What is Stress Part III – What NOT To Do

What is Stress Part III – What NOT To Do

by | Apr 22, 2017 | Freelancing, Upwork

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22 APRIL 2017

written by Mike

WHAT IS STRESS?

PART III – WHAT NOT TO DO

 

 

I want to move onto practical side on things, how do you fight stress?

I’m going in two directions here. What to do and what not to do.

The latter is important because there are things that will only add fuel to your situation. I know because I’ve done a lot of them. It was because of my ignorance and lack of understanding the subject. If any of these things work for you, then great. I can only give opinion drawn from my experience and advice taken from people close to me.

NOT TO DEAL WITH STRESS

Smoking

– apart from obvious health related risks, smoking does not help with stress. Believe me. I know, because I did find myself smoking in stressful situations. And I would say to other people:

“I’m not a smoker. I just have one, max two a day.”

Yes, good one. You either smoke, or you don’t.

I realised that I didn’t crave the cigarette as much as the five-minute break. I hated the smell, the taste, the feeling after. But I would do it again and again.

Once you understand it’s just a habit, and you replace the cigarette with something else, it becomes easier to quit. It is still hard, because of the physical addiction to the nicotine, but you can do it.

Drinking

– “It’s just one glass to relax, it’s fine right?” Yes, one glass of wine or beer may be ok, but it’s the conditioning of your brain that can lead to a trap.

The moment you link drinking alcohol to stress relief you should watch out. Alcohol should never be a solution for anything.

With insomnia, I would depend on alcohol as an answer to my problems. It was a long time ago, but not only it didn’t help, but hangovers weren’t pleasant either.

Sleeping pills and other drugs

– another great experience I had.

Sleeping pills are good until you can’t go to sleep without them. They can help when your sleep pattern is all over the place but be careful with them. It can take few weeks to wean off them. And the effects are not as powerful when you take them often.

Same with soft drugs. They can help you to relax but the moment you depend on them with your stress or insomnia, it’s hard to reverse that conditioning. Especially when you say to yourself stuff like:

“I’m not addicted. I always had problems with sleep, and this is the only thing that can help me.” Dangerous route.

Sleeping too much

– I never had problems with that, but I know people who did. You spend all your time in bed. Just want to go to sleep and forget about the day. Too much sleep is bad for you and will not solve anything.

Also, it can have a negative impact on your relationships with other people. And it will make you more tired. It is crazy when you think about it.

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Junk food

– you are stressed, you don’t want to cook. I get it. But snacking, sugar or takeaway food can lead to stomach problems. And you will run to the toilet every five minutes. Yes, soda will give you a quick rush of energy. But the crash half hour later will be as fast.

Procrastination

– I love video games. I always did. But I haven’t played on my PS4 for over two years now. Why? Gaming became my escape. A bit of wine and an evening with Battlefield or Dragon Age was my way to relax.

“What’s wrong with that? It’s not harmful.”

Yes, you are correct. Until you start to neglect other stuff.

For now, I cut it out, I needed that. Binge-watching Netflix, gaming or just surfing the web without any goal is the easiest and cheapest solution to stress. But in the long run, balance is needed.

Is there something better that you can spend your time doing?

Maybe instead of watching four hours of TV you can watch one hour and pick up some other activity too. I still love games, though. I just don’t play them anymore.

Cutting off your friends and family

– when you are stressed you don’t want to talk to anyone. Why would you? They don’t understand your problems.

I have a big family, so it is harder for me to do that. But I still had a few months when I withdrew from social interactions.

I mean, you still talk to people at work right?

You need outside contact too. It can give you an awesome perspective, and you can start seeing the “big picture” again.

There were a few weeks when we worked on a big project. Everyone at work was so stressed, nothing else existed for me. After the project has ended I went to see my family and friends; we had a nice afternoon barbeque.

All I wanted was to talk about this project.

“Hey, so have you guys seen XYZ yet?”

“Yeah, it’s alright.”

“I didn’t like it.”

“No, haven’t seen it yet.”

And subject changed to something else in five seconds.

What?!

Why don’t they care?

For the last few weeks, it was my whole world. In a second, I was grounded again. The stress bubble has swallowed me whole, and I lost the connection with the real world. Don’t neglect your friends or family, they will often help you in indirect ways.

Taking out stress on others, mood swings, grumpiness – it will affect everyone around you. Then a few hours later you will be thinking to yourself

“Why did I say that? Why did I do that?”

Stress can ruin the best relationships. You may think to yourself “They don’t understand the pressure! They would do the same in my situation!”.

Well, for starters everyone else has their problems too, and you don’t know how other people would act in your shoes. Also, it doesn’t matter, taking out your problems on others is never the solution.

These are just a few thing that in my opinion do not work.

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What is Stress Part II – Symptoms

What is Stress Part II – Symptoms

by | Apr 19, 2017 | Freelancing, Upwork

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19 APRIL 2017

written by Mike

WHAT IS STRESS?

PART II – SYMPTOMS

 

So what are the signs of stress?

In the previous part, I talked about causes of stress. Let’s now discuss some of the symptoms.

You need to understand that everyone is different, some people will react to stress by sleeping all day long, others (like me) have insomnia. I guess, by the time you reach adulthood you should know (more or less) yourself and when you should be worried.

Let’s jump straight to it.

Anxiety

– you don’t want to talk to anyone, I would describe it as a consistent feel of unease. Constant worrying and feeling of helplessness.

Back pain

– this one can also be the result of bad posture and wrong sitting position.

Chest pains

– to that, I can relate. I would get them at work and in my bed at night.

It felt like a sharp stab, mini heart attack of sorts. It can be quite scary when you don’t know what the heck is happening.

Constipation or diarrhoea

– linked to junk food that you eat when you are stressed.

Stomach pains and lack of appetite can also occur.

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Depression 

– awful, horrible feeling. Some people deal with it better than others.

Depression is also quite hard to understand because people can’t see it. It’s not like a broken leg. For me, it lasted only a couple of weeks, but I felt like I didn’t want to do anything, I wanted to stay on the couch forever.

It was quite eye opening too because I always felt that I have a strong character, and I’m quite grounded. The worst were conversations with my parents:

“How can you feel sad? You have a good job, a great girlfriend, everything you wanted. Just stop making stuff up!”

It does make you feel bad because you start to think that something must be wrong with you, with your head.

With the understanding of my partner and research, I broke through it but it changed my perspective on many things. It helped me to understand how fragile our minds are.

A good friend of mine who was going through similar stuff had to seek professional help and was off work for few weeks. So do not ignore the symptoms and get help if you need to.

Fatigue 

– you are tired all the time. It clouds your thinking and abilities. I would doubt my listening skills or during some task, my mind would wander off.

Headaches and migraine

– absolute nightmare. A painful headache in the middle of your work will ruin your day. Not to mention that productivity is gone, and you will make silly mistakes. Tablets and painkillers can help but, in the long run, a lifestyle change will need to happen.

High blood pressure

– it didn’t happen to me, but my dad is a walking example. Sugar and junk food do not help either. Watch out for these symptoms because it can lead to diabetes, a so-called “lifestyle disease”.

Trouble sleeping or insomnia

– that plays right in my ballpark. I battled insomnia for a long time. It can ruin your mood and cloud your thinking. On a third day, you will be a “walking zombie”.

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Problems with relationships

– my partner has a patience of an angel. But I understand how stress can strain your relationship. Grumpiness, stupid and rude remarks, being short with another person. Or just keeping it all inside.

It will not make it pleasant for the other person to be around you.

Weight gain or loss

– overeating or lack of appetite. Both bad for your health. I cannot stress enough how junk food can affect your mood and your body. Not eating enough is also bad. It will result in fatigue, insomnia and stuff like migraines.

So these are a few indications of stress. You must understand that it is not black and white. It won’t be like,

“Oh, I got a headache, I must be stressed!”

No, it is always a mixture of things. But understanding the signs will help you to come up with a defence plan. Let’s have a look at what we can do to fight stress. I have two more parts about it, what to do and what not to do.

See you soon.

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What is Stress Part I – Causes

What is Stress Part I – Causes

by | Apr 12, 2017 | Freelancing

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12 APRIL 2017

written by Mike

WHAT IS STRESS?

PART I – CAUSES

 

Stress.

The term used every day by millions of people to describe their feelings and anxieties.

We all get stressed out. And overcoming anxiety in a workplace will help you do a good job. You may dream of an awesome music career or start a design business. It does sound good on paper but with creative media, there are stressful moments too.

I would argue that small dose of stress can be good and will keep you on your toes. But prolonged condition will reflect on your work in a negative way. I know, it’s not the lightest of subjects, but I feel it is important to understand it so you can prepare how to deal with stressful times.

Let’s start with a classic, what is stress and why is it so bad for you?

Stress is your body’s defence instinct. It makes you turn the wheel just in time to avoid car collision or catch your mobile phone mid-air.

“Well, that’s good then, because of stress my smartphone’s screen is perfect!”

Yes and no.

Small doses of stress are good for you, but when it goes on for too long, it can result in bad physical, mental and social symptoms. In my case, it was insomnia, chest pains, and general distress. One of my close friends took a sick leave for depression related to stress. Another friend has mood swings and “grumpy” days.

On stressful days, your body consumes more energy. You get tired faster, but you can’t sleep. You want to do more, but you can’t focus. To the point, it starts to affect people around you. And it is bad.

According to the latest research from Harvard and Stanford Business Schools stress leads up to 120,000 deaths every year in the United States alone.

The study also looks at the negative impact on health care services and productivity.

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I want to give you a little background about myself. I see myself as a calm guy that can approach problems with a strategy and plan. I don’t panic; I don’t sweat the small stuff. But I still found myself in a “stress-trap” not so long ago. A couple of years back we were working on a big film with tight deadlines.

It didn’t take too long before I started having chest pain, had troubles sleeping and begun to doubt my listening skills at work. Small problems become enormous, little mistakes seemed massive. As the stress bubble grows, it swallows more people with each day. We began to be short with each other; we lost the big picture of the project.

Your mind won’t shut; you think about your tasks before falling asleep and when you wake up. You dream about your job. And not the good kind of dreams either. When it all ended, we were drained. There was no energy left in any of us. But wait! The new project was around the corner. And the dance began again.

To me, it was a breaking point.

Lack of sleep, depression and anxiety had a big impact on my mental abilities. I could not understand why I was feeling so bad when in reality I had a good job, awesome girlfriend, and was in good health. I knew that something had to change.

Right, enough with my self-pity.

I started to research stress and techniques of fighting it. I realised two things:

Stress fuels itself.

It will make you hate your job.

You are stressed, your co-workers are stressed, your bosses are stressed and on and on and on. It is quite hard to detach from the situation when everyone around you is running like a chicken. You will hate going to work. Well, hate is a strong word, but it will be hard for you to get up every morning knowing that you will not enjoy your day.

And I don’t care how cool your job is. Stress will ruin it. In my case, I didn’t want to watch any movies anymore, even at home. The worst bit is that you worked so hard to get to that place, and now you don’t even enjoy it. Don’t worry though. The minute you realise that the job is the same, but it is stress that affects your perspective, you get out of that hole.

But we will get to that.

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CAUSES OF STRESS

 

So what are the biggest causes of stress? According to that research paper, there are a few main ones.

Health Insurance

– or rather the lack of it. When you don’t have the health insurance, it affects your financial and family situation. You stress about things like not having enough money to cover healthcare or costs of treatments. Unfortunately, is can be a closed loop as stress will have a negative impact on your health.

Unemployment

– it is easy to see how it fuels anxiety and depression. I remember after I finished college and moved towns I couldn’t find any job. Not even waiting job at a restaurant. It was winter and the weather did not help. I spend few weeks on a couch feeling sorry for myself. So I agree hundred percent with that point.

Job insecurity

– it is a big one when you are on your own. “Will I get another client? What about my mortgage and family? Maybe I just become a teacher.” Sounds familiar? I bet it does. Job worries can cause a lot of stress especially when you are just starting out as a freelancer. It helps to have some extra income stream on a side.

Shift work

– again a good one in our profession. Long hours anyone? Tight deadlines and last minute changes result in longer work days and stress. A couple of years ago I had to supervise night shift freelancers on a project. It was three weeks, and it completely threw me off my sleep patterns and balance. It took some time to get back to the routine.

Work-Life balance

– night shifts I mentioned earlier meant that I wouldn’t see my girlfriend for three weeks as she worked weekends. The funny thing is, we live together. We don’t have kids, but I can only imagine how stressful it can be when you don’t see your kids because of all the overtime. No wonder it is on the list.

Job control and demands

– one day you are a trainee, next you are supervising a team of people. With great power comes great responsibility. And with great responsibility comes great stress. You are not only in charge of your output but also of other people’s work quality. It can get tough.

Social support

– lack of mentorship, training, and general well-being support. We can find that in most big corporations. And yes I know there are HR department and yearly reviews and silly online tests. But in reality, a lack of proper social support means that sometimes you can feel like a number or a small gear in a big machine.

Work ethics

– favouritism, gossip, and other office politics. If you are not on good terms with your managers and colleagues, it can get stressful. No matter how good your work is.

These are of course just major causes of stress. Your situation may be different, but it doesn’t matter. Stress will make your life miserable. Well, maybe I’m too dramatic but it for sure won’t make it better.

Thanks for reading, in the next part I will talk a little about signs of stress.

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Big Project Survival – Phase III “The Last Rally”

Big Project Survival – Phase III “The Last Rally”

by | Mar 25, 2017 | Freelancing, Upwork

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25 MARCH 2017

written by Mike

BIG PROJECT SURVIVAL

PHASE III “THE LAST RALLY”

 

Finally!

The light at the end of the tunnel! The end is near, only a few more days to go.

But wait.

It’s not over yet, far from it. In the last part of the guide, you will learn how to push through the final barrier. You are almost there; it’s too late to give up now.

Be ready for the last minute change.

It feels like the end is near. Only a few more days and it will be over. The project life cycle is completing. A word of advice. Do not lower your guard.

Last minute changes will come.

The last project was a perfect example of that. The director and clients were tinkering with the product till the very last minute.

“Small changes” weren’t that small and it affected all of us. The funny thing is, deadlines stayed the same. In a situation like this, you can cry and complain all you want. Or you can get on with it. And that is what we did.

You will need the last drop of your strength. These last moments will be the hardest. “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

After the primary grind, people will relax. Watch for silly mistakes.

There is another problem with last minute changes. Because you and your teammates thought it was over, you started to relax. Even couple of days can cause you to lose focus. And it is going to be hard to regain it.

And with a lack of focus, mistakes happen. And not the big ones. Not the ones that we made before. When we justified them with chaos and disorganisation. Silly blunders, we make them because we started to sit back. To unwind.

Be cautious in these last moments. It’s not over yet.

If you know that something will be late, say in advance!

We set deadlines, and we all work towards them. At the end of the project life cycle, you will deal with deliverables.

When I make my schedules I take the final date minus one day. I set my target date early, so I have one day spare in case something happens. I have to say it does work great. But mix a massive project, tight schedule, last minute changes together and you are heading towards a steep hill.

Every morning I would update my fellow workers on the state of deliverables.

Since other vendors were waiting for us, it was crucial to let them know if something was going to be late. That is why if you feel that you may miss your deadline, even by a few hours, let other people know.

They can prepare and adjust, and if you deliver on time, you will look good!

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After the deadline, have a debrief.

When the dust settles, it is important to sit down and review.

What went wrong?

How can we improve for the next project?

Was this project life cycle too short?

Having this conversation is healthy. But don’t spend too much time on complaining and critique. It is over now. Address the issues, but don’t forget to praise. You and the team worked very hard in the last few weeks.

It should be acknowledged.

CELEBRATE!

And the last (and most important) point, celebrate!

Go for lunch, organise a night out. You all need a couple of days to relax and have fun. The next project is coming, but, for a brief moment, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have done an excellent job, and it was because of your team.

In few years you won’t remember the long hours, never ending changes and deadline dates.

But you will remember the people that surrounded you.

And there is no better way to make memories than a celebration over good food!

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Big Project Survival – Phase I “The Plan”

Big Project Survival – Phase I “The Plan”

by | Mar 18, 2017 | Freelancing, Upwork

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18 MARCH 2017

written by Mike

BIG PROJECT SURVIVAL

PHASE I “THE PLAN”

 

Not so long ago I was a part of a team working on a big project. It was a high-profile job, and it lasted for several weeks. And it started at the back of another task. I’m not going to lie; it was tough. The project’s life was about three weeks. We worked every day, doing crazy hours. It was relentless. There was a moment when we though we are not going to deliver. The light at the end of the tunnel was dim.

Why am I writing all this?

Well, because it will happen to you. One way or another. There will be a project that will test your ability to focus. And last minute changes will mean that months of planning and preparation will go out of a window. It was mad; it was hard. But we did deliver. And it was a great way to finish off the year. Anyway, the whole venture gave me an idea for a short guide. A guide on how to survive the grind.

You better start to get ready.

PHASE I – THE PLAN

 Be flexible. Plan in advance but understand it will all change. Start with the end in mind.

We planned for the most of the year. Everyone knew it will be tough. And still, we were caught off guard.

Why?

Deadlines were moved just weeks before the start. Every day there would be an unexpected last minute change request from the client. There were delays, staffing problems, software crashes. It felt like there was a crisis every thirty minutes. And yet we managed.

How?

Yes, the plan was gone, but we adapted to the new environment. Every problem had a quick solution; we knew that somehow we need to make it work. And you will do too. Start with an end in mind. As long as you and the team know where you are going, the rest will follow. Flexibility will be your best ally.

 

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Have a proper chain of command. Check who is available.

You and the guys need to know who is in charge. Everyone can present different ideas but in the end, you will need one person to make a decision. It’s good to have a clear understanding who is in charge. I worked on some projects where it was just a full improv. No firm leadership.

And yes.

Creativity, no rules and all that. It’s all fine. But when you are in deep trouble, you will need a swift decision. You don’t want to be in a situation where there are people in the room asking “Ok, so what do we do next?” Believe me, I’ve been there. If there is no one else, assume responsibility. And move the whole thing forward. A squad needs a commander.

Second thing, availability.

If your department is a full-time staff place, then you know the limits. And as long as no one is ill, it should be okay. But if you need the help of freelancers, book them in advance. Make sure they know the dates. They can still pull out, so have reserves ready too. Remember, failing to plan is planning to fail.

Check your gear.

It should be a no-brainer. Make sure all your rooms are up and ready. Any updates and maintenance should be done at least few weeks in advance. If possible, check the limits and capacity. It’s alright when you have a simple project. But when the big one comes in, and you are running your equipment all day all night; that’s when the stuff goes wrong.

We even calculated how long it takes to have everything back on track in a case of server failure. Twenty-two minutes. And, surprise surprise, when the servers failed all it took was a quick tea break, and we were back in business. And the clients didn’t mind too.

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