How to Survive the Workplace Without Losing Your Mind or Job: Top Ten Proven Strategies for Managing Workplace Stress Syndrome

By Hariharan Dharmarajan

Are you reeling under excessive pressure in your workplace? Are you struggling to control negative emotions from overwhelming your rational self? Do you fear suffering an emotional melt-down at work? Is your work-life imbalance taking a toll on your general well-being?

How to Survive the Workplace Without Losing Your Mind or YOur Job addresses each of these critical concerns with common sense solutions. This ultimate how-to guide offers thorough insights into one of the most significant modern epidemics—workplace stress. Long before the recent onslaught of global pandemics, workplace stress has unleashed unhealthy havoc on our lives, our families and our future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Sep 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781698702766

Hariharan Dharmarajan

Hariharan Dharmarajan has almost twenty years’ experience in public, private and corporate training environments. Author, consultant, public speaker and senior lecturer, he holds multiple degrees including a Masters in Commerce and Masters in Education at the National Institute of Education in Singapore, with specialization in Psychological Measurement & Testing. Recipient of numerous prestigious awards, Hariharan was presented the PS21 Distinguished Star Service Award for achieving outstanding standards in service excellence by Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Teo Chee Hean and PS21 Star Service Award by Mr. Peter Ong, Head, Civil Service College. He was also recognized as recipient of the ITE Service Star Award, Excellent Service Award and Distinguished Service Star Award in 2011. Hariharan is a popular speaker as well as workshop and a conference moderator. Currently he is a resident instructor and senior lecturer – mentor at the Institute of Technical Education in Singapore.

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Copyright 2020 Hariharan Dharmarajan.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN:

978-1-6987-0275-9 (sc)

ISBN:

978-1-6987-0277-3 (hc)

ISBN:

978-1-6987-0276-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020916971

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect

the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for

them. All the stories and names of people featured in this book are fictitious.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images

are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Trafford rev. 09/16/2020

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North America & international

toll-free: 844-688-6899 (USA & Canada)

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I found this an invaluable guide for Harmony in the workplace and life!

– Alvin Law, Canadian Hall of Fame, Professional Speaker.

"Work-related stress is so often ignored and pushed to the side by so many leaders in business. In his amazing book ‘How to Survive the Workplace without Losing Your Mind or Your Job’ Hariharan has taken the pain of his own workplace adversities and has made it his purpose to educate the masses on work-related stress, and the tools necessary to find balance, calm, and productivity. A must-read for employers and employees alike."

– Cornell Thomas, Global Speaker, Author,

Social Entrepreneur, USA.

Bravo! Hariharan has done more than write a book. He has created a masterpiece that is a must-read for anyone who takes responsibility for their own professional development and is trying to navigate the perils of today’s ever-changing workplace.

– Glenn Shepard, Author, President & CEO,

Glenn Shepard Seminars, Inc. USA.

A powerful mentor for all front-line managers and supervisors.

– Dr. S.S. Sathappan, Bone and Joint Specialist,

Farrer Park Hospital, Singapore.

"How to Survive the Workplace without Losing Your Mind or Your Job, offers a gold mine of personal coping strategies that will help you GROW rather than hit an emotional roadblock."

– T Harv Eker, #1 New York Times bestselling

author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind ™

This book will sharpen your professional radar to recognise common emotional roadblocks that often de-rail us!

– Vijay Michihito Batra, Inspirational &

Motivational Speaker, India.

Superb. Don’t just read it, practice what is shared; deep breathing, physical activity, and mind-set.

– Yogesh Chabria, Founder of The Happionaire ™ way.

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To Mom and Dad:

You gave me life,

the greatest gift of all.

To the memory of my

mom and dad

Saroja Dharmarajan

N.K. Dharmarajan

who joined the angels in Paradise.

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When you can’t control what’s happening, challenge yourself

to control the way you respond to what’s happening.

That’s where your power is!

The Minds Journal.com

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

SECTION ONE: MY STORY – ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH NOVEL

INTERPRETATION OF THE SITUATION

The author’s personal story of controlling emotions and

regaining rationality in a challenging situation

Avoid Imaginary Scenarios That Sabotage Your Emotions

SECTION TWO: THEIR STORIES – WORKPLACE STRESS AND

COPING MECHANISMS

A collection of short stories

Be Resilient: Never Give Up

Conquer Your Anger Before It Conquers You

Be Resolute In Your Fight Against Injustice

Be Prepared For Unprecedented Changes

Focus On Professional Aspirations, Not On Personal Setbacks

How To Survive A Micromanaging Boss

Challenges Of Working In A Family-Run Business

Acknowledge Your Mistakes And Learn From Them

How To Deal With Ugly Office Politics

Pride Comes Before A Fall – Avoid Arrogance

SECTION THREE: STRATEGIES FOR CONTROLLING

EMOTIONAL CONFLICTS AT WORK

A practical how-to guide to control emotional conflicts at work

A Moment Of Patience

Deep Breathing And Relaxation

Segregate: All Problems Do Not Require Attention At Once

Hold Off Major Decisions Until Emotions Are In Control

If You Have A Lemon, Make A Lemonade

Leave Your Work Stress At Office

Confront Your Negative Thoughts By Concentratng On The Positive

Physical Activity – A Healthy Mind Lives In A Healthy Body

Respect Cannot Be Demanded, It Must Be Earned

How To Handle Emotional Flare-Up At Work

How Reframing My Thoughts Changed My Life

SECTION FOUR: A QUICK START GUIDE ON

LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES

Best practices for effective leadership and management

About The Author

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FOREWORD

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I started my career in the IT industry. Subsequently, I realised my true calling in life. I was lucky. Life gave me the exciting opportunity to immerse in what I love to do the most – write. No regrets and no looking back, since then.

The most important life lesson I have learned; no journey is easy. Every step is fraught with risks and challenges. It is all about your resilience – how you perceive challenges, how you never give up and how you deal with them. Having been through my own share of ups and downs, I was excited when Hariharan disclosed the idea and details of his second book, How to Survive the Workplace without losing your mind or your job. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) most of the world’s population spend one-third of their adult life at work. In fact, workplace challenges are far more common than what we expect. If we look around, there are many stressed, overworked and fatigued people.

What is the point of writing about workplace challenges, listing remedies and contingency plans once again? Undoubtedly, there are already many critically acclaimed works under this genre and I am sure you have flipped or browsed through some of them. But, did you find an instant connection with what you read? Those who have read Hariharan’s first book – The Positive Power of Practicing Persistence, are already acquainted with his flair to find inspiration from stories and real-life instances. Nothing is more interesting or convincing than a story. Adhering to his signature style of storytelling, the author presents a collection of ten short stories, in section two of the book. The stories related to different types of workplace adversity faced by the protagonists, are bound to resonate somewhere or the other with you. The beauty of the book lies in the fact that the message is universal. Most of the workplace challenges and the ways to overcome them can be extended in almost every other sphere of life. Well, will it make a difference in your life? Certainly, it will.

I am fortunate to present the foreword of this book, because it upholds the tenet – No problem is insurmountable; something which I strongly believe, practise and advocate.

Sharadiya Mukhopadhyay

Writer and Editor

With a passion for

Interior designing, music and politics

Bengaluru, India.

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PREFACE

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Objective of writing this book

Life is the best teacher and life’s most important lessons come through tough experiences. Being an educator, the primary objective of my life is knowledge sharing. After all, knowledge grows when shared. With this objective in mind, I feel compelled to share with you my experience – what I perceived as stress when I found myself in a new work environment and how I managed to get past the stress and negativities, to come out successful and shining in my career and life.

What prompted me to think?

A conversation with a close friend was an eye-opener for me. I asked myself – is it only about me? Do other people frequently experience stress at work? How do we surmount the challenges and excel?

These questions spurred me to delve more deeply into the complexities of the stressful professional world around. In my quest for a better understanding about workplace stress and the harmful effects of stress related negative emotions, I committed myself to take up active research on the subject. Simultaneously, I was also trying to figure out strategies to mend my personal job-related issues and stress. I interviewed my friends and acquaintances who are working professionals across many industries and domains. I realised that workplace stress is omnipresent. It is important to manage our negative emotions in order to survive and succeed in the highly competitive professional environment. But, how to control stress generated negative emotions and handle them? How to never give up in a challenging situation? These questions and the answers to them became my inspiration for writing this book.

How it helps you?

If you are already in the professional arena, this guidebook helps you to sail through challenging workplace situations – by planning, strategising and learning to employ better control over your emotions. For a beginner, it creates awareness regarding various adverse situations that you can expect at workplace; rather than being caught completely off-guard.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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A book is a labour of love. Writing this book has been a wonderful journey for me. I express special thanks to Dr. Evelyn Boon, Head of the Department of Psychology at the Singapore General Hospital. Her work has been the inspiration for section three of this book. I express sincere gratitude to – the readers of my previous book, to all who have taken their time to share their valuable experiences, to my family, to my friend and co-author of my first book Jerry D. Twentier, to the editor, the publisher, and many others; whose collaboration and support has brought this book to fruition.

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INTRODUCTION

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‘Don’t be so emotional.’

Doubtless, you have overheard that complaint about associates, co-workers, or peers experiencing the latest stress of the moment. Actually, we are all emotional. Emotions are an integral part of human character; part of our DNA.

In a day, we sense a wide spectrum of emotions – both positive and negative. Realising, this is the norm, will aid our understanding and ability to manage them more effectively.

We exist in an environment fraught with uncertainties, time constraints and constant pressure to perform at increasingly higher levels. Therefore, it is not surprising that we experience a myriad of negative emotions in the course of a single workday. Numerous factors contribute to this emotional rollercoaster. In UK, the number of employees working longer hours