment

If you have the ability to decorate and personalize your workspace, by all means, do it! By surrounding yourself with familiar possessions, colors oozing serenity, photos of loved ones, or soothing art pieces, this is a gentle reminder of the calm and happiness in your life. By immersing yourself amongst calmness and/or positivity, this can help keep you sane because it serves as a constant reminder of the good things in life.

Be organized

Organization is another key to keeping yourself sane. This doesn't mean you need to order your paper clips according to size or alphabetize your files because even "organized mess" can be effective as long as it suits your work style. Admittedly, this works for me. Years ago, a colleague and I each consistently had a stack of papers on our desks. No one else in the office understood our "mess" but anytime work needed to be done on a file that was in one of our "active" piles, we each knew where to find it, even if it was on the other person's desk. Filing it away only guaranteed we couldn't find these documents when the need arose. Once the situation was resolved, then the paperwork was put into a permanent space. (Keep in mind, at the time, things were digital but not to the extent everything is digitized today!)

The purpose is to find an organization system that works for you, it doesn't matter how that system is constructed. The benefits of being organized are tremendous because when those high-pressure moments hit you'll know exactly where to find what you need when you need it.

Practice good time management

Time management is a necessary and purposeful skill. A person who can effectively balance their time and use it to the maximum is a person who is able to keep a firmer grip on sanity.

Unfortunately, in the workplace, there are many things you cannot control. However, if you can successfully find and integrate ways to take charge of the things you do have the ability to control, this is a great way to decrease stress and create a better environment when seeking how to stay sane at work -- even in the craziest of moments.