If you work in the world of events you’ll know it can be stressful. Like us you might remember those slides from your training that listed ‘event manager’ as number 3 on the stressful jobs list after military, emergency services etc.
Well we got news for you hunny, it doesn’t have to be that way. 💁🏼♀️ Here are our 5 top tips to manage your stress:
Switch on Your Rest and Digest Mode
Events are so deadline driven that you’ll likely be in fight or flight mode a lot of the time, with your sympathetic nervous system always activated. This is not good for us as humans. We need to balance that by activating our para-sympathetic nervous system, also known as ‘rest and digest mode’. In practice that means daily time when you’re not ‘on’, when you’re off your screens, disconnected from that fire fighting, problem solving mindset that you know all too well. We recommend planning your downtime into your diary and communicating it out loud to hold yourself accountable. You’ll be far better at your job if you allow yourself time for yourself.
Manage Your Own Desire to People Please
Most people who create events for a living are, by nature, people pleasers. A blessing and a curse. Being people pleasers naturally leads us events managers to say YES to EVERY request, and then bend over backwards to make magic happen, often at the expense of your own mental well-being. Set some stronger boundaries that protect you without sacrificing the quality of your service. Remember that saying no is not always a bad thing.
Eat Well
Maybe that’s obvious but it’s necessary to be on our list because all too often (especially when on-site) when tired and overworked, event people turn to high carb, high sugar food options. Which then trigger the insulin highs and lows that create that toxic cycle up and down you are probably used to. Luckily these days it’s much more common to have fresh ingredients and slow release healthy carbs available, or at least it’s not taboo to request them. We always pack our on-site production boxes full of healthy and varied snacks and if staying away for events we’ll always seek out colourful meals that keep us energised. Lasagne and chips for 5 days straight is not the one, and although we joke about this it can lead to being sluggish and low mode furthering exacerbating stress symptoms.
Get Out of the Bubble
Ok so this is a mindset thing and something I learnt the hard way so listen up. We do this thing when planning events where we go into ‘the bubble’ and often cannot think about anything else. It’s like the world stops and nothing else matters except the event you’re involved in. Especially true for multi day events where you’re away for several days. To manage your own stress and well being, take a moment every day to get out of the bubble. Consciously allow yourself mid-event to connect back with the real world, to remind yourself that there is more to life than the event. Even just 5 minutes per day, go on I dare you. You’ll often catch the Strive team on runs and walks onsite for this very reason.
Effective Communication
Like most problems in life, they can often be improved with some effective communication. Here we’re talking about communicating to your team, suppliers, clients and stakeholders. How is this connected to stress? Well in the world of events it’s often about control, and communicating your expectations, your deadlines, your requirements can help you be on the front foot and give you control, in turn significantly helping you to manage your workload and keep your stress at bay.
We hope you enjoyed reading our 5 stress management tips. At Strive we are specialists in employee engagement, and we are always striving therefore to ensure our own team are well looked after and keeping stress to a minimum.
Please share the link of our blog to anyone else you think might enjoy it, and tag @StriveEventsAgency on Instagram if you get a moment.
Thanks
Love team Strive
xxx
How Can Strive Help?
At Strive we help companies develop their strategic events for engaging employees, cementing company culture, and reinforcing a people-first approach. Get in touch to see how we can work with your company to make you the best employers you can be.
