Project Management- stress coping strategies please!

[Tenthousandstepsmyarse]

Hi all,

I am a project manager of a multi million £ project and I am struggling to relax on my weekends off.

This is the biggest £ project I’ve been on and I really love my job, my colleagues, the project itself is amazing and I don’t want to let the company down.

Does anyone have any coping strategies for the stress & anxiety? I’d love to enjoy my weekend!

Knowing full well that everything I’m anxious about will be resolved next week (just a project hiccup)

Thanks all

• be clear about your boundaries (working hours, private phone nr)
• create a buffer between work and private time. go to the gym/walk/sit in the park with a whatever you prefer to wind down
• spend 5 minutes mindfulness with the team at the start if the day, listen to a song together or do a one minute yoga thing (plenty on youtube)

Thank you so much @bluecomputerscreen I love the idea of team mindfulness! I feel much better when I’m with my team.

I have also just realised I am probably more anxious this week because my colleague is on annual leave for 2 weeks. My manager is also on annual leave!

Brain dump document for the end of every day. All the things you're trying to remember or worried about; write them down so you know you can pick them up tomorrow without having to think about them overnight.

This. Also do a weekly one last thing on Friday.

Lots of my colleagues spend first thing Monday planning their week, but I find that if I do it Friday afternoon, then I can relax much better at the weekend.

Thanks both. Planning my week ahead on Friday makes so much sense because I’ll know where I’m at!

I'm exhausted, I keep waking up thinking about the project in dreams

I found writing it all down at the end of the day helped a lot with the waking up. I think I was waking up because I was trying to hold it all in my head, but once I'd written it down I was able to go back to sleep, telling myself "it's all in the document. It's all fine". Took a while, but eventually you start to believe yourself and wake up in a panic less often!

Yes, I do my planning/ to-do list at the end of the working week for the next one for this exact reason! Then I don't spend the entire weekend thinking about doing my to-do list!

Remind yourself that you are enough, just as you are and that like everyone else, you're doing your best. Stress is a response to a temporary stimulus. None of it matters in the grand scheme of life so don't beat yourself up mentally about any of it 😊

I have a page per day diary and at the end of every day write up tomorrow’s task list to check I’ve not missed anything. I also put reminders in a few days ahead of things that need chasing etc! The feeling of it all being written down makes me not think about it!

You bunch of gems. Thank you all so much for sharing!

@daisychain01 I didn’t realise how much I needed to read this! Thank you!!

❤️

@user1471548941 This is something I am going to revert to.Having a physical day diary worked for me in the past but seemed old fashioned. I have been trying to outlook and in house diary management systems which have their place but mentally I don't have the same feelings of reassurance as I do when I write it all down in a diary.

This. I send myself a dirty email on Friday afternoon, with all my worries and stresses then I read through first thing, on Monday.

99.9999% Monday me just laughs and works out how to go on

😂 dirty email!! I love it!!

I think there are a number of approaches that all help.

Agree with ending Fridays with a summary to pick up on Monday. I also would avoid having any meetings at the end of Friday or early on Monday - ramp on, ramp off approach to the working week.

Also mindfulness and exercise to stop thinking about it. Actively tell yourself 'I need to focus on my home life this weekend so that I am refreshed enough to do a good job on Monday'.

Also, work on telling yourself that you might make a mistake and that is OK. Are you going to be unethical, lie, cheat or cut corners? No. So any mistake you make would be a good faith error. You are doing your best. Some things are outside your control.

We have a project team catch up - just 30 mins - on a Friday morning to see what's going on, it on out any tiny niggles and brain dump before the weekend.

I don't know what your working arrangements are, but I like to go into the office on a Friday so I can go home for the weekend. It feels symbolic, and puts a buffer between me and work.

If things get overwhelming or if I find that I am constantly interrupted by emails, calls and messages I book a half a day busy in my diary to just focus on actual tasks. I also plan to block my diary out the day before any annual leave so no meetings consume this time and I can plan a proper handover before I go off.

do you use teams?

there are a few add-ons that might be useful. like a kanban board for tasks.

Yes we do! Although a few people don’t really know how it works but the new tools look fun! Like Loop etc

Oh yes! I don't take on new tasks for 3 days/a week before annual leave.