Breathe
Relax, it's just a job
Was speaking with an old employee the other day, someone that worked for me for four years and allowed me to mentor her, and the first thing I asked her (after talking about her family and personal life) was "are you breathing?" She was an employee (like a few others I have had in my life) who wouldn't relax and enjoy her job and her life. She was so intent on "doing the right thing" and "pleasing her boss", she never stopped to look at what she was doing and how she could improve.
So many times in this blog I have talked about learning, growing, and trying to be aware of your surroundings.
This friend never ever slows down, never stops, for three minutes, and thinks about what she is doing and how she can improve it. She will think about it over the weekend, or while driving home (don't we all do this?), or the next morning. You get the idea, she, like so many of us, doesn't slow down.
When I first started my career, I was very similar. Then, I got into meditation and discovered that by taking five minutes to think, I could save hours later. It did not happen overnight, but, over a few years.
One way that I remembered to do this, like I did with her, was I put a sticky on my monitor that said "breathe". Everytime I looked at it, which was maybe twice a day, I would relax my shoulders, take in a deep breath, and think about what I was doing right then and how I could improve, or at least approach it without so much stress.
So, in closing, remember to breathe, because it does pay off in the long run.