The Art of Stress-Free Project Management: 7 Strategies for Success

It’s not uncommon these days to come across such phrasings in project management (PM) topics across forums:

“I’m an engineer/project manager, and the stress gets too much.”

Or

“I am currently in Management Consulting, and it’s killing me. […] Are there lower-stress PM jobs out there?”

I’m afraid the answer is no because stress is a masterful “killer” of project managers. And preempting your next question—yes, the PM realm can be that stressful, making professionals want to quit or change jobs.

If you’re also a stressed project manager, always balancing like an acrobat on a tightrope and trying to deal with everything simultaneously, stay assured you’re not alone. More and more project managers fall victim to stress. In fact, 76% acknowledge they experience psychological pressure and wear out when managing projects. This number has leaped in only one year from 62%.

There’s no need to worry, though. This article is your cheat sheet guiding you from stress-ful to stress-less project management.

But before using it, let’s figure out why project managers may feel stressed out.

Where does the project manager’s stress come from?

Stress in project management has become normal. LinkedIn found that medium and high stress levels affect 23% and 54% of project managers, respectively:

And once you start finger-counting stress factors in project management, you’ll soon have no fingers left to count further. There are as many of them as there are stars in the sky. It would probably take a book to enumerate them all.

So, let’s focus our attention only on the most widespread.

Project fear or apprehension

Does your project look like a stormy sky ready to strike with lightning any second?

It looks scary when you see a new project at the pre-planning stage. No wonder. There is so much to do!

• What to start with?

• What if we run out of budget?

• What if we fail?

• What if …?

Your mind has wandered to picture the worst scenarios, which may cause project anxiety, leaving you panicky and distressed.

Work overload

In the CIPD and Simplyhealth report, heavy workloads still remain the leading cause of stress-related absence.

Project managers fall in this line, too: 33% feel overloaded by their work. It can happen due to understaffing. There may be other reasons, like multitasking. You try to do everything at once, which results in a high cognitive load and total physical and mental exhaustion (burnout). And, as you may already know, stress and burnout are bosom friends.

Poor planning and disorganization

Here’s how it looks.

You can’t tell who does what exactly on the project. And worse—you feel wretched as you don’t clearly understand your tasks and responsibilities for the day.

For instance, 24.1% of project managers in the construction industry agree that weakness in planning provokes stress problems at work.

Now, look at that mess! Whether on your desk or desktop, it contributes to overall stressfulness. Numerous studies prove that a disorganized work environment creates project chaos, decreases focus and decision-making potential, and quickly leads to exhaustion.

Lack of communication and collaboration

According to Forbes Advisor, ineffective communication impacts job satisfaction levels in 50% of workers and boosts stress for 42%.

Poor communication and collaboration among project team members results in:

• Conflicting tasks
• Missed deadlines and milestones
• Added workload due to micromanagement
• Product quality issues
• Strained customer relationships

And this is only the start of the list of all the vices driven by miscommunication. It can also lead to frustration and power drainage in your mental and physical “batteries.”

7 Tips to reduce stress in project management

Take these “magic beans” from the article to help you cope with stress as a project manager.

1. Map out your day and neatly organize tasks

Are your project management tasks still in a messy pile—jumbled pieces of a broken puzzle you struggle to put together?

It’s time to get clarity and nail every deadline without agitation caused by chaotic or flooding tasks.

Here’s how a well-planned and stress-free project manager’s day may look:

Morning:

• Review project priorities
• Check emails and messages
• Create a to-do list for the day

Mid-morning:

• Hold a team meeting or check-in
• Break down large tasks into smaller, actionable steps, or try the time-blocking technique to group similar tasks

Afternoon:

• Complete the highest priority tasks first (use the Eisenhower Matrix)
• Monitor the project’s progress

Late afternoon:

• Wrap up all the remaining tasks
• Review your accomplishments
• Send project updates to team members, stakeholders, or clients

Consider the following PM tools for adequate project planning and task organization:

• Paymo
• Smartsheet
• Asana
• Celoxis
• Teamwork

When comparing them, Phil Strazzulla, Founder of SelectSoftware Reviews, notices, “Besides features and functionality for effective project management, some tools stand out with stress-relieving color schemes. Some colors may have a more calming effect and lessen project-related anxiety.”

For example:

Paymo is a user-friendly task management tool with a stress-reducing primary color (soothing green). It also lets you organize your PM tasks to avoid mess and clutter.

2. Facilitate communication and collaboration

Establishing a proper mechanism to communicate effectively and collaborate smoothly within your team is yet another proven strategy to overcome project management stress. This way, you’ll make sure the project progresses as planned. It will also reduce uncertainty once you get a macroscopic perspective of your and your team’s tasks. (Paymo provides that!)

Moreover, you can discuss everything you need in real time under each task and sync your Slack conversations in Paymo for successful team collaboration and communication.

Roman Zrazhevskiy, Founder & CEO of MIRA Safety, finds this tactic particularly useful during crises that stress project managers out even more fiercely. He mentions, “The main challenge for many PMs is keeping the team close-knit under extra pressure from a stressful factor (say, too many orders). When you experience a crisis in project management, it would be best to work shoulder-to-shoulder, involving cross-functional team members from every department.”

When such a situation occurs in sales and operations at MIRA Safety, the whole team, from frontline workers to the CEO and other executives, is ready to roll up their sleeves and commit to packing defense and tactical gear. Roman Zrazhevskiy also believes, “It’s vital to promote a strong work ethic in the team so that everyone dedicates their most effort to the job.”

3. Take breaks and renew your batteries

Generally, 53% of managers confess they are burned out at work.

Knowing this, you’d undoubtedly want to plan regular breaks to prevent burnout and stress. (They are the best buds, remember?)

During the day

Why not add a power nap to your daily project management schedule and fall into the arms of Morpheus for just about 10–20 minutes?

Several studies show that a short midday snooze (20 minutes max) links to a multitude of advantages. It can help you de-stress and boost productivity, among other things.

Or, what do you think about unity with nature?

It is a perfect stress reliever for Iryna Shved, Project Manager in the CTO Office of Electronics at Merck KGaA. She says, “For me, a walk in nature a day keeps PM’s stress away. Walking in the woods, lying on the grass, or just being near water are the best ways to relieve work-related stress through soothing sensory experiences.”

During the year

“From a day off to a vacation, whichever it is throughout the year, it will help you fight stress as a project manager. During that time, you replenish your energy reservoir,” says Tim White, Founder of milepro. “On such days, imagine you’re not a project manager; you’re an empty vessel eventually refilled with new powers.”

Don’t forget to schedule regular leaves and plan your vacations with Paymo’s leave planner.

4. Excel at flexibility

When stress “shoots” at you, you should be like Neo dodging bullets in that famous scene from the Matrix movie.

Train yourself to be bendy and flexible like a gymnast. Ian Sells, CEO of Million Dollar Sellers, believes flexibility is a project manager’s personality trait worth upskilling to win your battle with project management stress. He notes, “Don’t resist stress. Outsmart it instead, and don’t let it manipulate your mind. For that, you may need to develop such a skill as resilience or flexibility.”

Projects often face unexpected scope changes or stakeholder demands. Resilience will let you adapt your plans and strategies quickly in response to these changes and make sure the project (and your mind!) doesn’t go off the rails. Such adaptability also helps you approach problems creatively and find innovative solutions. Rather than becoming rigid and stressed, try to cultivate creativity, think outside the box, and remain agile to overcome stressful challenges more effectively.

5. Open up and seek support

Do you play your PM stress cards close to the chest and never tell anyone what bothers you?

You shouldn’t bear this burden alone.

“Our problem as project leaders is that we are not used to sharing. We are reluctant to discuss the slightest worry or hardship, hiding it behind seven seals. Yet, we should change our approaches because social support is a critical player in stress management. Stress creates the feeling of isolation, so discussing it with others can help relieve the tension and find understanding and feedback,” explains Brooke Webber, Head of Marketing at Ninja Patches.

Indeed, social support was the most effective stress-busting mechanism for IT project managers in the study of a large ICT organization.

You have several options to seek support and feedback from:

• PM mentor
• Teammates
• Family
• Friends
• Project management community
• Professional therapist, etc.

For example:

Roger Thomas, VP of Operations and Project Manager at Setpoint, implements an open-book approach in the company. He shares the project management stress with team members. “Many eyes on a problem, many brains applied to it.”

6. Organize project retrospectives and learn from mistakes

Let’s have a retro!

No, we won’t go rogue partying under the 80s theme. We’ll run a retrospective analysis of your project.

Sometimes, you have to look backward to drive safely forward.

This stress-coping strategy for project managers landed in the article firsthand from Tony Mariotti, CEO of RubyHome. He said, “Project retrospectives are probably the best sources of lessons learned to improve workflows and better tackle stressful situations in the future. You should reflect on the project’s challenges, identify areas for improvement, and learn from past mistakes. This will reduce the stress associated with feeling overwhelmed or stuck in negative patterns during the next projects.”

For instance, let’s take a project and analyze what you did right and wrong.

Pluses:

• You started with work prioritization.
• You maximized the team’s efficiency by communicating project priorities via a PM platform.

Mistakes:

• You multitasked rather than focusing on a specific project and taking one task at a time. (Practice single-tasking or other time management strategies.)
• You didn’t schedule a single break for two days! (Take micro-breaks at frequent intervals every 60–90 mins.)

You can also write down an algorithm of actions based on your previous experiences of handling project management stress.

7. Indulge in volunteering

For Sturgeon Christie, CEO of Second Skin Audio, there’s nothing greater than volunteering to cope with work-related stress in project management or any other sphere. He says, “You already have an ideal skill set to manage projects. You don’t have to leave your comfort zone as a project manager. It may be a splendid chance to enjoy the benefits of volunteering for your physical and mental wellness.”

Whenever he has an opportunity, Sturgeon Christie volunteers at Golden Door Scholars, mentoring students and helping them develop professional skills and break economic mobility barriers.

And here’s a list of volunteering benefits he refers to:

• Break up the monotony of work
• Refresh your mind by switching perspectives
• Foster social connections
• Engage in physical activity
• Experience a sense of fulfillment and purpose
• Improve your mood thanks to dopamine releases

Actually, volunteering has a scientifically proven stress-buffering effect. People who volunteer more often typically have a lower level of daily stress and better emotional well-being.

Besides, volunteer gigs are among the best team-building activities worth trying to strengthen your team bonding and collaboration. For example, Accenture participated in the Charity Bike Buildathon team-building activity.

What’s next for you?

Yup, project management is tumultuous and nerve-racking. However, as suggested above, you can empower yourself with the best stress-coping strategies for a project manager. Try them today and manage your projects in a worry-free manner. Your projects—and your well-being—deserve it.

If you haven’t done it yet while reading the article, explore Paymo’s features for project managers once again, or start for free without any hesitation.

Stress less and achieve more with Paymo.