Overcoming frustrating moments at the workplace

 Overcoming frustrating moments at the workplace

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

One of the destructing emotions in the workplace is getting frustrated, that too frequently. Getting frustration is not an issue, but being frustrated feelings for a longer time will affect the quality of work, and eventually, it affects your well-being.

 
What is meant by frustration?

It is the feeling of being upset or annoyed with someone you can not change immediately. It is an outcome of helplessness in the situation or with someone.
 
For example,

You may be easily frustrated.

When you are not recognized for your contribution/effort, and you may think your work seems to be pointless at some point in time.

When your partner or junior colleagues are not delivering to your expectation despite your  repetitive mentoring and guidance

When you are loaded with many activities and with limited resources, you may feel that you cannot cope with others' expectations or requirements.
 
In all the examples, you can observe one typical pattern: a misalignment of reality vs. expectation. That is the moment you get frustrated.
 
What will happen when we allow frustration to continue?

When we are in frustration mode for a longer time, that will manifest into anger, outburst to someone, or sometimes when you suppress, it will affect your self-esteem.
 
Dealing with frustration:

1. Realize the fact that the workplace world will not have the same alignment with your expectations. Getting disappointment sometimes is inevitable. How quickly we bounce back from frustration or channelize it to higher-level emotion is essential to learn.
2. Express it to your trusted circle :

                When you have disappointment, and you can not do anything about it, at least in the short term, you can express your feeling of frustration to someone who can understand and listen to you. When you speak and get listened to, most of the time, you are subsidizing the pain.
However, it would help if you had someone trusted, more mature than you to look at the issues from a different perspective. The trusted person can be your spouse, colleagues, or friends, mainly external to the workplace.
 
         3. Look at the frustration moments in the broad realm of life.
 
This approach is more effective in dealing with frustration. For example, if you are not given due recognition in a particular event, how will it affect your overall life? How important is it given the privileges you have in other aspects of life.? The point is when you look at your frustration moments in the realm of a larger life, the problem becomes small.

        4.Deal directly with the source:

  The last approach is to get into the dialogue with someone who made you frustrated. Some times it works.

To sum up,

Getting frustration is normal for all of us as human beings. The smartness is quickly recognizing it and channelize it through any of the above approaches rather than dwell on it for a longer duration.
 
You can not change the circumstances, which makes you frustrated, but you can channelize it if you are aware of your emotions instantly. That calls for self-awareness and enhancing your perspectives.