Stress

Computers are marvelous tools for information management. They allow you to view data, store data, sort data, retrieve data--all at the touch of a few buttons or mouse clicks. But thus far, computers have proved far more adept at bringing information in than at filtering it out. And that's causing more problems than people realize. Feeling harried? Rushed? Out of touch? Jumpy? Unfocused? Unable to get things done?

Struggling to deal with one controversy after another, the administrative staff of the problem-plagued Los Angeles County Jail system has become so overworked that two of the division's top commanders were forced to take medical leave this week for high blood pressure. Numerous other ranking officials, meanwhile, have been pushed to the point of exhaustion, Sheriff's Department officials say.

If your day planner system is roughly the size of Nebraska and is bursting at the seams, maybe it's time to consider the possibility that your life has gotten too complicated. Entire sections of stationery stores are now devoted to the dozens of categories and refills required to keep your book up-to-date.

Quitting coffee. How hard can this be? Kicked smoking. Kicked scotch. Kicked "Baywatch." Just a little old-fashioned willpower, that's all. Just make up the mind. Just set the resolve. Just drive right past that Dunkin' Donuts. Going to need something to replace those eight cups in the morning, though. Wonder what Mountain Dew tastes like perked, with, say, two sugars, light? Bad idea. Counterproductive. Wrong message: It's the caffeine, stupid. Herbal tea? There you go: hot, steamy.

Sometimes we don't choose simplicity; it chooses us. I've heard from many people who discovered the joys of a simpler life only after losing a job or experiencing some other personal crisis. Instead of wallowing in despair over what they'd lost, these people learned to appreciate what they'd found. If you're wondering how to turn a crisis into a blessing, you might take heart from the experience of a San Francisco woman. She was 57 when she lost her job.

During the workweek, Don Albrecht travels deep into the arcane world of complex computer languages, creating software to test various functions of communications satellites. It is a highly cerebral activity. When pressed for an explanation, Albrecht explains that one such computer program measures "S parameter response versus frequency, two-carrier intermodulation, noise figure and swept power for gain expansion."

Last week, as President Clinton's travails swarmed like wasps, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters about a presidential pep talk. Clinton told his staff, she said, "that we should stay focused on our jobs and that he will be fine." Which probably made the average citizen wonder: "How can they?" and "Will he really?" Few people work their full lives without an occasional overflow of outside distractions laying siege to their psyches.

Double, double, toil and trouble. That's what has many employees throughout the country stewing: Twice the work, and double the trouble. The result is that many workplaces have turned into caldrons bubbling with anger, tension and animosity. Unfortunately, many companies' human resources departments have played as much a role in creating the heat as in reducing it. One reason for this discrepancy might be that workers' needs have shifted in the last several years.

Call it survivor's guilt--or survivor's rage. Today's top executives have lived through mergers, reorganizations and waves of layoffs. They watched layers of middle management disappear and found themselves responsible for more people, more projects and more money as companies got lean. What didn't increase was the amount of time in a day. So as responsibilities increased, executives lost the ability to spend time on projects and on the people they are supposed to be managing.

The days of corporate downsizing appear to be back with a vengeance. In recent months, employers as diverse as Merrill Lynch, Packard Bell, Gillette, Arco and Raytheon have announced job cuts totaling thousands of workers. The stock market is queasy. The Asian contagion keeps spreading, and a lot of bosses are feeling the nip of recession in the air. Yes, the season for layoffs could be right around the corner.