The US recorded the lowest overall percentage of happy Americans over the last 71 years. Alongside this, levels of stress and worry reached new heights (Gallup)
As Gallup signals, “stress, in particular, is not unique to the U.S, but the country stands out on the list of most less developed countries where this emotion is most prevalent”.
Media has largely released that stress is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. In 2014, a major study over more than that followed 13,000 men for decades, concluded that stress kills you (stressed men had three times more chances to die).
At work, research shows that balanced decision-making is hindered by stress, reducing our productivity and our chances to grow at work.
Now, you are probably more stressed than you were before!
But let me give you a new perspective that may change what you think about stress.
Stress is not exactly the cause of poorer health and worse decision making. It is our attitude towards stress that makes the difference. Let me explain it by coming back to the research that linked stress with three times more chances to die. Researchers did not find that stressed participants were more likely to die. They found that men who experienced stressful experiences negatively had three times more chances to die. However, participants that had a positive attitude towards the same stressful activities were found to even improve their health.
In fact, when we expect from stress positive outcomes, we can experience:
-Higher performance: improve memory , more focused attention, better mental processing , mental toughness
- Better health : quicker recovery, and boosted immunity.
Thus stress in itself does not necessarily produce negative outcomes. What matters is our response to stress. Worrying about stress is bound to harm our health and work outcomes. A positive mindset towards stress heightens our capacities and primes us to go after what we want to get. Instead of feeling anxious, employees feel excited, energized, enthusiastic and confident. This positive stress response can give you access to your mental and physical resources. The result will be increased confidence, enhanced concentration, and peak performance. This is probably one of the most impactful discoveries.
So how can you change your mindset about stress?
First, acknowledge stress when it appears in your life, and pay attention to how it affects you. Most people try to distract their minds when feeling stress. But trying to avoid thinking about something that you are feeling or are worried about is not possible.
There are many different ways you can use to acknowledge stress. Activities that allow you to connect with your thoughts and feelings, such as writing your thoughts, going for a walk, exercising or mindfulness.
Second, stress is a way of telling you that there is something at stake that you care about. Take a moment to find out what that is. This will help you find the higher purpose and meaning behind the stressful situation.
Third. Find out ways to utilize or canalize the physical effects of stress positively. For example, instead of telling yourself “I am nervous”, tell yourself “I am excited!”. In fact, a study by Harvard Business School found that telling yourself “I am excited” before a speech will help you perform better, and the audience will find you more competent, relaxed, and persuasive than if you told yourself “I am calm.” Before the speech, anxiety rises and our heart starts to bump quicker. Reframe what you experience positively, like telling yourself that “your heart is pumping quicker to give you the extra energy you need to connect with the audience and to energize people with your message”.
Finally, stress cannot always be seen as a tool for higher performance. There is a difference between a certain level of enhancing stress, and a disruptive level of worry. It is important to be able to discern which type of stress we are experiencing. If you feel that what you worry about is absolutely out of your control, meaningless, and isolates you from others; then you need tools to reduce stress rather than trying to use it as an enhancement tool.
We train leaders and teams around the world to choose the best response to stress so they can increase confidence, concentration, and performance. Our stress management workshop helps reduce the effects of stress at work by 50%.
Contact us if you want to find out how we can help you.
