|
I’ve given stress management seminars for some
years now and it always amazes me how much pressure there is in this
age of technology and user friendly gadgets. It surprises me that a
lot of the stressed out companies are those that deal heavily in
information technology. Whenever I go in front of a crowd of
information technology specialists to give a seminar, I can already
spot so many who are suffering from stress-related symptoms. In my
interactions with IT professionals, I’ve compiled a short list of
stressors they encounter.
1. Lack of sleep: IT people have
been known to go on for two, three days without sleep to finish a
project. This can have an effect on their liver. Traditional Chinese
Medicine principles state that the time for the liver to recuperate
is from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. I often wondered how that can be when
technology was suppose to make things easier and faster. The reason
is related to the other stressors involved.
2. Demanding clients: Technology
has the myth that all things are possible within seconds at least
effort. This may be true in the final product, but to create and
design the technology program is still bound by the ancient laws of
time. IT people get stressed from clients who think since it is
technology all aspects of it are fast and easy to create—a process
that may take months to create is expected in weeks. This causes the
IT person to go on overtime without rest.
3. More work: Technology is a
tool that can accomplish more with least effort and time. The human
being however hasn’t evolved into that level of taking on more
work and processes. Imagine a carpenter with a hammer that can
hammer in 100 nails at a time. The carpenter thinks that with the
hammer he can build more houses in less time. That’s true up to a
certain number of houses, but the carpenter has no clue of how many
houses is the limit. Beyond that, the carpenter will be swamped even
with a high tech hammer. Imagine the carpenter as the IT person, and
the hammer the technology. See the picture?
4. Keeping up: The world of
technology is constantly changing. In a matter of months there’s a
new version of a technology that makes the current one obsolete. New
models and viruses that the IT person must be in touch with or they
themselves become obsolete. It’s stressful to be left behind in
the industry.
5. Bad diet: Fast pace in the
tech world means little time to prepare healthy food. Fast food that
have no nutritional value are the common staple for a lot of IT
people. Stress and a bad diet are never a good combination.
With all the technology to make
things easier and less complicated, we humans still manage to find
ways to complicate our lives.
|
