Harness the benefits of Stress

Common Misunderstandings About Stress

Stress is one of the most misunderstood conditions of all the emotional, physical, psychological, and medical situations that affect all humans. The overwhelming majority of books, articles, and statements by “experts” expound on the dangers – sometimes even life-threatening – and potential negative consequences of stress. Here are some common myths about stress.

• Stress is unavoidable. Many comments state that there is little you can do to prevent suffering the negative influences of stress.
  Fact: Many people consistently lead stress-free lives. It all depends on your personal psyche.
  
  
• You can easily manage stress using meditation, physical activity, or other psychological means. Depending on your personality, you may be able to reduce stress with a totally unrelated activity.
  Fact: In most cases, however, simply working out or meditating will have little measurable effect on stress reduction.
  
  
• Only our mind plays a role in increasing or reducing stress. This common myth leaves out one very important additional contributor: Our bodies.
  Fact: Many people have spent years translating their stress into body memory. Like muscle memory developed by athletes to perform at the highest levels, “stress memory,” created from self-affirming statements about the stress you feel become strong influences on how we handle stress. They are also much more difficult to “unlearn” than mere thoughts, which can be changed whenever you so desire.

Of course, the “big myth” is that all stress is bad. As actors, athletes, surgeons, and other professionals already know, stress is a) a simple fact of life, and b) can be used to help take your performance to a higher level. Deciding to do this also means you must be committed to excel, resist the temptation to simply ignore your stress, and decide to firmly harness the positive aspects of stress to give you benefit.

How Stress Can Help Your Performance

Here are some ways to understand stress and use it to help, not hurt, your performance.

• Learn the difference between stress and anxiety. These two conditions are often confused and are actually quite different. A simple explanation of the difference: Stress is your body’s reaction to the ancient “fight or flight” decision, while anxiety is your mental or cognitive reaction. Anxiety can be damaging, and should be corrected by mental processes. Stress is the physical reaction to situations, is perfectly natural, and can spur appropriate responses.
  
  
• Create a star athlete’s approach to stress. You are probably aware that superstar athletes like Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and others seem to perform even better under pressure and in stressful situations. Unlike most people, who suffer anxiety and deteriorating performance in pressure and stressful environments, the superstars get even better. Like these superstars, you should try to welcome these situations and treat them as opportunities to separate yourself from the crowd.
  
  
• View the natural nervousness created by stress as your friend. The majority of people become unsettled and confused by the natural nervousness that accompanies stressful situations. Use this condition to sharpen your performance. Many stage actors, who have performed their roles hundreds of times in the same play, often suffer stage fright before every performance. Instead of fearing this feeling, they typically welcome it. This nervousness usually sharpens their performance. You can take advantage of this natural feeling to clear your mind and give you renewed energy to deliver high performance at your job.
  
  
• Use stress to help you better focus on the task at hand. Understand that you versus stress is seldom a win-win proposition. It is typically a win-lose situation. Either you win or stress is the victor. Use this fact to help you sharpen your focus on your job. Decide to be the winner in this important game. As you focus more clearly, you’ll see your performance improve and the negative aspects of stress usually disappear.
  
  
• Never submit to what psychologist’s call “self-intimidation.” Similar to allowing yourself to be intimidated by others, this condition is totally self-inflicted. Many people facing a stressful work situation deliver thoughts of failure, inadequacy, lack of ability, and visions of unsuccessful results even before the task or project begins. Along with negatively affecting your performance, this condition only increases your stress level and the unwanted results that can occur.

Stress is more or less a constant in the workplace regardless of your position on the company organisation chart. As you elevate up the corporate ladder, the potential for more and more stress increases. The key is to use it or allow it to use - and abuse - you. Stress exists in school, work, athletics, medicine, and all other life areas. How you manage it determines how you will perform. Understand it, manage it, and overcome it to have a better career and quality of life.