Administrative Assistants Master the Art of Calmness

As an administrative assistant, you're in a position to influence the mood of your office. At the same time, you likely pick up a lot of stress from others and from your own busy, multitasking administrative assistant role. Remember, if you remain calm, you can have a calming influence on everyone else. Master the art of staying calm with these four tips.

Relax Your Body

When you start to feel tense at work, take a deep breath. Focus on pulling air into your lower abdomen to avoid tensing up your shoulders. Hold the breath for a second or two, and then as you breathe out, let all your muscles relax. Imagine your tension floating away with your exhaled air. Repeat a few times until your body feels less stressed. When your body is relaxed, it's easier to keep your mind relaxed. If you are with others who are stressed, calmly suggest that they take a few deep breaths also.

Reinforce Positivity

Remember that you're in a position to spread a positive attitude to everyone with whom you interact. Maintain a pleasant, confident demeanor in your administrative assistant role by greeting others with a smile when appropriate and providing words of encouragement when problems occur. When dealing negative coworkers, managers or clients, remember that they may have problems you aren't aware of and continue to offer suitable support from a positive point of view. Share success stories from the past, and remind them that most things work out fine in the end.

Offer to Help

Sometimes when stressors add up, people can get stuck in a circular, stressed-out mindset. Use your role as an administrative assistant to help people out of this stress loop. Start by extending a general offer of help. If the person is disorganized or very overwhelmed, ask them specific questions about the issue. Questions help people see their positions more clearly, allowing them to see solutions more easily. Helping others stay calm helps you maintain an overall calm atmosphere in your company.

Know Your Limits

Most administrative assistants need to multitask from time to time, but continual multitasking can aggravate stress. Multitasking also leads to distraction and can decrease your overall productivity. Keep a to-do list to help you stay organized, and whenever possible, work on one item at a time. Schedule blocks of uninterrupted time for larger projects if your work arrangement allows it. If you maintain a schedule and focus on doing one thing at a time but still find yourself overwhelmed by your duties, talk to your boss about lightening the load. Staying calm helps you through busy times, but it may be unrealistic if you're always overworked.

Use your position as administrative assistant to influence the atmosphere in your office. Learn to recognize stress, and use breathing techniques and a positive mindset to keep calm in busy situations. Then help others see the positive side of things by offering help or words of encouragement.

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