Work...and the Thought of Work: There is a Difference

One of the major contributors to stress is workload, particularly in professions such as teaching and nursing. The more work a person does the more it seems there is to do.

There are of course ways in which we can ease that load - by working more effectively and setting strict limits on the time we give to chosen tasks; by prioritising and using lists to free our minds up; by making distinctions between the quality use of time and its ineffective use.

Still though, teachers will argue that there is no way that they can reduce their workload – the marking just has to be done.

Sometimes, however, workload can be confused with the amount of thinking we do about work.

There can be a big difference between the amount of time we actually spend doing the job and the time we spend dwelling on problems and issues associated with it.

And it is the thinking we do about it which, at the end of the day, uses up a lot of our energy - the churning around of thoughts about the previous day at the office, the little things that play on our minds.

In therapy people are shocked when they come to realise, not the percentage of time they give to their work, but the percentage of attention and energy they give to it in relation to their life as a whole.

It can be very beneficial therefore to master the skill of doing the work and then forgetting about it. Calculate for yourself how much time you actually spend working and then estimate how much time you spend thinking about work. There is often a significant difference.