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Master Your Stress – Boost Your Success
By Michael | February 25, 2010
“Stress is not what happens to us. It’s our response TO what happens. And RESPONSE is something we can choose.”
- Maureen Killoran
Learning to master your stress reaction is a potent skill. Whether you are a team member, team leader, manager or senior level leader you are faced with stress. Job related stress as well as personal stress is contagious and can seep into the workplace having a detrimental impact on personal well-being and organizational effectiveness.
Susyn Reeve, M.Ed., Organization Development Consultant, Executive Coach, Author, InterFaith Minister and Inspirational Speaker provides the following information about stress.
What is stress? If you were to ask a dozen people to define stress you would likely get 12 different responses. This is because there is no one definition of stress that everyone agrees on – what is stressful for one person may be pleasurable or have little effect on others.
The term stress as it is currently used was coined by Hans Selye in 1936 who defined it as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change.” For our purposes stress is defined as your reaction to the demands and circumstances of life that cause patterns of thoughts and behaviors leading to disease, worry, anxiety, anger, unhappiness, dissatisfaction and ineffectiveness.
While it is true that a certain amount of stress – known as eustress – can be motivating and beneficial, it is your distress that requires your conscious attention so you don’t fall victim to its’ detrimental impact.
The first step to being the master of your stress reaction is based on awareness. That is, you must become aware of the situations that are your stress triggers and understand how you react to stress. This is called your Stress Signature. Some common reactions include:
Sleep problems
Overeating – or loss of appetite
Physical pain – stomach, back, neck
Heart palpitations
Sweaty palms
Substance abuse
Anger – yelling, physical or verbal abuse
Difficulty concentrating
Knowing your stress signature alerts you to your stress reaction and allows you to consciously choose whether to master or fall victim to your automatic reaction.
Having an awareness of stress mastery techniques, and using them to diffuse your stress allows you to be in control. Stress mastery techniques include the following:
Meditation (click here to sample a guided meditation)
Time in nature
Exercise
Listening to relaxing music
Hobbies
Paying attention to what you eat
Asking for help and support
Talking with a friend
Acknowledging your accomplishments
Intimacy
Pampering yourself – massage, bubble bath, hot shave, etc
Identify your personal stress mastery techniques
With an awareness of stress mastery techniques and using them consistently and regularly you will become the master of your stress reaction.
Note: Susyn will be conducting a webinar on STRESS on March 17th.
Click here to register.
Click here to learn more about Susyn.
Sincerely,
Michael W. Kublin
mkublin@peopletekcoaching.com
Jan Mayer-Rodriguez
jan@peopletekcoaching.com
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Master Your Stress – Boost Your Success
March 17th
11:30am-1:00pm EST
Mastering Difficult Conversations
April 22nd
11:30am-1:00pm
Speaking engagement:
Mike Kublin will be presenting:
“Discovering your role as a Leader in IT Service Management”
at the Signature Grand
March 18th
“Is everything as urgent as your stress would imply?”
- Carrie Latet
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