Help!! End-of-day Blues Driving Me Nuts...

Yup, you have got it right – there’s no typo here. We are not talking about the traditional Monday morning blues that make people call in sick. Neither are we talking about the just-back-from-vacation crowd who is bound to feel a flutter in the stomach when faced with stomaching the gruelling workplace routine once again. Instead, there is a not-so-recognised but alarmingly growing trend when a perfectly healthy individual walks in smiling in the morning and limps back home pale and unwell after the work hours, often calling friends and family and telling them how ill she is. In one extreme case, a friend called up a neighbourhood drugstore from her office, ordered some pills and asked the shop to deliver the package to a neighbour so that she could swallow some as soon as she was in. Could it be a ‘sudden attack’ of some mysterious flu? Could be, in a few cases, but some therapists and workplace counsellors feel it is nothing more or less than a stress attack at work – mostly triggered by seemingly inconsequential things that stress you out at the end of the day.

To deal with after-work blues, check out these six things that could be hampering your feeling of well-being.

Don’t skip food – it will suck you to the bottom
Energy wise, that is, and it can very well affect your work. So get the basics right before it is too late. By basics, we mean basics – healthy food, lots of liquid and a few tea/coffee breaks in-between that should not mar your productivity, but will keep your energy up the whole day. It’s easier said than done, of course. Some crucial meeting may be scheduled during lunch and you could be grabbing some snacks (instead of a proper meal) as and when you get time. Worse still, some people sit hunched up all day – sipping coffee or cola as they work. Well, that’s not helping you exactly.

Our body craves food when it is fill-in time and you are bound to snap up if you skip lunch regularly. But in case you can’t take a 30-45 minute break for lunch, here’s some sound suggestion. Just split it up, instead of eating in chunks. Try to have a quick and early lunch whenever it fits your schedule and give it another go around 3.30-4 pm. Also, get some nutritious cookies for healthy snacking if you are working late. And drink as much juice/water as you can. Once I came across a particularly busy executive who made it a habit to keep his glass filled and sipped it throughout the day. We can all follow suit without too much hassle.

Get comfortable – your desk is your second home, after all
All of us have come across those lost souls (even in big corporations) who spend a precious half hour in the morning looking for their ‘comfy’ chairs which seemed to have been spirited away by some malicious demon during the night. No matter what is offered to such a person, she will shake her head and tell you it’s definitely not her chair. A tussle with a fellow-worker is not unlikely either, both trying to establish their ownership. Or if it’s not the chair, it’s the air-conditioner (always too high or too low for comfort) or a dirty desk or something similar.

While most of us laugh derisively when we come across such things, it could indicate something more than mere whims. Are you ergonomically fitted out where you spend around eight hours a day, if not more? A well-lit, well-ventilated, not-too-cramped workstation is bound to keep you healthy and happy. Report blinking lights and broken furniture as and when they occur and let plenty of fresh air in unless you are working in a centrally air-conditioned building. Dust could be another deterrent, especially for those suffering from some kind of allergy or other. Stick to a cleaning routine, take the junk out (right from old papers to useless gifts like a row of oversized mugs that you don’t plan to use) and make sure the place reflects your character and personality. A little green (a bottled plant or two or some fresh flowers), some funky or classic desk essentials and some human touch (can be a great poster or a funny quotation) will light up your day and those who visit you.

As for me, I got fascinated when I watched a colleague drawing two soaring swans on her glass cabin door with a black marker. Even in a futuristic office, that rough sketch gives me a sense of freedom and space whenever I look at it.

Nurture wellness – go walking, playing, gymming
We tend to lose our health and wellness without noticing it at first, especially if we are in a ‘pressure cooker’ situation all the time and feel drained out at the end of the day. To help people out, most offices today come with a recreation room (some even have meditation/nap rooms, an IT professional working in Gurgaon told me), if not a full-blown gym. If you are one of the lucky few with a multi gym in office, congrats! But do make sure you have some expert help before attempting to take down those ungainly pounds and get some advice on the diet and duration of a fitness session. In case you are a first-timer, take it slow. You can’t really do too much, too soon, and need to invest a lot of time and patience to build stamina and strength.

For those without such onsite facilities, there is always the age-old staircase and some brisk walking to your colleagues’ workstations, instead of chats and phone calls. One set of health-conscious people whom I knew made it a regular practice to walk to the bus stop in the evening which was some distance away. Walking that 1 km not only gave them some much-needed exercise, but helped them unwind as well, by talking things over and discussing several office issues. Start today and you will inevitably feel better after some sweat sessions. Because most of the time the lethargy is in the mind. As soon as you realise that you have come out of the rut and doing something effective about staying well, your body confidence returns and your energy level goes up, boosting your morale and your work, even if you don’t become size zero overnight.

Stay productive – disruptions are exceptions, not rules
People often fret how they happen to be behind work schedule and the backlog piles up – much to their horror. I distinctly remember a knowledge worker who went into severe depression and fell physically ill because she was asked to churn out five articles a day and was in mortal fear of losing her job. If you are in a similar situation, stop ducking your manager’s salvoes and take control.

One good strategy to remain focused throughout the day is to cut out on addictive social media, unproductive chats, unnecessary e-mail and time-consuming meetings. A more detailed weekly meeting, followed by a daily preview/review for 15-30 minutes should not only save time but keep things in order and the deadlines in view. Long water cooler side chats, frequent coffee breaks and venting your frustration through chain mail won’t help you either; so try and stay away from those. Once we manage to do away with disruptions, more productive time is bound to be on the cards. Some people even go to the extent of scheduling things out while wrapping up. Review what’s pending at the end of the day – so that you know what your priority is the morning after and start working on those as per your plans.

But if you still feel you are overloaded or if you overwork yourself, try deputing work or talk to your colleagues, managers and people who matter in your project. Together, it is possible to usher in a collaborative solution and make sure that people can grow in a way they want to.

Know what you’ve achieved – EACH day
Some days feel like a total waste of time, mostly because we have had bitter altercations with colleagues or superiors. Or worse still, we have just done some routine work that does not have any relevance any more. A friend of mine had worked as an editorial production manager and the job required her maintaining a production sheet in Excel. She was compelled to accept the job as she had been laid off suddenly and had a family to support, but it was certainly not her cuppa and she rapidly lost interest in the job.

Thrust into a volatile economy and faced with fast shrinking job opportunities, many of us try to go on board where they don’t belong and the outcome is a productivity and professional burnout, to say the least. Still, over a period of time, even a relevant career could be offering less value in terms of learning, growth and fulfilment. The reasons can be many – right from a change in the company’s core offerings to limited management vision that fails to offer horizontal growth. Talking to your manager could help, of course, but at times, it could be beyond your boss’s control. Simply put, there is no simple solution in such a case.

If your work has become routine and doesn’t add much value to the company’s core, try developing some new skills and show your firm how you can reposition your profile along with the regular job. Most firms will be happy to recognise the extra efforts you are putting in. But in case you fail to get that adrenalin kick out of your work at the end of the day, it makes sense to look for a job that’s more of an intellectual, cultural and value fit.

Stay hungry, drink deep – life’s fountain won’t ever dry up
Finally, do not let your vision go. Even if you are beginning as an intern or rebuilding your skills from the scratch, it’s not impossible to become a member of Jeff Bezos’ two-pizza team (may not be at Amazon, of course, but every company has a core and creative team where decisions are made). In every organisation, at every level, you will come across a small, tight group who is making a conscious decision at a specific point of time. Feel inspired, get involved and put your expertise into action – you are bound to get noticed and feel valued.

And here’s one last piece of wisdom I got from a manager when I got laid off for the first time. You will be joining and leaving many more companies from now on – some you will leave on your own and others will let you go. But whatever that might be, learn from every situation (that one quality will be your lifeline) and when you leave, take the learning and leave the emotional baggage behind you. What matters most is your passion for the work and the value that work brings. Just remember that and let the rest go, gracefully. As Jerome K. Jerome so sensibly wrote – throw the lumber over, man! At work, live life without angst or regret, and it gets better every day.