by Leslie Haasch

Created on: January 17, 2010   Last Updated: January 18, 2010

While it may seem ideal to some to hold a position where you're seated in front of a computer all day, it holds as many opportunities for stress as you would find in other, more active, careers. With the recession still looming, the potential of showing up to work to find yourself without a chair to sit in one day is stressful enough to drive you crazy.

One of the largest, stress-inducing moments of a desk job during the week is Monday morning. That moment when you open your email and watch a flood of messages fill your screen can be overwhelming. You just have to remember that you're not superhuman, and despite what management might be trying to drill in your head, you're not supposed to be. The best way to avoid stressing out in this situation is to graze through the emails and prioritize. Go ahead and delete any junk mail, and then tackle the small things first. While you may want to jump right into a huge issue or the email that involves your biggest account first, it will help you manage your stress level to tackle a few small things first. This will help you clear out your inbox and make you feel better to clean up the visual clutter. What you will be left with are the bigger tasks and you will have an easier time establishing goals for what you need to do. There are some people that prefer to check email from home on a Sunday night to do a little bit of this cleanup to avoid this Monday morning panic – but this can also cause more problems than solve them. You're leaving your open to your work at home, and unless you work from home on a regular basis you've just left yourself in a position that would be hard to refute when management asks you to take care of something on your off time. Chances are you won't be getting paid extra for this time, and you'll just be dragging your work stress home with you and that can lead to a long list of other problems. If you can avoid it, don't check your email from home and leave it for the next day you're in the office.

A key factor to coping with workplace stress is to have a support group in your office. The benefits to having good friends in the office that you can vent to can have a huge impact on your happiness in the workplace. You hear the terms “work husband” and “work wife” a lot these days. While you have to be certain you don't cross any lines of inappropriateness, it can be good to have that person in the office you know you can go to with a problem or to run an idea by. Depending

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