Work can be stressful for a number of reasons, including difficult colleagues or a demanding boss. However, often the problem is simply the amount of work you need to get finished. It might mean long hours at your desk, or a period of particular concentration while you ignore other needs. These can both make the experience unpleasant to begin with. Yet a further factor is not the workload itself, but how you react to it emotionally.

Typically when the work starts to pile up and you feel the stress of having to finish it, there is an unspoken, often half-formed consequence at the back of your mind: If I don't get this done, then... In some cases, there may be genuinely serious consequences to missing a deadline. It could mean missing a promotion, getting paid less, or even losing your job. These, however, are comparatively rare.

More common is a lower-level consequence: if I don't finish, this project will run into difficulties; other people will have to work harder to take up the slack; the firm won't do as well.

A third category revolves not around the practical consequences, but around the way that you believe people will react to it and the relational impact you fear it might have: I will lose respect; my colleagues will think I can't do my job properly; I will appear incompetent.

Whilst a whole range of consequences (including any of the above) is possible, we can often put additional pressure on ourselves by assuming that other people will think less of us if we 'fail' to deliver. This can be compounded if we already have a low self-opinion or are prone to self-doubt. Essentially, in those situations, a high workload becomes a trigger for self-esteem issues.

If this is the case, it helps to know what you are really stressed about: is it the genuine consequences of not completing your workload, or is it the (possible but) imagined consequences of how you fear your boss and colleagues might think of you? This allows you to begin treating the situation on its own terms without adding unhelpful extra baggage.

Guy Brandon is a counsellor, author and founder of www.StressingOut.org, a website dedicated to resources for stress, depression, anxiety and related conditions.

For more on workload stress, see http://www.StressingOut.org/workload-stress/.