Business English | Stress and Stress Management

Disclaimer

I am using an automatic transcript service as it is not possible for me to do it on my own and I cannot afford human transcription at the moment. The service claims to have about 95% accuracy, which means there will still be some mistakes, so my apologies for having a less than perfect transcript, but I hope I can afford human transcription soon and I will solve this problem. However, the service is pretty good, and the transcript is almost perfect.

Transcript

Welcome to a new episode from English plus podcasts. Today’s episode is about business English, and we will talk about stress and stress management. We will talk about a case study of a person named Patricia she’s a university lecturer. And I’m going to read to you what she said about her job as a university lecturer about how the job starts as stimulating and when stimulation turns to stress.

[00:00:31] So we will talk about this and then we will talk about ways to cope with stress. And we will talk about downshifting. So without further ado, let’s start with our episode for today, where we’re going to learn about stress and stress management in a new business English episode from English plus podcast.

[00:00:48] Now let’s start with what Patricia said about her job as a university professor. And then I will stop and talk about some of the important words to know and about some of the important concepts as well. My name’s Patricia and I’m a university lecturer. I chose this profession because I wanted to do something rewarding 10 years ago.

[00:01:09] When I started in this job, I had lots to do, but I enjoyed it preparing and giving lectures, discussing students, work with them and marking it. I felt stretched. I had the feeling that work could sometimes be difficult, but that it was stimulating. It interested me and made me feel good. It was certainly challenging, but in an interesting and enjoyable way in the last few years, there has been more and more and ministrative work with no time for reading or research.

[00:01:41] I felt pressure building up. I began to feel overwhelmed by work. I felt as if I wasn’t able to do it because the pressure and my employer’s demands were too high on Monday mornings, I began to feel so worried about the week ahead that I felt quite ill. I’m sure this feeling was caused by stress. My doctor agreed and said that it was stress induced.

[00:02:07] Luckily, I was able to deal with this by starting to work part-time I was luckier than one of my colleagues who was also continually under stress. He became so stressed out because of overwork that he had a break down he’s completely burned out. Well, here is what Patricia said about her work as a university professor, how it started 10 years ago, how it was stimulating at the beginning, but then it turned to stress and that happens to a lot of us.

[00:02:37] But here let’s focus on some of the things she talked about. Now let’s start with a part when work is stimulating. Now, when she started out and actually when she chose this profession, she said she wanted to do something rewarding. Now, what does it mean when we do something rewarding? What is something that is rewarding?

[00:02:55] Are we just talking about the money? No. A rewarding experience is an experience or action that gives you satisfaction or brings you benefits. So money might be a part of the equation, but it’s not the only thing. Remember, we’re talking about satisfaction and benefits. Of course. So he, or she wanted to do something rewarding.

[00:03:16] That’s our first keyword. Then down the line, she said she felt stretched. Now, when you say you feel stretched, that means you’re under pressure and doing as much as it’s feasible, but the bottom line, when you say you feel stretched, that means you are under pressure because there was a lot of work to do, and sometimes it could be difficult, but still it was stimulating.

[00:03:39] Now, when you say something is stimulating, that is. Still inspiring. And if you’re talking about, uh, physical activity, for example, as a stimulating activity that makes you feel refreshed and energetic, it can also be used to talk about mental activities. So we’re still okay here or actually she’s still okay.

[00:03:58] The job was still stimulating. Yes. It felt challenging at times, which means difficult, but it was still stimulating. So in this first part of what she said or what she talked about, her job, her work was still stimulating. She was looking for something rewarding. She felt stretched or under pressure, but the job or the work was still stimulating challenging at times.

[00:04:22] Yes. But still stimulating. Now we will move to the part when stimulation turns to stress, because that happens a lot. And if you don’t do anything about it, you might end up like her colleague, she talked about in the end. But first let’s see what she said. She said in the last few years, there has been more and more administrative work.

[00:04:41] And for those who’s ever worked in teaching, they know exactly what she’s talking about. Because most of the times you just want to teach. You want to do research. You want to help students out. You want to do all those great things, but then there is the administrative work that is a bummer. Most of the time.

[00:04:59] But it is work. It is necessarily work that has to be done. But for her, she said in the last few years, there has been more and more administrative work with no time for reading or research. So obviously this was not something she was enjoying so much. So she felt pressured. She said, I felt pressure building up.

[00:05:19] Now when pressure is building up, it is getting more and more until it gets to the point where she began to feel overwhelmed by work. When you are overwhelmed, you are overpowered. You cannot fight that anymore. You cannot cope with it anymore. The pressure was building up to the level where she started to feel overwhelmed.

[00:05:40] So that is another key word you need to talk about when you want to talk about stress. Of course. She felt pressure. You can feel pressure building up until it gets to a level where you start to feel overwhelmed. Now there were the employer’s demands that never ended them demands, obviously what they wanted and that she got to the point when it was Monday morning, she started to feel worried about the week ahead.

[00:06:04] And that’s not something you want to have in your job. And I’m pretty sure that a lot of you can connect with this. You feel pretty miserable starting from Sunday afternoon because you know that the next day is a Monday. It’s the beginning of a week, especially if your work doesn’t feel rewarding anymore, you just feel overwhelmed.

[00:06:24] And there is only pressure building up a lot of things to do, but you’re not enjoying it anymore. So that is stress. And that’s what she said. She said, I started to feel that this was caused by stress and her doctor agreed and said that it was stress induced. When we say stress induced, that means caused by stress.

[00:06:45] Now for her, she found a solution for her problem. She said, luckily, I was able to deal with this by starting to work. Part-time. I was luckier than one of my colleagues who was also continually under stress. So you can be under stress. Pressure can be building up. You can feel overwhelmed and stress. You say under stress, her colleague was continually under stress.

[00:07:08] He became so stressed out. When you are stressed out, that means you’re overwhelmed. You can’t deal with the situation anymore. And he had break down. And if you have a breakdown, you become very depressed so that you are unable to cope with your life. And that’s unfortunately what happened to her colleague.

[00:07:28] He became so stressed out because of overwork that he had a breakdown he’s completely burned out. And when you are burned out, which is something that you really want to avoid in any job, whatever you do, because when you’re burned out, you are so stressed and tired by your work that you will never be able to work again, simply because you’re not enjoying it anymore.

[00:07:51] You’re just doing it for the money, or you’re just doing it because you don’t want to be unemployed or something, but you’re definitely not enjoying it one bit. So he’s completely, or he became completely burned out. That’s also another important expression to learn when we want to talk about stress. Now that was the case of Patricia, who is a university professor who talked about how things started very well.

[00:08:15] It was rewarding. Her job was rewarding, then it turned to stress, but she figured out a way to deal with her stress. She started working less, and that definitely means less money. But ask yourself this question. Do you really need all this money that comes from overworking sometimes, maybe working overtime and.

[00:08:34] You don’t even see people who you love, whether these are your family or your friends, is it worth it? Can’t you live with half the money that you’re making right now. I know with all the temptations going around and all the things you would love to buy, it is difficult because you want to buy this when you buy something, then you want to buy the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, and that costs money.

[00:08:56] But ask yourself this question. Is it worth it? Is it worth it, throwing your life away, just to buy stuff, just to get to the next level of prestige. Maybe it’s worth it for you. Maybe it’s not. So now that we’ve talked about stress, let’s talk about a concept that is called downshifting now more and more people want to escape the rat race.

[00:09:17] Now this is an expression we use. If you talk about getting out of the rat race, you mean leaving a job or way of life in which people compete aggressively with each other. To be successful. Now, some people may choose may opt to leave or to escape the rat race, or there’s another expression. Get off the treadmill.

[00:09:38] And for those who are working in very competitive jobs, very stressful jobs, they know exactly this feeling. You feel that you’re running on this treadmill all day long, and sometimes you’re not getting anywhere. It’s a treadmill after all, no matter how long you run, you’re still in the same place. But anyway, these are expressions.

[00:09:56] When we want to say that people leave jobs when people compete aggressively with each other to be successful. So we have those two expressions escape, the rat race, or get out of the rat race or get off the treadmill. Yeah. People are looking for lifestyles that are less stressful or completely unstressful.

[00:10:16] So again, your lifestyle is yours. What you want to have for your lifestyle is your decision. But ask yourself this question all the time. What is actually the lifestyle that you want? Do you want to work 16 hours a day in this cubicle because you want to achieve something and you’re not even sure. After a couple of years at work, what that thing is, if that is the case.

[00:10:38] Good for you. You’re not on a treadmill if you’re enjoying it, but if you’re not enjoying it, that’s the thing. Is that the lifestyle you want for yourself, maybe you want to look for the lifestyle that is less stressful or completely unstressful. That doesn’t mean that you stay at home and you watch Netflix all day long.

[00:10:54] No, you can still work. But you can choose a less stressful, and that is not about quitting. You’re not a quitter when you choose a less stressful job or a less stressful way of life, because that is your life. After all, everything you do is meant to help you live it. Well, if your job doesn’t help you do that.

[00:11:13] So why are you even there? Anyway, but this is, remember this is business English, stress and stress management. So I wouldn’t want to venture deeper in this topic. Maybe we should leave it to another episode. So here let’s move back to downshifting. Some people choose to work from home. That might be a solution.

[00:11:29] And especially if your company is okay with it, they choose to work from home to be closer to their families. People are looking for a better quality of life, a more relaxed way of living, or perhaps they’re looking for more quality time with their children, more than just preparing meals for them and taking them to school, et cetera, more quality time where you have time to play with them, or you have time to talk to them where you have time to do the things they enjoy doing.

[00:11:54] Maybe that’s what you’re looking for and working from home can give you that. In most cases, you don’t have to be a freelancer. Of course, you can do that while you’re working for a company. And now, especially because of the pandemic, I’m pretty sure that a lot of companies are shifting their focus more and more to telecommuting.

[00:12:12] So that is working from home even after the pandemic is over. But I believe the pandemic helps speed up this transition to more and more telecommuting might be a good thing. If we want to talk about maybe the very few positive things that we got out of this Corona thing, which is in general, a horrible thing.

[00:12:29] I know, but maybe that’s one of the few good things that we’re getting out of this hardship. So we said that people choose to work from home, maybe because they’re looking for a better quality of life or they want some more quality time with their children, with their families. Now all this is part of work life balance.

[00:12:47] Now this is what we call. This is the expression work-life balance, a better balance between the demands of their job and the need for relaxation time with family, friends, et cetera. Now, choosing to work in less stressful ways is known as downshifting or rebalancing. So that is what we call downshifting or rebalancing and people who do this, our down shifters are called down shifters.

[00:13:11] You might enjoy this idea. You might be a downshift or already, maybe not. Maybe you are still this person who works 16 hours a day. Who’s very stressed out. Maybe you’re completely burned out. Maybe you’re about to be, if you’re about to be, if you can do something about it before you get to this point, do something because we’re in it for the long run.

[00:13:30] We’re not just here for a couple of years. We want to enjoy the rest of our lives. No matter how long we still have to live, whether it’s they a year, 10 years or a hundred years, doesn’t matter. We’re here to live well, that’s the thing we should all aspire to do. Now, that being said, that is everything I wanted to tell you about stress and stress management in this business, English episode from English plus podcast.

[00:13:53] Let me tell you that you can find a link in the description of the episode that will take you to our website English plus podcast.com. You can find the transcript on our website for this episode. For other episodes, you might even find interactive activities, PDF downloadables things that can help you improve your English.

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[00:14:34] With that being said, this is your host, Danny. I would like to thank you very much for listening to another episode from English plus podcast. I will see you next time.