If you’re reading this, you’re admitting work can be frustrating. Managing stress? That’s another conversation.

*take a deep breath*

Read as slow as you need.

What is frustration?

Frustration can be seen as a state of uneasiness, a state of dissatisfaction, or a state of unhappiness.

Frustration is a feeling our mind’s can recall with ease. Noticing when we’re experiencing frustration and managing frustration is the challenge.

Why are we talking about frustration?

Frustration has individual, commercial, and global implications. The negative energy that frustration radiates is harmful to our health and the health of people close to us.

Eckhart Tolle, in his book The Power of Now, says, “Your unhappiness is polluting not only your own inner being and those around you but also the collective human psyche of which you are an inseparable part.”

Frustrating thoughts of negativity and resentment are propellants that fuel the transmission of negative and resentful actions.

What begins as a pesky thought escalates to physical discomfort and chronic stress.

What’s the simple answer? Resolving frustration benefits our collective health.

Frustration at Work

The Power of Now will be quoted throughout to help us understand how frustration works and one way to manage frustration.

Eckhart Tolle says, “Unhappiness spreads more easily than a physical disease. Through the law of resonance, it triggers and feeds latent negativity in others.”

Join me in breaking these statements down.

Have you ever been in the zone at work and a co-worker, manager, or your boss disrupts your flow-state?

Even the most well-seasoned professional will have difficulty admitting that they’re able to pause, give their colleague their undivided attention, provide a solution, and then resume working without an errant, negative thought arising.

Frustration at Work and Your Health

The truth is, unchecked inconveniences add up, stir in your mind, and transform into feelings of anger and resentment over time. Those are unhealthy emotions.

If you’ve ever worked in an office, small or large, you maybe able to attest to the statement that news travels fast. Whether good news or gossip, word gets around.

Unhappiness and frustration spread more easily than disease because frustration is communicated by talking.

Performance Management

Let’s learn why managing frustration and employee well-being is valuable to businesses.

If frustration disrupts optimal work performance-time AND frustration spreads more easily than disease, then frustrated employees could be burning money at both ends.

Negative energy travels through airwaves and the internet like malware. If you sense discontent within your department, treat it immediately.

A manager’s primary responsibility is to accomplish strategic goals. When frustration is allowed to exist it disrupts your team’s efficiency, leading to lower productivity and higher employee turnover.

Here are three key takeaways to nurse your bottom line back to health:

1.) When well-intentioned vibrations meet negative energy, the clash results in destructive interference or the waves cancel out.

2.) Every team member shares the responsibility of cauterizing the wound of negativity before infection sets in and an epidemic emerges.

3.) If you meet your goals, good for you. If the team is happy, great for us.

What causes frustration at work?

Being interrupted is not the only cause of frustration.

Sometimes we identify the work we’re doing as annoying, menial, or pointless. Sometimes we want what others have. Sometimes we’re disrespected or belittled.

The short answer is anything can cause frustration.

Lucky for us Tolle has a solution.

How do you manage frustration?

Tolle says, “Either stop doing what you are doing, speak to the person concerned and express fully what you feel, or drop the negativity that your mind has created”.

Because these three options are challenging in their own ways, let’s simplify them.

First, we don’t always have the luxury to stop what we’re doing.

Whether we’re being asked to do something that is menial yet necessary or if we’re being asked to do something that conflicts with our code of ethics, frustration often arises without an immediate resolution in sight.

Second, one does not simply convey feelings well when the mind is overwrought.

If we could ask our mother or most trusted ally for advice, they’d probably tell us to compose ourself before saying anything. And time is rarely on our side at work.

Third, dropping the negativity isn’t as easy as just choosing to let it go.

Or is it?

How to Let Go of Frustration

1.) Recognize frustration

The good news is by the time you realize you’re frustrated, the first step is already done.

2.) Take a step back

If you can, immediately remove yourself from the situation. Walk to the water cooler, wash your face, or simply close your eyes and take a few cleansing breaths.

*Inhale through the nose.*

*Exhale through the mouth.*

3.) Have a good look inside

Now that you’re out of harm’s way, “observe it [the resentment towards doing what you’re doing or a co-worker] on both the mental and the emotional levels,” says Tolle.

Witness the thoughts arising in your mind. Ask yourself, “What thoughts is my mind having about this situation?”

Tolle reminds us that when we’re investigating the thoughts coursing through our brain to, “look at the emotion,” which he says is “the body’s reaction to those thoughts.”

Pay close attention to the emotions arising. Take note of how you’re feeling.

Then, choose not to identify as your feelings.

Here’s an example: if you identify anger because of a co-worker’s offhanded remark, observe the anger, then remember that you (Brady, Andy, Emily, etc.) are NOT anger.

You are not your emotions.

3 Step Solution for Dealing with Frustration

1. Investigate what is causing your frustration to arise.
2. Separate yourself from the emotion your body is feeling.
3. Let the sensation fall away.

A note on mental health

Self-care and specifically sick leave for mental health gained national attention earlier this summer when Madalyn, a web developer from Ann Arbor, Michigan, was met with viral applause for taking a personal day for mental health reasons.

The truth is, although managing frustration will always require effort, the return on your investment is worth every minute of peace of mind.