Personal Productivity

Feeling Stressed?

by Mike Alafaci

Recognising and adapting to stress makes us more productive. It also makes us healthier. Heart disease now accounts for 40% of deaths. And there is a strong link between people who are competitive, impatient, under urgent time pressures and experiencing annoyance at those times. And today, that is probably most of us at one point in our year!

Not only is this bad for our health and productivity, it doesn’t feel much like fun if it goes on too long. So while an early death may be a relief for some, there are more happier, healthier and productive ways to handle stress. The first way is to become aware of the four types of stress.

The 4 types of stress we experience are:

• Frustration
• Conflict
• Change
• Pressure

Frustration happens when we are prevented from moving toward something we want. We may lose a sale. We may fail at something. We may experience a delay that is outside our control. Or we may decide to delay things out of caution, but still be frustrated at not being able to move forward.

Conflict is when we have competing desires or choices. The choices can be between good and bad, or good and good, or even bad and bad. Should I take the new job or stay here? Should I buy the red sports car or the silver one? Should I have a difficult conversation with Jenny or just keep putting up with her poor behaviour?

Change is any circumstance that requires us to readjust and that causes stress as a result. This can happen with negative change and positive change. Losing a job is negative, but moving to a great new job in a new city is positive, but still requires readjustment.

Pressure is related to expectations to behave or perform in some way. This might be job-related, relationship-related or even self-imposed.

All of these types of stress are real in the eye of the beholder. But once our awareness shines the headlights on our stress, we can begin to address things.

We manage stress in two main ways
We choose either counterproductive or productive approaches to manage stress. Counterproductive approaches to stress management are giving up too early, striking out at others, indulging ourselves in food, alcohol or drugs to the point where it is bad for our health and so on. Productive approaches to manage stress include anything that is directed at the problem and that leaves us better off mentally, emotionally and physically. Planning our next steps, doing something fun for a while that energises us (listening to music, taking a walk), and putting a nagging problem aside for a while by shifting our attention away from it to something else.

Responding to stress is like driving a powerful sports car
We have a gas pedal and a brake pedal. If we put both feet on the gas pedal, our energy is high and uncontrolled and we will soon spin out of control (also known as high anxiety). If we put both feet on the brake pedal, we will shut down all together and become immobilised (also known as depression).

Navigating daily stress is like racing our car around a course. There will be straight sections and there will be corners. Practice at alternating one foot on the gas pedal and one on the brake pedal will help us to continue moving forward at the best pace, but in a more controlled, fun and productive way.

There are positive effects of stress too, like growing personally and professionally, experiencing a re-evaluation of our priorities, and feeling good about ourself after navigating our stress.

Advanced Tip:
Practice just noticing which type of stress you are feeling. Practice noticing which part of your body you experience stress, which emotion you feel, and what behaviour you are taking. Just noticing will generate change in a productive way.