Workplace stress is just a fact of working life, right? There’s nothing you can do to stop it, right? There’s nothing you can do to get rid of it, right? Well, the reality is that you can not only control it, but you can turn it to your advantage. You can use how you handle stress into the stepping stone for advancement and leadership. But if you don’t know this, then you are just stuck with it.
You will always encounter stress. The key is to minimize the harmful stress that you face, and to maximize the positive stress. What is positive stress? The stress you run into when you are growing or taking advantage of a new opportunity. Maximizing this kind of stress means that you are expanding your life and your personal effectiveness.
Here are 5 ways to increase your workplace stress to increase your personal effectiveness:
1. Manage your time to never have down time. It may feel good and relaxing to just waste time at work. But filling in those time gaps with productive work will increase your stress. And it will make you stand out as someone who can manage his or her time effectively.
2. Go full steam ahead when your energy is high. Everyone has different energy levels during the day. If you attack your work as if you have one constant energy level, you will burn yourself out during your low times. And you won’t take maximum advantage of your high energy times.
3. Spend some time socializing. What? How does socializing increase your stress? Well, if you’ve ever had the boss poke his or her head into an office and ask “Is this work time or play time, people?” then you know how this can cause stress. But socializing is important to building a team, and your boss will see the dividends during high stress situations.
4. Stress out over your personal appearance. Well, “stress out” is not the proper term. But do be aware of how you look, especially during high stress periods. Taking the time and effort to focus on your appearance will increase your stress, but evaluating your appearance will tell you al lot about how you are handling stress. For example, suddenly gaining weight lets you know that you are stress eating. Bags under your eyes means you are losing sleep.
5. Make a consistent effort to work on your support network. This can be friends at work or friends that have nothing to do with work. These are the people who help you with solutions to problems, who give you honest feedback on your life, and who rely on your for help with their lives. The natural reaction is to isolate yourself during periods of stress, so it may feel stressful to reach out to people.
Merely tolerating stress is like trying to tread water while the Titanic sinks nearby. Trying to manage stress is like trying to stay dry in a rainstorm by avoiding the raindrops. Too many stress management systems focus on helping you feel good inside when you are under stress. But far too few do anything about making that stress end. Eventually, you become a pawn to your stress.
This article probably strikes you as counter-intuitive. Increasing stress when you are in a stressful situation seems harmful, not helpful. But when you have a comprehensive stress management system that focuses on turning stressful situation into opportunities for growth, you will actually seek out stressful situations. In this way, you will maximize your personal effectiveness, the perception of you as an effective team developer, and a leader.
For more information on attacking and transforming stress, please get our 3 exclusive reports (The TRUTH; The REMEDY; The OVERVIEW) by joining the STRESS JUDO COACHING community. STRESS JUDO COACHING was created by Rick Carter, based on dealing with stress during 15+ years as a trial attorney and 20+ years in martial arts. You can become a black belt when it comes to fighting stress.