“Positive culture comes from being mindful, and respecting your coworkers, and being empathetic.” 

― Biz Stone

Much of our time in daily life is made up of work, and whether we see this work as a way to progress in our career, or to simply make enough money to support our lifestyle, what we do during those hours can be stressful. Add to this the colleagues who seem to invite drama, busyness and stress into the work environment, and expect you to be part of the madness. It can be difficult to distance yourself enough to get on with the tasks at hand and enjoy your time at work. Here are a few ways to keep your feet on the ground and your mind in the moment when coworkers are promoting a stressful company culture. 

Communicate over conscious lunchtimes

It’s very common these days for us to spend our lunch hour at our desk, catching up on unfinished tasks, surfing the web or checking our phone messages, but getting away from your screen entirely, and consciously enjoying lunch with colleagues is a great way to give your brain a break from work issues, as well as giving those colleagues a chance to communicate their concerns in a more focused way, with a view of coming to some sort of conclusion together. 

Seek solitude often

A busy office has a tendency to breed negativity and even panic in certain situations, and if your job involves a vast amount of concentration, it can be hard to focus at times. Locate a place that can offer a few minutes of silence and solitude whenever you need it. Whether you jump into a free meeting room, hover in a quiet hallway, or find a bench outside near the building, make sure you have places you can go to reset when things get too much. 

Focus on the fix 

How often do you hear coworkers complain about their job, the higher-ups, clunky technical systems, the work environment, or the length of their to-do list? It’s pretty common to hear complaints and general moanings in the workplace, but if you’re not a fan of pointless rants aimed in your direction, then help your colleagues to focus on the fix. Instead of contributing to the complaint or allowing them to ramble on, take the opportunity to say something like “How can we come up with a solution together?” Steering them towards a conclusion can help encourage them in a friendly way to sort out their own issues. 

Create a workspace that’s a haven for happiness

It might be a desk, a piece of equipment, or a workbench that you spend the majority of your time hunched over, but wherever you find yourself during work, it should be somewhere that’s comfortable, calm and encouraging of productivity. Upgrade to a chair with back-support, add a few favourite trinkets or motivational quotes to your desk space, or surround yourself with the perfect scent (like our Focus Balm) to signal to your brain that this is time for work. Make yourself more content, and you might find you are distracted less. 

Make your goals clear 

While it seems like everyone in the office is tearing their hair out over small, insignificant problems, the fact is that we need an overarching goal to chase while at work. Having specific objectives for your day, week and month will help you stay on track, feel motivated to contribute to the overall goal, and ignore the background noise that comes with working in a busy environment. Not only that, if others know your goal and how dedicated you are to achieving it, they may stop bothering you with menial tasks, and help you to make it happen.

How do you handle work when your coworkers are highly strung? Tell us over on our social media channels.