Let’s have a look at some ways of dealing with job stress.

Dealing with job stress in any industry can become a major problem because stress has such a huge effect on both job satisfaction and a workers’ longevity in the industry. Obviously, the longer your translation business is in operation, the more efficient you’ll become at your work, leading (hopefully) to earning more money. So let’s have a look at some ways of dealing with job stress –

Be Confident in Your Translation Skills

It’s time to start having faith in yourself, and this includes believing in the quality of your work. If you still doubt the accuracy or finished quality of your translation work, consider proofreading a hard copy of your translated documents. Yes, it will take time, but perhaps this is a step you need to take in order to reduce your work stress and give you the confidence you need: you’ll know that you haven’t mistranslated something and/or that you haven’t skipped a section of the source text.

You’re Human: You Will Make Mistakes!

Accept that you will make mistakes because you’re just same as everybody else – you’re human! We know that being a perfectionist is not always a good thing, but a certain amount of perfectionism can definitely be an asset, and this probably applies to all industries. However, it’s also important to remember that you are human and you will make mistakes - so, when you make a mistake, own up to it! If you have a disgruntled client pointing out errors in your work, then you need to apologize immediately, offer to make amends, then move on. It’s the only way to handle mistakes, and it’s the only way to move on in a relationship with a client. The more you refuse to admit your mistake or try to blame it on someone else, the more likely it is that you’ll lose your client.

Live Within Your Means

Living within your means (and sometimes beneath your means) is one of the best ways of reducing financial stress. When you’re running a freelance translation business in an economy that’s on the downturn, it’s very important that you live within your means. When you’re spending less than what you earn it frees you from being forced to take on work you don’t enjoy simply because you need the money: it also reduces the incentive to produce large volumes of work at very low rates. Whatever your financial philosophy may be, if you spend more than you earn you’re on a serious road to job stress. If you’re a two-income household, try to live off one income and bank the other.

Find a Hobby You Really Enjoy

People who work at their computers for hours on end, five days a week, need to find a way to unplug when their day’s work is over. The obvious answer to this is to do some form of exercise, but that’s just a start. You need to give your brain a rest, or at least give it something to enjoy. Some translators love pottering around in their gardens, while others prefer to put their feet up and watch their favorite television show. Whatever it is, you need to get out of your head for a while to allow your brain to rejuvenate.

Set Boundaries Around Your Working Hours

These need to be objective boundaries, and simply saying: ‘I don’t have time to take that translation job on’ is a subjective statement because you could take that job on if you worked faster, more efficiently, or even stayed up later. A better statement and an objective statement would be to say: ‘For reasons of quality I choose to translate no more than 2000 words per day’. Now you have a policy to abide by. This will be way less stressful than trying to determine if you might be able to squeeze in one more job.