Managing Workload: Practical and Clear
In this article you will learn step by step how to recognize work pressure, how the biological stress response works, and which practical tools you can apply to conserve work energy and stay effective.
How Work Pressure Affects Our Body
When job demands rise above what you can reasonably handle, your body responds with a cascade known as the stress response. In short: the hypothalamus in the brain sends signals to the pituitary gland and the adrenal cortex, triggering the release of the stress hormone cortisol. This process acts like an alarm: your heart beats faster, muscles tense, and you can focus more sharply. In the short term, this can be useful, but if the pressure persists or becomes chronic, the balance of cortisol and other stress mediators can go off kilter. At the same time, the prefrontal cortex regulates how we steer our thoughts and impulses. With prolonged stress, this regulation can become less flexible, making it harder to handle demanding tasks and manage emotions. By understanding this simple biological framework, you can make better choices about how you respond to work pressure and which supportive steps you can take.
The Energy Balance Analysis as the First Step
The Energy Balance Analysis is a practical instrument to see where your energy goes during a workday. Think of a quick inventory: which tasks and interactions drain energy and which ones replenish it? Start with three to five workdays and note for each day what costs you energy and what it yields. Consider four aspects: tasks and content, work environment, workload, and recovery opportunities. By making this pattern visible, you can make targeted adjustments, such as setting boundaries, planning short rests, and bundling similar tasks in a logical sequence. This approach also helps reduce the biological stress response because the nervous system does not stay on high alert as much, and the effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) and the regulation of the prefrontal cortex improves.
Values Compass and Priorities Matrix
The second tool is the values compass: a brief reflection in which you describe what really matters to you professionally. In addition, you use the priorities matrix, a simple method that classifies tasks along two axes: importance and urgency. Write down your core values (for example, honesty, quality, collaboration) and place your tasks there in four quadrants: 1) urgent and important, 2) important but not urgent, 3) urgent but less important, 4) less important. By organizing tasks this way, you can quickly determine what deserves your attention and what you can delegate or postpone. Connecting values helps your brain to plan with the prefrontal cortex and set boundaries, contributing to healthier regulation of stress responses.
Practical Steps from Three Approaches
Finally, we offer concrete guidelines based on three approaches commonly used in therapy and work psychology. First, cognitive behavioral therapy helps you recognize and reframe automatic thoughts that fuel stress into more realistic and friendly statements. For example, a simple reframing could be that you can tackle this step by step instead of thinking you will fail if this goes wrong. Second, acceptance and commitment therapy provides tools to acknowledge fears without becoming paralyzed by them and to align your behavior with values that matter to you at work. Third, occupational and organizational psychology offers practical insights into how work processes, communication and working conditions can be adjusted to reduce stress and promote health. In daily practice this means: plan realistic deadlines, give clear instructions, discuss boundaries with colleagues and supervisors, and use short breaks to breathe and recover. Through this combination of knowledge and exercises you can gradually achieve a sustainable improvement in your work situation, with attention to both the body and the environment, without losing sight of the human dimension.
Lees ook: Werkstress herkennen en verminderen of Assertiviteit trainen in de praktijk.