The number cause of heart and other serious illnesses today is stress at work.  Every person who has to wake up everyday, go to an office and spend the whole day there has enough reason to be stressed.  Add to that the different stress-causing factors like officemates, too much workload, work pressure and other factors and you are bound for a major heart attack.

So how can a person prevent stress at work?  There are several ways to prevent stress at work but you have to work on them gradually until they are already part of your system. 

1. Plan you workday ahead.  It is good to know what is going to happen during the day in terms of your work schedule because you can plan and budget your time for each responsibility.  If you have leftover work from the previous day then you should prioritize them first thing in the morning so that you can continue on new workloads during the day.

2. Prioritize the workload that is more pressing and more important in deference to what is needed by the office.   There is no use crying over pending workloads when you can choose which of them should be done first.  Doing this will help you manage your time and will ultimately lessen your pending workload.  No use feeling stressed out when you can do something about it.

3. Get some exercise.  Even office work that requires you to sit in front of the computer or behind a desk for eight hours a day can be stressful.  Make sure that you get five minute breaks every now and then just to stretch or to do some walking around the office.  You can even do some exercises while sitting in front of your desk like doing neck rotations or a little weight lifting using water bottles or small weights.

4. Avoid office gossip.  Engaging in office gossip will not only waste your time resulting to more pending workload but it will also cause more stress.  Gossiping about other people particularly your officemates can get you into a lot of trouble not only with your office mates but also with management.  Being in the middle of an office firework can cause more stress.

5. Display photos of a friend, family member or a scene which can make you more relaxed.  If water gets you into a good mood then why not put a photo of a waterfalls right beside your work desk so you can stay calm all day long?  These are little things but looking at a calming picture or a beautiful face that reminds you of happy times can get the pressure off your back.

6. Communicate your work needs and requirements to your officemates or subordinates.  There is no point in getting riled just because a subordinate failed to perform the job you assigned to her.  Just tell her to take note of your instructions and do it better next time.  If she has committed an error then ask her to stay to finish and correct her mistakes. She should suffer for her mistakes not you so do not get stressed.

7. Always keep a diary on your desk.  Keeping a diary where you can jot down meetings, workload that needs to be done at certain periods or appointments to be kept will lessen pressure on you.  If you know what is expected of you then you can plan your professional and personal life properly.

8. Delegate work that can be handled by other people.  There is no use hoarding all the work when you can assign it to other people who may have more time and more skills doing that work compared to you.  No one in an office is perfect and everybody should pitch in to do the work required.  If you assign work to other people then you can concentrate on more pressing matter sin the office.

9. Avoid procrastinating.  A person who always puts off what he can do on a certain time schedule will always suffer the consequences in terms of a good pile up of workload.   If you still have thirty minutes before lunch then spend it productively.  Look into unfinished tasks that can be accomplished during that period.

10. Form a crisis management group.  If you hold a top level position then form a pro active crisis management group.  The group will be in charge of identifying possible problems or emergencies that may arise in relation to your work or office.  Preparing for any eventuality or emergency will keep off pressure from building up.

Stress at work could not totally be avoided especially when you are pressed for time and you have so many tasks that can no longer be fitted in within eight hours or more of daily work.  However you can always do something to lessen or even prevent stress at work.