According to the latest HSE figures for 2024/25, around 964,000 employees in Great Britain reported suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety, the highest number on record (HSE November 2025). These mental-health conditions were responsible for an estimated 22.1 million lost working days last year (British Safety Council).
Those are sobering numbers, but not entirely surprising. Workplaces often amplify pressure, and under stress our minds can spiral: small anxieties balloon, motivation falters, productivity falls. By the end of the day we may feel overwhelmed, only too aware that the to do list will still be there tomorrow along with the current workload, new projects and deadlines.
So how do we break this cycle? How can we build resilience, stay focused, and ease anxiety, with the reality of workload and a range of stressors?
The answer lies in embracing what I think of as an “alchemy of resilience”: transforming everyday demands into moments of clarity and strength. Below are a few tips and techniques to help you stay grounded, and effective even in the most stressful environments.
- Start the Morning with Mindfulness
Spend a few quiet minutes before your day begins to centre yourself. Visualise potential obstacles and how you’ll respond. Set your intentions. This kind of mindful start helps you approach challenges from a calm, prepared place.
- Tame the Inbox with Intention
When you open your email, resist the urge to dive in head-first. Pause, breathe, scan calmly, and tackle only the most essential messages. Taking a moment reduces the risk of rushing replies, overcommitting, or creating more follow-up work, all common traps that feed stress.
Also, set boundaries around when you check email, especially outside work hours. Constant catch-up blurs the line between work and life, disrupting rest and making real recovery harder. It can also take your time, energy and attention from progressing the ‘work’ you need to do.
- Dial Down Social Media
Social media can hijack your focus, energy and time. The nature of sensationalised content, newsfeeds and notifications easily overload your mental space and negatively impact your mood – often with no real benefit. When you’re at work, cutting down screen time can preserve your attention, calm your mind, and prevent unnecessary anxiety. When you are at home/away from work, it gets in the way of living a full life, connecting with yourself, your loved ones, your hobbies and your sleep.
- Navigate Workplace Friction with Calm
We all meet colleagues whose style or temperament is different to ours, especially in close, high-pressure environments. Rather than letting frustration build or dividing “us vs them,” try shifting how you think of difficult colleagues. Checking and changing your inner narrative, e.g. if you notice you are assigning a negative ‘label’ or intention, changing this to a neutral one or not interpreting their intention (with a negative filter), can reduce emotional stress and keep collaboration smooth. Look at where you have shared goals and objectives, so you can explore ways of collaborating on these. Try to be open and aim to understand their perspective and what is important to them. This understanding helps develop more open, healthy ways of working and relationships. Avoid the ‘blame game’ this is stressful for all, and creates a harmful culture.
- Embrace Spontaneity and Levity
All work and no play makes for a draining day. Small moments of humour or light-heartedness, a joke, a friendly conversation, a stroll outside — can reset your mood and recharge your spirit. Such breaks often rebuild team cohesion, reduce tension, and foster creative energy.
Work-related stress, depression, and anxiety are now among the most common causes of ill-health in British workplaces (HSE). But by consciously shaping how we respond, applying a kind of everyday psychological “alchemy”, we can build more resilience, regain control over our workflow and make room for meaning, even on the busiest days.