How to deal with personal problems at work

By Goretti Kimani

We all want to build a successful career. But the road to this success is riddled with challenges that must be overcome for that dream to materialise. And the greatest of these challenges is personal problems, which are the greatest impediment to progress.

The way you handle these personal challenges determines the speed and direction of your career growth. The following are some major personal issues that you should therefore watch out for.

Death in the family: No one is ever prepared for the death of a loved one. When it strikes, people invariably feel distraught, confused and hopeless. And although many organisations provide for compassionate leave, it is seldom enough. I know someone who lost their job because they lost three close relatives within the same year. When a loved one passes on, the best solution is to seek professional help and get your emotional state stabilised as soon as possible. Taking the natural course to healing that may take too long.

Divorce and Separation: This has claimed more careers than any other personal issues. Divorce and separation destroys even the strongest people. This is further complicated by the fact that affected people may start abusing alcohol and other substances to forget their problems. But you must draw a line between your career life and personal life to overcome this challenge. And although that line might be very thin, being level headed and using professional help can limit the damage occasioned by fallouts in marriages and relationships.

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Major illnesses: A major illness can have a life changing impact on an individual. An affected employee may end up taking long periods away from work either in sick leave or unpaid leave. In some instances, prolonged illnesses may shorten your careers. In a situation where a close relative is affected, the time spent in hospital visits, home care and the obvious hospital bills eventually takes a toll on personal job performance. Whatever the case, one should avoid blaming themselves for their predicament and instead focus on the future. In case a job is lost, one must realise that this is not an end. Nothing last forever and even the toughest situations in life must come to an end.

Drug and Substance addictions: Many people are falling prey to drugs and substance abuse. Alcohol is the most commonly abused substance, and contributes heavily to the loss of productivity at work. As in all addiction cases, affected people are usually in denial and end up running to the comfort of the same substances when in distress. But there is only one exit from this. You must accept you have a problem and seek professional help. Anything else is a fallacy.

Part time classes: Many working people are taking part time classes to improve their stakes in the battle for success at work. Though many classes are usually scheduled after working hours, the problem is that working hours are becoming a lot more erratic. While many companies have a working schedule of 8.00am to 5.00pm, this is seldom followed. Many executives today work past the closing time to achieve work targets. Any time there is a clash between part time classes and work, the latter should always prevail. Affected people are encouraged to seek the support of their lecturers in rescheduling classes and rather than putting their studies first and creating problems for themselves at work.

Spouse Transfers: Having a spouse suddenly transferred to an out of town branch can cause immediate problems at work. In addition to the extra financial burden imposed on the family, other issues such as additional responsibility with children, emotional distress and insecurity can affect ones performance at work.

Discussing a situation like this with your spouse in good time, rather than complaining about it is pivotal in preventing the problems associated with it. Nery many people lose their jobs due to wrangles and indecision among spouses only to regret later

No matter your personal situation, you should always envisage to give maximum value at your workplace. Seeking professional help must always remain top of the agenda. Always remember that tough times don’t last but tough people do.