Rational Positive Thinking
Positive Thinking, Built on Firm Foundations
Have you ever felt really stressed about something, only to see the stress vanish when you talk the situation through with a friend?
Quite often, our experience of stress comes from our perception of a situation. Often that perception is right, but sometimes it isn't. Sometimes we are unreasonably harsh with ourselves, or jump to wrong conclusions about people’s motives, and this can send us into a downward spiral of negative thinking.
Thought Awareness, Rational Thinking and Positive Thinking are simple tools that help you to change this negative way of thinking. This page teaches you how to use them.
Introduction:
The most commonly accepted definition of stress is that it occurs when a person believes that "demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize". In short, it's when we feel out of control.
When people feel stressed, they have made two main judgments: First, they feel threatened by the situation, and second, they believe that they're not able to meet the threat. How stressed someone feels depends on how much the situation can hurt them, and how closely their resources meet the demands of the situation.
Perception is key to this as (technically!) situations are not stressful in their own right. Rather it is our interpretation of the situation that drives the level of stress that we feel.
Quite obviously, we are sometimes right in what we say to ourselves. Some situations may actually be dangerous, may threaten us physically, socially or in our career. Here, stress and emotion are part of the early warning system that alerts us to a threat.
Very often, however, we are overly harsh and unjust to ourselves in a way that we would never be with friends or co-workers. This, along with other negative thinking, can cause intense stress and unhappiness and can severely undermine our self-confidence.
Using the Tool:
Thought Awareness
You are thinking negatively when you fear the future, put yourself down, criticize yourself for errors, doubt your abilities, or expect failure. Negative thinking damages confidence, harms performance and paralyzes mental skills.
Unfortunately, negative thoughts tend to flit into our consciousness, do their damage and flit back out again, with their significance having barely been noticed. Since we barely realise that they were there, we do not challenge them properly, which means that they can be completely incorrect and wrong.
Thought Awareness is the process by which you observe your thoughts and become aware of what is going through your head.
One approach to it is to observe your "stream of consciousness" as you think about the thing you're trying to achieve which is stressful. Do not suppress any thoughts. Instead, just let them run their course while you watch them, and write them down on our free worksheet as they occur. Then let them go.
Another more general approach to Thought Awareness comes with logging stress in your Stress Diary. When you analyze your diary at the end of the period, you should be able to see the most common and the most damaging thoughts. Tackle these as a priority using the techniques below.
Here are some typical negative thoughts you might experience when preparing to give a major presentation:
* Fear about the quality of your performance or of problems that may interfere with it;
* Worry about how the audience (especially important people in it like your boss) or the press may react to you;
* Dwelling on the negative consequences of a poor performance; or
* Self-criticism over a less-than-perfect rehearsal.
Thought awareness is the first step in the process of managing negative thoughts, as you cannot manage thoughts that you are unaware of.
Rational Thinking
The next step in dealing with negative thinking is to challenge the negative thoughts that you identified using the Thought Awareness technique. Look at every thought you wrote down and challenge it rationally. Ask yourself whether the thought is reasonable. What evidence is there for and against the thought? Would your colleagues and mentors agree or disagree with it?
Looking at the examples, the following challenges could be made to the negative thoughts we identified earlier:
* Feelings of inadequacy: Have you trained yourself as well as you reasonably should have? Do you have the experience and resources you need to make the presentation? Have you planned, prepared and rehearsed enough? If you have done all of these, you've done as much as you can to give a good performance.
* Worries about performance during rehearsal: If some of your practice was less than perfect, then remind yourself that the purpose of the practice is to identify areas for improvement, so that these can be sorted out before the performance.
* Problems with issues outside your control: Have you identified the risks of these things happening, and have you taken steps to reduce the likelihood of them happening or their impact if they do? What will you do if they occur? And what do you need others to do for you?
* Worry about other people's reactions: If you have prepared well, and you do the best you can, then you should be satisfied. If you perform as well as you reasonably can, then fair people are likely to respond well. If people are not fair, the best thing to do is ignore their comments and rise above them.
Tip:
Don't make the mistake of generalizing a single incident. OK, you made a mistake at work, but that doesn't mean you're bad at your job.
Similarly, make sure you take the long view about incidents that you're finding stressful. Just because you're finding these new responsibilities stressful now, doesn't mean that they will ALWAYS be so for you in the future.
Write your rational response to each negative thought in the Rational Thought column on the worksheet.
Tip:
If you find it difficult to look at your negative thoughts objectively, imagine that you are your best friend or a respected coach or mentor. Look at the list of negative thoughts and imagine the negative thoughts were written by someone you were giving objective advice to. Then, think how you would challenge these thoughts.
When you challenge negative thoughts rationally, you should be able to see quickly whether the thoughts are wrong or whether they have some substance to them. Where there is some substance, take appropriate action. However, make sure that your negative thoughts are genuinely important to achieving your goals, and don't just reflect a lack of experience, which everyone has to go through at some stage.
Positive Thinking & Opportunity Seeking
By now, you should already be feeling more positive. The final step is to prepare rational, positive thoughts and affirmations to counter any remaining negativity. It can also be useful to look at the situation and see if there are any useful opportunities that are offered by it.
By basing your affirmations on the clear, rational assessments of facts that you made using Rational Thinking, you can use them to undo the damage that negative thinking may have done to your self-confidence.
Tip:
Your affirmations will be strongest if they are specific, are expressed in the present tense and have strong emotional content.
Continuing the examples above, positive affirmations might be:
* Problems during practice: "I have learned from my rehearsals. This has put me in a position where I can deliver a great performance. I am going to perform well and enjoy the event."
* Worries about performance: "I have prepared well and rehearsed thoroughly. I am well positioned to give an excellent performance."
* Problems issues outside your control: "I have thought through everything that might reasonably happen and have planned how I can handle all likely contingencies. I am very well placed to react flexibly to events."
* Worry about other people's reaction: "Fair people will react well to a good performance. I will rise above any unfair criticism in a mature and professional way."
If appropriate, write these affirmations down on your worksheet so that you can use them when you need them.
As well as allowing you to structure useful affirmations, part of Positive Thinking is to look at opportunities that the situation might offer to you. In the examples above, successfully overcoming the situations causing the original negative thinking will open up opportunities. You will acquire new skills, you will be seen as someone who can handle difficult challenges, and you may open up new career opportunities.
Make sure that identifying these opportunities and focusing on them is part of your positive thinking.
Summary:
This set of tools helps you to manage and counter the stress of negative thinking.
Thought Awareness helps you to understand the negative thinking, unpleasant memories and misinterpretation of situations that may interfere with your performance and damage your self-confidence.
Rational Thinking helps you to challenge these negative thoughts, and either learn from them, or refute them as incorrect.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Anger Management
Anger Management
Channeling Anger into Performance
Anger can be normal and healthy emotion that helps us instinctively detect and respond to a threatening situation. More than this, when it is properly channeled, it can be a powerful motivating force – we all know how hard we can work to remedy an obvious injustice.
However it can also be an emotion that gets out of control, leading to stress, distress, unhealthiness and unhappiness. Uncontrolled anger can seriously harm your personal and professional life, because it can become incredibly destructive – to yourself and the people around you.
And in a modern workplace that often demands trust and collaboration, it can cause great damage to working relationships.
This article teaches an effective 12-step approach that helps you direct your anger constructively rather than destructively. The 12-step approach is based on the ideas of Duke University’s Redford Williams, MD, who with his wife, authored the best-selling book Anger Kills. (In this book, Williams discusses 17 steps for controlling anger – these are often abridged to the 12 steps described here.)
Understanding the Theory
Anger is a well-developed coping mechanism that we turn to when our goals are frustrated, or when we feel threat to ourselves or to people, things and ideas we care about. It helps us react quickly and decisively in situations where there is no time for a careful, reasoned analysis of the situation. And it can motivate us to solve problems, achieve our goals, and remove threats.
Acting in anger can serve, therefore, to protect yourself or others. A positive response and constructive outcome can improve your self-esteem and self-confidence.
The Danger of Anger – Foolishness...
On the other hand, a negative response can damage relationships and lead to a loss of respect and self-respect. This is particularly the case when we react instantly and angrily to what we perceive to be a threat, but where that perception is wrong. This can leave us looking very foolish.
So we need to learn to use anger positively, and manage it so that it is constructive and not destructive. Where situations are not immediately life-threatening, we need to calm down and evaluate the accuracy of our perceptions before, if necessary, channeling anger in a powerful but controlled way.
Anger management, then, is the process of learning how to “calm down” and diffuse the negative emotion of anger before it gets to a destructive level.
A Subjective Experience
People experience anger in many different ways and for many different reasons. What makes you angry may only mildly irritate one of your colleagues, and have little to no effect on another. This subjectivity can make anger difficult to understand and deal with; it also highlights that the response is down to you. So anger management focuses on managing your response (rather than specific external factors). By learning to manage your anger, you can develop techniques to deal with and expel the negative response and emotions before it causes you serious stress, anxiety and discomfort.
Despite our differences in the level of anger we feel toward something, there are some universal causes of anger that include:
* Frustration of our goals
* Hurt
* Harassment
* Personal attack (mental or physical) on ourselves
* Threat to people, things or ideas that we hold dear.
We commonly experience these potential anger triggers in our daily lives. An appropriate level of anger that is expressed correctly helps us take the right action, solve the problem that is presenting itself, or deal with the situation in a positive manner. If we can learn to manage our anger, we will learn to express it appropriately and act constructively.
Using the Tool:
So when you’re angry, use Redford Williams’ 12 steps to calm down:
Step 1: Maintain a “Hostility Log”
Download our free Hostility Log worksheet and use it to monitor what triggers your anger and the frequency of your anger responses. When you know what makes you angry, you will be in a much better position to develop strategies to contain it or channel it effectively.
Step 2: If you do, acknowledge that you have a problem managing anger
It is an observed truth that you cannot change what you don’t acknowledge. So it is important to identify and accept that anger is a roadblock to your success.
Step 3: Use your support network
If anger is a problem, let the important people in your life know about the changes you are trying to make. They can be a source of motivation and their support will help you when you lapse into old behavior patterns.
Step 4: Use Anger Management techniques to interrupt the anger cycle
* Pause
* Take deep breaths
* Tell your self you can handle the situation
* Stop the negative thoughts
Step 5: Use empathy
If another person is the source of your anger, try to see the situation from his or her perspective. Remind yourself to be objective and realize that everyone makes mistakes and it is through mistakes that people learn how to improve.
Step 6: Laugh at yourself
Humor is often the best medicine. Learn to laugh at yourself and not take everything so seriously.
The next time you feel tempted to kick the photocopier, think about how silly you would look and see the humor in your inappropriate expressions of anger.
Step 7: Relax
Angry people are often the ones who let the little things bother them. If you learn to calm down you will realize that there is no need to get uptight and you will have fewer angry episodes.
Step 8: Build Trust
Angry people can be cynical people. They believe that others are going to do something on purpose to annoy or frustrate them even before it happens. If you can build trust in people you will be less likely to become angry with them when something does go wrong and more likely to attribute the problem to something other than a malicious intent.
Step 9: Listen
Miscommunication contributes to frustrating and mistrusting situations. The better you listen to what a person is saying, the better able you will be to find a resolution that does not involve an anger response.
Step 10: Be Assertive
Remember, the word is assertive NOT aggressive. When you are angry it is often difficult to express yourself properly. You are too caught up in the negative emotion and your physiological symptoms (beating heart, red face) to put together solid arguments or appropriate responses. If you learn to assert yourself and let other people know your expectations, boundaries, issues, and so on, you will have much more interpersonal success.
Step 11: Live each day as if it is your last
This saying may be overused, but it holds a fundamental truth. Life is short and it is much better spent positively than negatively. Realize that if you spend all your time getting angry, you will miss out on the many joys and surprises that life has to offer.
Step 12: Forgive
To ensure that the changes you are making go much deeper than the surface, you need to forgive the people in your life that have angered you. It is not easy letting go of past hurts and resentments but the only way to move past your anger is to let go of these feelings and start fresh. (Depending on what, or who, is at the root of your anger, you may have to solicit the help of a professional to achieve this fully.)
These 12 steps form a comprehensive plan to get control of inappropriate and unproductive anger. And the quicker you begin the better. Anger and stress are highly correlated and the effects of stress on the body are well documented. Visit the MindTools stress management section to learn even more about the effects of stress and how to deal with it. You will find that many of the techniques presented here are used in stress management as well because both are negative, emotional-based influences in our lives, and the approach for dealing with them is therefore quite similar.
Even if you are not at the point where you feel your anger is a problem, it is a wise idea to familiarize yourself with the processes listed. If you do not have the tools to deal with anger correctly, it has a way of building-up over time. Before you know it, you can be in a position where anger is controlling you and becoming a negative influence in your life. Being proactive with anger management will help to ensure it remains a healthy emotion that protects you from unnecessary hurt or threat.
Key Points
Anger is a powerful force, both for good and bad. Used irresponsibly, it can jeopardize your relationships, your work and your health.
Redford Williams’ 12-step approach for dealing with unconstructive anger is a well-balanced system that emphasizes knowing yourself and your triggers and then using that awareness to replace negative angry behavior with more positive actions and thoughts. While you don’t want to quell your anger completely, you do need to manage it if you’re to use it creatively.
Channeling Anger into Performance
Anger can be normal and healthy emotion that helps us instinctively detect and respond to a threatening situation. More than this, when it is properly channeled, it can be a powerful motivating force – we all know how hard we can work to remedy an obvious injustice.
However it can also be an emotion that gets out of control, leading to stress, distress, unhealthiness and unhappiness. Uncontrolled anger can seriously harm your personal and professional life, because it can become incredibly destructive – to yourself and the people around you.
And in a modern workplace that often demands trust and collaboration, it can cause great damage to working relationships.
This article teaches an effective 12-step approach that helps you direct your anger constructively rather than destructively. The 12-step approach is based on the ideas of Duke University’s Redford Williams, MD, who with his wife, authored the best-selling book Anger Kills. (In this book, Williams discusses 17 steps for controlling anger – these are often abridged to the 12 steps described here.)
Understanding the Theory
Anger is a well-developed coping mechanism that we turn to when our goals are frustrated, or when we feel threat to ourselves or to people, things and ideas we care about. It helps us react quickly and decisively in situations where there is no time for a careful, reasoned analysis of the situation. And it can motivate us to solve problems, achieve our goals, and remove threats.
Acting in anger can serve, therefore, to protect yourself or others. A positive response and constructive outcome can improve your self-esteem and self-confidence.
The Danger of Anger – Foolishness...
On the other hand, a negative response can damage relationships and lead to a loss of respect and self-respect. This is particularly the case when we react instantly and angrily to what we perceive to be a threat, but where that perception is wrong. This can leave us looking very foolish.
So we need to learn to use anger positively, and manage it so that it is constructive and not destructive. Where situations are not immediately life-threatening, we need to calm down and evaluate the accuracy of our perceptions before, if necessary, channeling anger in a powerful but controlled way.
Anger management, then, is the process of learning how to “calm down” and diffuse the negative emotion of anger before it gets to a destructive level.
A Subjective Experience
People experience anger in many different ways and for many different reasons. What makes you angry may only mildly irritate one of your colleagues, and have little to no effect on another. This subjectivity can make anger difficult to understand and deal with; it also highlights that the response is down to you. So anger management focuses on managing your response (rather than specific external factors). By learning to manage your anger, you can develop techniques to deal with and expel the negative response and emotions before it causes you serious stress, anxiety and discomfort.
Despite our differences in the level of anger we feel toward something, there are some universal causes of anger that include:
* Frustration of our goals
* Hurt
* Harassment
* Personal attack (mental or physical) on ourselves
* Threat to people, things or ideas that we hold dear.
We commonly experience these potential anger triggers in our daily lives. An appropriate level of anger that is expressed correctly helps us take the right action, solve the problem that is presenting itself, or deal with the situation in a positive manner. If we can learn to manage our anger, we will learn to express it appropriately and act constructively.
Using the Tool:
So when you’re angry, use Redford Williams’ 12 steps to calm down:
Step 1: Maintain a “Hostility Log”
Download our free Hostility Log worksheet and use it to monitor what triggers your anger and the frequency of your anger responses. When you know what makes you angry, you will be in a much better position to develop strategies to contain it or channel it effectively.
Step 2: If you do, acknowledge that you have a problem managing anger
It is an observed truth that you cannot change what you don’t acknowledge. So it is important to identify and accept that anger is a roadblock to your success.
Step 3: Use your support network
If anger is a problem, let the important people in your life know about the changes you are trying to make. They can be a source of motivation and their support will help you when you lapse into old behavior patterns.
Step 4: Use Anger Management techniques to interrupt the anger cycle
* Pause
* Take deep breaths
* Tell your self you can handle the situation
* Stop the negative thoughts
Step 5: Use empathy
If another person is the source of your anger, try to see the situation from his or her perspective. Remind yourself to be objective and realize that everyone makes mistakes and it is through mistakes that people learn how to improve.
Step 6: Laugh at yourself
Humor is often the best medicine. Learn to laugh at yourself and not take everything so seriously.
The next time you feel tempted to kick the photocopier, think about how silly you would look and see the humor in your inappropriate expressions of anger.
Step 7: Relax
Angry people are often the ones who let the little things bother them. If you learn to calm down you will realize that there is no need to get uptight and you will have fewer angry episodes.
Step 8: Build Trust
Angry people can be cynical people. They believe that others are going to do something on purpose to annoy or frustrate them even before it happens. If you can build trust in people you will be less likely to become angry with them when something does go wrong and more likely to attribute the problem to something other than a malicious intent.
Step 9: Listen
Miscommunication contributes to frustrating and mistrusting situations. The better you listen to what a person is saying, the better able you will be to find a resolution that does not involve an anger response.
Step 10: Be Assertive
Remember, the word is assertive NOT aggressive. When you are angry it is often difficult to express yourself properly. You are too caught up in the negative emotion and your physiological symptoms (beating heart, red face) to put together solid arguments or appropriate responses. If you learn to assert yourself and let other people know your expectations, boundaries, issues, and so on, you will have much more interpersonal success.
Step 11: Live each day as if it is your last
This saying may be overused, but it holds a fundamental truth. Life is short and it is much better spent positively than negatively. Realize that if you spend all your time getting angry, you will miss out on the many joys and surprises that life has to offer.
Step 12: Forgive
To ensure that the changes you are making go much deeper than the surface, you need to forgive the people in your life that have angered you. It is not easy letting go of past hurts and resentments but the only way to move past your anger is to let go of these feelings and start fresh. (Depending on what, or who, is at the root of your anger, you may have to solicit the help of a professional to achieve this fully.)
These 12 steps form a comprehensive plan to get control of inappropriate and unproductive anger. And the quicker you begin the better. Anger and stress are highly correlated and the effects of stress on the body are well documented. Visit the MindTools stress management section to learn even more about the effects of stress and how to deal with it. You will find that many of the techniques presented here are used in stress management as well because both are negative, emotional-based influences in our lives, and the approach for dealing with them is therefore quite similar.
Even if you are not at the point where you feel your anger is a problem, it is a wise idea to familiarize yourself with the processes listed. If you do not have the tools to deal with anger correctly, it has a way of building-up over time. Before you know it, you can be in a position where anger is controlling you and becoming a negative influence in your life. Being proactive with anger management will help to ensure it remains a healthy emotion that protects you from unnecessary hurt or threat.
Key Points
Anger is a powerful force, both for good and bad. Used irresponsibly, it can jeopardize your relationships, your work and your health.
Redford Williams’ 12-step approach for dealing with unconstructive anger is a well-balanced system that emphasizes knowing yourself and your triggers and then using that awareness to replace negative angry behavior with more positive actions and thoughts. While you don’t want to quell your anger completely, you do need to manage it if you’re to use it creatively.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Self-Confidence
Building Self-Confidence
Develop the Self-Confidence You Deserve!
From the quietly confident doctor whose advice we rely on, to the star-quality confidence of an inspiring speaker, self-confident people have qualities that everyone admires.
Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, yet so many people struggle to find it. Sadly, this can be a vicious circle: People who lack self-confidence can find it difficult to become successful.
After all, most people are reluctant to back a project that's being pitched by someone who was nervous, fumbling and overly apologetic.
On the other hand, you might be persuaded by someone who spoke clearly, who held his or her head high, who answered questions assuredly, and who readily admitted when he/she did not know something.
Self-confident people inspire confidence in others: Their audience, their peers, their bosses, their customers, and their friends. Gaining the confidence of others is one of the key ways in which a self-confident person finds success.
The good news is that self-confidence really can be learned and built on. And, whether you’re working on your own self-confidence or building the confidence of people around you, it’s well-worth the effort! All other things being equal, self-confidence is often the single ingredient that distinguishes a successful person from someone less successful.
So how confident do you seem to others?
Your level of self-confidence can show in many ways: Your behavior, your body language, how you speak, what you say, and so on. Look at the following comparisons of common confident behavior with behavior associated with low self-confidence. Which thoughts or actions do you recognize in yourself and people around you?
Self-Confident
Low Self-Confidence
Doing what you believe to be right, even if others mock or criticize you for it.
Governing your behavior based on what other people think.
Being willing to take risks and go the extra mile to achieve better things.
Staying in your comfort zone, fearing failure and so avoid taking risks.
Admitting your mistakes and vowing to learn from them.
Working hard to cover up mistakes and praying that you can fix the problem before anyone is the wiser.
Waiting for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments.
Extolling your own virtues as often as possible to as many people as possible.
Accepting compliments graciously. “Thanks, I really worked hard on that prospectus. I’m pleased you recognize my efforts.”
Dismissing compliments offhandedly. “Oh that prospectus was nothing really, anyone could have done it.”
As you can see from these examples, low self-confidence can be self-destructive, and it often manifests itself as negativity. Self-confident people are generally more positive – they believe in themselves and their abilities, and they also believe in the wonders of living life to the full.
Tip: Balanced Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is about balance. At one extreme, we have people with low self-confidence. At the other end, we have people who may be over-confident.
If you are under-confident, you’ll avoid taking risks and stretching yourself; and you might not try at all. And if you’re over-confident, you may take on too much risk, stretch yourself beyond your capabilities, and crash badly. You may also find that you’re so optimistic that you don’t try hard enough to truly succeed.
Getting this right is a matter of having the right amount of confidence, founded in reality and on your true ability. With the right amount of self-confidence, you will take informed risks, stretch yourself (but not beyond your abilities) and try hard.
Building Self-Confidence
So how do you build this sense of balanced self-confidence, founded on a firm appreciation of reality?
The bad news is that there’s no quick fix, or 5-minute solution.
The good news is that building self-confidence is readily achievable, just as long as you have the focus and determination to carry things through. And what’s even better is that the things you’ll do will build success – after all, your confidence will come from real, solid achievement. No-one can take this away from you!
So here are our three steps to self-confidence, for which we’ll use the metaphor of a journey: Preparing for your journey; setting out; and accelerating towards success.
Step 1: Preparing for Your Journey
The first step involves getting yourself ready for your journey to self-confidence. You need to take stock of where you are, think about where you want to go, get yourself in the right mindset for your journey, and commit yourself to starting it and staying with it.
In preparing for your journey, do the following things:
Look at what you’ve already achieved:
Think about your life so far, and list the ten best things you’ve achieved in an “Achievement Log.” Perhaps you came top in an important test or exam, played a key role in an important team, produced the best sales figures in a period, did something that made a key difference in someone else’s life, or delivered a project that meant a lot for your business.
Put these into a smartly formatted document, which you can look at often. And then spend a few minutes each week enjoying the success you’ve already had!
Think about your strengths:
Next, use a technique like SWOT Analysis to take a look at who and where you are. Looking at your Achievement Log, and reflecting on your recent life, think about what your friends would consider to be your strengths and weaknesses. From these, think about the opportunities and threats you face.
Make sure that you enjoy a few minutes reflecting on your strengths!
Think about what's important to you, and where you want to go:
Next, think about the things that are really important to you, and what you want to achieve with your life.
Setting and achieving goals is a key part of this, and real self-confidence comes from this. Goal setting is the process you use to set yourself targets, and measure your successful hitting of those targets. See our article on goal setting to find out how to use this important technique, or use our Life Plan Workbook to think through your goals in detail.
Inform your goal setting with your SWOT Analysis. Set goals that exploit your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, realize your opportunities, and control the threats you face.
And having set the major goals in your life, identify the first step in each. A tip: Make sure it’s a very small step, perhaps taking no more than an hour to complete!
Start managing your mind:
At this stage, you need to start managing your mind. Learn to pick up and defeat the negative self-talk which can destroy your confidence. See our article on rational positive thinking to find out how to do this.
And learn how to use imagery to create strong mental images of what you’ll feel and experience as you achieve your major goals – there’s something about doing this that makes even major goals seem achievable!
And then commit yourself to success!
The final part of preparing for the journey is to make a clear and unequivocal promise to yourself that you are absolutely committed to your journey, and that you will do all in your power to achieve it.
If as you’re doing it, you find doubts starting to surface, write them down and challenge them calmly and rationally. If they dissolve under scrutiny, that’s great. However if they are based on genuine risks, make sure you set additional goals to manage these appropriately.
Either way, make that promise!
Step 2: Setting Out
This is where you start, ever so slowly, moving towards your goal. By doing the right things, and starting with small, easy wins, you’ll put yourself on the path to success – and build the self-confidence that comes with this.
Build the knowledge you need to succeed:
Looking at your goals, identify the skills you’ll need to achieve them. And then look at how you can acquire these skills confidently and well. Don’t just accept a sketchy, just-good-enough solution – look for a solution, a program or a course that fully equips you to achieve what you want to achieve, and ideally gives you a certificate you can be proud of.
Focus on the basics:
When you’re starting, don’t try to do anything clever or elaborate. And don’t reach for perfection – just enjoy doing simple things successfully and well.
Set small goals, and achieve them:
Starting with the very small goals you identified in step 1, get in the habit of setting them, achieving them, and celebrating that achievement. Don’t make goals particularly challenging at this stage, just get into the habit of achieving them and celebrating them. And little by little, start piling up the successes!
Keep managing your mind:
Stay on top of that positive thinking, keep celebrating and enjoying success, and keep those mental images strong. You can also use a technique like Treasure Mapping to make the visualization even stronger!
And on the other side, learn to handle failure. Accept that mistakes happen when you’re trying something new. In fact, if you get into the habit of treating mistakes as learning experiences, you can (almost) start to see them in a positive light. After all, there’s a lot to be said for the saying “if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger!”
Step 3: Accelerating Towards Success
By this stage, you’ll feel your self-confidence building. You’ll have completed some of the courses you started in step 2, and you’ll have plenty of success to celebrate!
Develop the Self-Confidence You Deserve!
From the quietly confident doctor whose advice we rely on, to the star-quality confidence of an inspiring speaker, self-confident people have qualities that everyone admires.
Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, yet so many people struggle to find it. Sadly, this can be a vicious circle: People who lack self-confidence can find it difficult to become successful.
After all, most people are reluctant to back a project that's being pitched by someone who was nervous, fumbling and overly apologetic.
On the other hand, you might be persuaded by someone who spoke clearly, who held his or her head high, who answered questions assuredly, and who readily admitted when he/she did not know something.
Self-confident people inspire confidence in others: Their audience, their peers, their bosses, their customers, and their friends. Gaining the confidence of others is one of the key ways in which a self-confident person finds success.
The good news is that self-confidence really can be learned and built on. And, whether you’re working on your own self-confidence or building the confidence of people around you, it’s well-worth the effort! All other things being equal, self-confidence is often the single ingredient that distinguishes a successful person from someone less successful.
So how confident do you seem to others?
Your level of self-confidence can show in many ways: Your behavior, your body language, how you speak, what you say, and so on. Look at the following comparisons of common confident behavior with behavior associated with low self-confidence. Which thoughts or actions do you recognize in yourself and people around you?
Self-Confident
Low Self-Confidence
Doing what you believe to be right, even if others mock or criticize you for it.
Governing your behavior based on what other people think.
Being willing to take risks and go the extra mile to achieve better things.
Staying in your comfort zone, fearing failure and so avoid taking risks.
Admitting your mistakes and vowing to learn from them.
Working hard to cover up mistakes and praying that you can fix the problem before anyone is the wiser.
Waiting for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments.
Extolling your own virtues as often as possible to as many people as possible.
Accepting compliments graciously. “Thanks, I really worked hard on that prospectus. I’m pleased you recognize my efforts.”
Dismissing compliments offhandedly. “Oh that prospectus was nothing really, anyone could have done it.”
As you can see from these examples, low self-confidence can be self-destructive, and it often manifests itself as negativity. Self-confident people are generally more positive – they believe in themselves and their abilities, and they also believe in the wonders of living life to the full.
Tip: Balanced Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is about balance. At one extreme, we have people with low self-confidence. At the other end, we have people who may be over-confident.
If you are under-confident, you’ll avoid taking risks and stretching yourself; and you might not try at all. And if you’re over-confident, you may take on too much risk, stretch yourself beyond your capabilities, and crash badly. You may also find that you’re so optimistic that you don’t try hard enough to truly succeed.
Getting this right is a matter of having the right amount of confidence, founded in reality and on your true ability. With the right amount of self-confidence, you will take informed risks, stretch yourself (but not beyond your abilities) and try hard.
Building Self-Confidence
So how do you build this sense of balanced self-confidence, founded on a firm appreciation of reality?
The bad news is that there’s no quick fix, or 5-minute solution.
The good news is that building self-confidence is readily achievable, just as long as you have the focus and determination to carry things through. And what’s even better is that the things you’ll do will build success – after all, your confidence will come from real, solid achievement. No-one can take this away from you!
So here are our three steps to self-confidence, for which we’ll use the metaphor of a journey: Preparing for your journey; setting out; and accelerating towards success.
Step 1: Preparing for Your Journey
The first step involves getting yourself ready for your journey to self-confidence. You need to take stock of where you are, think about where you want to go, get yourself in the right mindset for your journey, and commit yourself to starting it and staying with it.
In preparing for your journey, do the following things:
Look at what you’ve already achieved:
Think about your life so far, and list the ten best things you’ve achieved in an “Achievement Log.” Perhaps you came top in an important test or exam, played a key role in an important team, produced the best sales figures in a period, did something that made a key difference in someone else’s life, or delivered a project that meant a lot for your business.
Put these into a smartly formatted document, which you can look at often. And then spend a few minutes each week enjoying the success you’ve already had!
Think about your strengths:
Next, use a technique like SWOT Analysis to take a look at who and where you are. Looking at your Achievement Log, and reflecting on your recent life, think about what your friends would consider to be your strengths and weaknesses. From these, think about the opportunities and threats you face.
Make sure that you enjoy a few minutes reflecting on your strengths!
Think about what's important to you, and where you want to go:
Next, think about the things that are really important to you, and what you want to achieve with your life.
Setting and achieving goals is a key part of this, and real self-confidence comes from this. Goal setting is the process you use to set yourself targets, and measure your successful hitting of those targets. See our article on goal setting to find out how to use this important technique, or use our Life Plan Workbook to think through your goals in detail.
Inform your goal setting with your SWOT Analysis. Set goals that exploit your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, realize your opportunities, and control the threats you face.
And having set the major goals in your life, identify the first step in each. A tip: Make sure it’s a very small step, perhaps taking no more than an hour to complete!
Start managing your mind:
At this stage, you need to start managing your mind. Learn to pick up and defeat the negative self-talk which can destroy your confidence. See our article on rational positive thinking to find out how to do this.
And learn how to use imagery to create strong mental images of what you’ll feel and experience as you achieve your major goals – there’s something about doing this that makes even major goals seem achievable!
And then commit yourself to success!
The final part of preparing for the journey is to make a clear and unequivocal promise to yourself that you are absolutely committed to your journey, and that you will do all in your power to achieve it.
If as you’re doing it, you find doubts starting to surface, write them down and challenge them calmly and rationally. If they dissolve under scrutiny, that’s great. However if they are based on genuine risks, make sure you set additional goals to manage these appropriately.
Either way, make that promise!
Step 2: Setting Out
This is where you start, ever so slowly, moving towards your goal. By doing the right things, and starting with small, easy wins, you’ll put yourself on the path to success – and build the self-confidence that comes with this.
Build the knowledge you need to succeed:
Looking at your goals, identify the skills you’ll need to achieve them. And then look at how you can acquire these skills confidently and well. Don’t just accept a sketchy, just-good-enough solution – look for a solution, a program or a course that fully equips you to achieve what you want to achieve, and ideally gives you a certificate you can be proud of.
Focus on the basics:
When you’re starting, don’t try to do anything clever or elaborate. And don’t reach for perfection – just enjoy doing simple things successfully and well.
Set small goals, and achieve them:
Starting with the very small goals you identified in step 1, get in the habit of setting them, achieving them, and celebrating that achievement. Don’t make goals particularly challenging at this stage, just get into the habit of achieving them and celebrating them. And little by little, start piling up the successes!
Keep managing your mind:
Stay on top of that positive thinking, keep celebrating and enjoying success, and keep those mental images strong. You can also use a technique like Treasure Mapping to make the visualization even stronger!
And on the other side, learn to handle failure. Accept that mistakes happen when you’re trying something new. In fact, if you get into the habit of treating mistakes as learning experiences, you can (almost) start to see them in a positive light. After all, there’s a lot to be said for the saying “if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger!”
Step 3: Accelerating Towards Success
By this stage, you’ll feel your self-confidence building. You’ll have completed some of the courses you started in step 2, and you’ll have plenty of success to celebrate!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Introduction
Introduction to Stress Management
A lot of research has been conducted into stress over the last hundred years. Some of the theories behind it are now settled and accepted; others are still being researched and debated.
Dr. Cheryl: Work Stress Management
During this time, there seems to have been something approaching open warfare between competing theories and definitions: Views have been passionately held and aggressively defended.
What complicates this is that intuitively we all feel that we know what stress is, as it is something we have all experienced. A definition should therefore be obvious…except that it is not.
Definitions
Hans Selye was one of the founding fathers of stress research. His view in 1956 was that “stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial, while that of failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental.” Selye believed that the biochemical effects of stress would be experienced irrespective of whether the situation was positive or negative.
Since then, a great deal of further research has been conducted, and ideas have moved on. Stress is now viewed as a "bad thing", with a range of harmful biochemical and long-term effects. These effects have rarely been observed in positive situations.
The most commonly accepted definition of stress (mainly attributed to Richard S Lazarus) is that stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.” In short, it's what we feel when we think we've lost control of events.
This is the main definition used by this section of Mind Tools, although we also recognize that there is an intertwined instinctive stress response to unexpected events. The stress response inside us is therefore part instinct and part to do with the way we think.
Fight-or-Flight
Some of the early research on stress (conducted by Walter Cannon in 1932) established the existence of the well-known “fight-or-flight” response. His work showed that when an organism experiences a shock or perceives a threat, it quickly releases hormones that help it to survive.
In humans, as in other animals, these hormones help us to run faster and fight harder. They increase heart rate and blood pressure, delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to power important muscles. They increase sweating in an effort to cool these muscles, and help them stay efficient. They divert blood away from the skin to the core of our bodies, reducing blood loss if we are damaged. As well as this, these hormones focus our attention on the threat, to the exclusion of everything else. All of this significantly improves our ability to survive life-threatening events.
Not only life-threatening events trigger this reaction: We experience it almost any time we come across something unexpected or something that frustrates our goals. When the threat is small, our response is small and we often do not notice it among the many other distractions of a stressful situation.
Unfortunately, this mobilization of the body for survival also has negative consequences. In this state, we are excitable, anxious, jumpy and irritable. This actually reduces our ability to work effectively with other people. With trembling and a pounding heart, we can find it difficult to execute precise, controlled skills. The intensity of our focus on survival interferes with our ability to make fine judgments by drawing information from many sources. We find ourselves more accident-prone and less able to make good decisions.
There are very few situations in modern working life where this response is useful. Most situations benefit from a calm, rational, controlled and socially sensitive approach.
In the short term, we need to keep this fight-or-flight response under control to be effective in our jobs. In the long term we need to keep it under control to avoid problems of poor health and burnout.
Managing Stress
There are very many proven skills that we can use to manage stress. These help us to remain calm and effective in high pressure situations, and help us avoid the problems of long term stress. In the rest of this section of Mind Tools, we look at some important techniques in each of these three groups.
Keeping a Stress Diary or carrying out the Burnout Self-Test will help you to identify your current levels of stress, so you can decide what action, if any, you need to take. Job Analysis and Performance Planning will help you to get on top of your workload. While the emotionally-oriented skills of Imagery, Physical Techniques and Thought Awareness, Rational Thinking & Positive Thinking will help you change the way you see apparently stressful situations. Finally, the article on Anger Management will help you to channel your feelings into performance.
This is a much-abridged excerpt from the ‘Understanding Stress and Stress Management’ module of the Mind Tools Stress Management Masterclass. As well as covering this material in more detail, it also discusses:
• Long-term stress: The General Adaptation Syndrome and Burnout
• The Integrated Stress Response
• Stress and Health
• Stress and its Affect on the Way We Think
• Pressure andPerformance: Flow and the ‘Inverted-U’
These sections give you a deeper understanding of stress, helping you to develop your own stress management strategies for handling unique circumstances. Click here to find out more about the Stress Management Masterclass and here to visit the Stress.MindTools.Com site, which has many more articles on stress management.
A lot of research has been conducted into stress over the last hundred years. Some of the theories behind it are now settled and accepted; others are still being researched and debated.
Dr. Cheryl: Work Stress Management
During this time, there seems to have been something approaching open warfare between competing theories and definitions: Views have been passionately held and aggressively defended.
What complicates this is that intuitively we all feel that we know what stress is, as it is something we have all experienced. A definition should therefore be obvious…except that it is not.
Definitions
Hans Selye was one of the founding fathers of stress research. His view in 1956 was that “stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial, while that of failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental.” Selye believed that the biochemical effects of stress would be experienced irrespective of whether the situation was positive or negative.
Since then, a great deal of further research has been conducted, and ideas have moved on. Stress is now viewed as a "bad thing", with a range of harmful biochemical and long-term effects. These effects have rarely been observed in positive situations.
The most commonly accepted definition of stress (mainly attributed to Richard S Lazarus) is that stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.” In short, it's what we feel when we think we've lost control of events.
This is the main definition used by this section of Mind Tools, although we also recognize that there is an intertwined instinctive stress response to unexpected events. The stress response inside us is therefore part instinct and part to do with the way we think.
Fight-or-Flight
Some of the early research on stress (conducted by Walter Cannon in 1932) established the existence of the well-known “fight-or-flight” response. His work showed that when an organism experiences a shock or perceives a threat, it quickly releases hormones that help it to survive.
In humans, as in other animals, these hormones help us to run faster and fight harder. They increase heart rate and blood pressure, delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to power important muscles. They increase sweating in an effort to cool these muscles, and help them stay efficient. They divert blood away from the skin to the core of our bodies, reducing blood loss if we are damaged. As well as this, these hormones focus our attention on the threat, to the exclusion of everything else. All of this significantly improves our ability to survive life-threatening events.
Not only life-threatening events trigger this reaction: We experience it almost any time we come across something unexpected or something that frustrates our goals. When the threat is small, our response is small and we often do not notice it among the many other distractions of a stressful situation.
Unfortunately, this mobilization of the body for survival also has negative consequences. In this state, we are excitable, anxious, jumpy and irritable. This actually reduces our ability to work effectively with other people. With trembling and a pounding heart, we can find it difficult to execute precise, controlled skills. The intensity of our focus on survival interferes with our ability to make fine judgments by drawing information from many sources. We find ourselves more accident-prone and less able to make good decisions.
There are very few situations in modern working life where this response is useful. Most situations benefit from a calm, rational, controlled and socially sensitive approach.
In the short term, we need to keep this fight-or-flight response under control to be effective in our jobs. In the long term we need to keep it under control to avoid problems of poor health and burnout.
Managing Stress
There are very many proven skills that we can use to manage stress. These help us to remain calm and effective in high pressure situations, and help us avoid the problems of long term stress. In the rest of this section of Mind Tools, we look at some important techniques in each of these three groups.
Keeping a Stress Diary or carrying out the Burnout Self-Test will help you to identify your current levels of stress, so you can decide what action, if any, you need to take. Job Analysis and Performance Planning will help you to get on top of your workload. While the emotionally-oriented skills of Imagery, Physical Techniques and Thought Awareness, Rational Thinking & Positive Thinking will help you change the way you see apparently stressful situations. Finally, the article on Anger Management will help you to channel your feelings into performance.
This is a much-abridged excerpt from the ‘Understanding Stress and Stress Management’ module of the Mind Tools Stress Management Masterclass. As well as covering this material in more detail, it also discusses:
• Long-term stress: The General Adaptation Syndrome and Burnout
• The Integrated Stress Response
• Stress and Health
• Stress and its Affect on the Way We Think
• Pressure andPerformance: Flow and the ‘Inverted-U’
These sections give you a deeper understanding of stress, helping you to develop your own stress management strategies for handling unique circumstances. Click here to find out more about the Stress Management Masterclass and here to visit the Stress.MindTools.Com site, which has many more articles on stress management.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Anger Management
Channeling Anger into Performance
Anger can be normal and healthy emotion that helps us instinctively detect and respond to a threatening situation. More than this, when it is properly channeled, it can be a powerful motivating force – we all know how hard we can work to remedy an obvious injustice.
However it can also be an emotion that gets out of control, leading to stress, distress, unhealthiness and unhappiness. Uncontrolled anger can seriously harm your personal and professional life, because it can become incredibly destructive – to yourself and the people around you.
And in a modern workplace that often demands trust and collaboration, it can cause great damage to working relationships.
This article teaches an effective 12-step approach that helps you direct your anger constructively rather than destructively. The 12-step approach is based on the ideas of Duke University’s Redford Williams, MD, who with his wife, authored the best-selling book Anger Kills. (In this book, Williams discusses 17 steps for controlling anger – these are often abridged to the 12 steps described here.)
Understanding the Theory
Anger is a well-developed coping mechanism that we turn to when our goals are frustrated, or when we feel threat to ourselves or to people, things and ideas we care about. It helps us react quickly and decisively in situations where there is no time for a careful, reasoned analysis of the situation. And it can motivate us to solve problems, achieve our goals, and remove threats.
Acting in anger can serve, therefore, to protect yourself or others. A positive response and constructive outcome can improve your self-esteem and self-confidence.
The Danger of Anger – Foolishness...
On the other hand, a negative response can damage relationships and lead to a loss of respect and self-respect. This is particularly the case when we react instantly and angrily to what we perceive to be a threat, but where that perception is wrong. This can leave us looking very foolish.
So we need to learn to use anger positively, and manage it so that it is constructive and not destructive. Where situations are not immediately life-threatening, we need to calm down and evaluate the accuracy of our perceptions before, if necessary, channeling anger in a powerful but controlled way.
Anger management, then, is the process of learning how to “calm down” and diffuse the negative emotion of anger before it gets to a destructive level.
A Subjective Experience
People experience anger in many different ways and for many different reasons. What makes you angry may only mildly irritate one of your colleagues, and have little to no effect on another. This subjectivity can make anger difficult to understand and deal with; it also highlights that the response is down to you. So anger management focuses on managing your response (rather than specific external factors). By learning to manage your anger, you can develop techniques to deal with and expel the negative response and emotions before it causes you serious stress, anxiety and discomfort.
Despite our differences in the level of anger we feel toward something, there are some universal causes of anger that include:
* Frustration of our goals
* Hurt
* Harassment
* Personal attack (mental or physical) on ourselves
* Threat to people, things or ideas that we hold dear.
We commonly experience these potential anger triggers in our daily lives. An appropriate level of anger that is expressed correctly helps us take the right action, solve the problem that is presenting itself, or deal with the situation in a positive manner. If we can learn to manage our anger, we will learn to express it appropriately and act constructively.
Using the Tool:
So when you’re angry, use Redford Williams’ 12 steps to calm down:
Step 1: Maintain a “Hostility Log”
Download our free Hostility Log worksheet and use it to monitor what triggers your anger and the frequency of your anger responses. When you know what makes you angry, you will be in a much better position to develop strategies to contain it or channel it effectively.
Step 2: If you do, acknowledge that you have a problem managing anger
It is an observed truth that you cannot change what you don’t acknowledge. So it is important to identify and accept that anger is a roadblock to your success.
Step 3: Use your support network
If anger is a problem, let the important people in your life know about the changes you are trying to make. They can be a source of motivation and their support will help you when you lapse into old behavior patterns.
Step 4: Use Anger Management techniques to interrupt the anger cycle
* Pause
* Take deep breaths
* Tell your self you can handle the situation
* Stop the negative thoughts
Step 5: Use empathy
If another person is the source of your anger, try to see the situation from his or her perspective. Remind yourself to be objective and realize that everyone makes mistakes and it is through mistakes that people learn how to improve.
Step 6: Laugh at yourself
Humor is often the best medicine. Learn to laugh at yourself and not take everything so seriously.
The next time you feel tempted to kick the photocopier, think about how silly you would look and see the humor in your inappropriate expressions of anger.
Step 7: Relax
Angry people are often the ones who let the little things bother them. If you learn to calm down you will realize that there is no need to get uptight and you will have fewer angry episodes.
Step 8: Build Trust
Angry people can be cynical people. They believe that others are going to do something on purpose to annoy or frustrate them even before it happens. If you can build trust in people you will be less likely to become angry with them when something does go wrong and more likely to attribute the problem to something other than a malicious intent.
Step 9: Listen
Miscommunication contributes to frustrating and mistrusting situations. The better you listen to what a person is saying, the better able you will be to find a resolution that does not involve an anger response.
Step 10: Be Assertive
Remember, the word is assertive NOT aggressive. When you are angry it is often difficult to express yourself properly. You are too caught up in the negative emotion and your physiological symptoms (beating heart, red face) to put together solid arguments or appropriate responses. If you learn to assert yourself and let other people know your expectations, boundaries, issues, and so on, you will have much more interpersonal success.
Step 11: Live each day as if it is your last
This saying may be overused, but it holds a fundamental truth. Life is short and it is much better spent positively than negatively. Realize that if you spend all your time getting angry, you will miss out on the many joys and surprises that life has to offer.
Step 12: Forgive
To ensure that the changes you are making go much deeper than the surface, you need to forgive the people in your life that have angered you. It is not easy letting go of past hurts and resentments but the only way to move past your anger is to let go of these feelings and start fresh. (Depending on what, or who, is at the root of your anger, you may have to solicit the help of a professional to achieve this fully.)
These 12 steps form a comprehensive plan to get control of inappropriate and unproductive anger. And the quicker you begin the better. Anger and stress are highly correlated and the effects of stress on the body are well documented. Visit the MindTools stress management section to learn even more about the effects of stress and how to deal with it. You will find that many of the techniques presented here are used in stress management as well because both are negative, emotional-based influences in our lives, and the approach for dealing with them is therefore quite similar.
Even if you are not at the point where you feel your anger is a problem, it is a wise idea to familiarize yourself with the processes listed. If you do not have the tools to deal with anger correctly, it has a way of building-up over time. Before you know it, you can be in a position where anger is controlling you and becoming a negative influence in your life. Being proactive with anger management will help to ensure it remains a healthy emotion that protects you from unnecessary hurt or threat.
Key Points
Anger is a powerful force, both for good and bad. Used irresponsibly, it can jeopardize your relationships, your work and your health.
Redford Williams’ 12-step approach for dealing with unconstructive anger is a well-balanced system that emphasizes knowing yourself and your triggers and then using that awareness to replace negative angry behavior with more positive actions and thoughts. While you don’t want to quell your anger completely, you do need to manage it if you’re to use it creatively.
And remember that anger can be creative. People act when they get angry. And providing their actions are constructive, this actually helps drive change and get things done
Anger can be normal and healthy emotion that helps us instinctively detect and respond to a threatening situation. More than this, when it is properly channeled, it can be a powerful motivating force – we all know how hard we can work to remedy an obvious injustice.
However it can also be an emotion that gets out of control, leading to stress, distress, unhealthiness and unhappiness. Uncontrolled anger can seriously harm your personal and professional life, because it can become incredibly destructive – to yourself and the people around you.
And in a modern workplace that often demands trust and collaboration, it can cause great damage to working relationships.
This article teaches an effective 12-step approach that helps you direct your anger constructively rather than destructively. The 12-step approach is based on the ideas of Duke University’s Redford Williams, MD, who with his wife, authored the best-selling book Anger Kills. (In this book, Williams discusses 17 steps for controlling anger – these are often abridged to the 12 steps described here.)
Understanding the Theory
Anger is a well-developed coping mechanism that we turn to when our goals are frustrated, or when we feel threat to ourselves or to people, things and ideas we care about. It helps us react quickly and decisively in situations where there is no time for a careful, reasoned analysis of the situation. And it can motivate us to solve problems, achieve our goals, and remove threats.
Acting in anger can serve, therefore, to protect yourself or others. A positive response and constructive outcome can improve your self-esteem and self-confidence.
The Danger of Anger – Foolishness...
On the other hand, a negative response can damage relationships and lead to a loss of respect and self-respect. This is particularly the case when we react instantly and angrily to what we perceive to be a threat, but where that perception is wrong. This can leave us looking very foolish.
So we need to learn to use anger positively, and manage it so that it is constructive and not destructive. Where situations are not immediately life-threatening, we need to calm down and evaluate the accuracy of our perceptions before, if necessary, channeling anger in a powerful but controlled way.
Anger management, then, is the process of learning how to “calm down” and diffuse the negative emotion of anger before it gets to a destructive level.
A Subjective Experience
People experience anger in many different ways and for many different reasons. What makes you angry may only mildly irritate one of your colleagues, and have little to no effect on another. This subjectivity can make anger difficult to understand and deal with; it also highlights that the response is down to you. So anger management focuses on managing your response (rather than specific external factors). By learning to manage your anger, you can develop techniques to deal with and expel the negative response and emotions before it causes you serious stress, anxiety and discomfort.
Despite our differences in the level of anger we feel toward something, there are some universal causes of anger that include:
* Frustration of our goals
* Hurt
* Harassment
* Personal attack (mental or physical) on ourselves
* Threat to people, things or ideas that we hold dear.
We commonly experience these potential anger triggers in our daily lives. An appropriate level of anger that is expressed correctly helps us take the right action, solve the problem that is presenting itself, or deal with the situation in a positive manner. If we can learn to manage our anger, we will learn to express it appropriately and act constructively.
Using the Tool:
So when you’re angry, use Redford Williams’ 12 steps to calm down:
Step 1: Maintain a “Hostility Log”
Download our free Hostility Log worksheet and use it to monitor what triggers your anger and the frequency of your anger responses. When you know what makes you angry, you will be in a much better position to develop strategies to contain it or channel it effectively.
Step 2: If you do, acknowledge that you have a problem managing anger
It is an observed truth that you cannot change what you don’t acknowledge. So it is important to identify and accept that anger is a roadblock to your success.
Step 3: Use your support network
If anger is a problem, let the important people in your life know about the changes you are trying to make. They can be a source of motivation and their support will help you when you lapse into old behavior patterns.
Step 4: Use Anger Management techniques to interrupt the anger cycle
* Pause
* Take deep breaths
* Tell your self you can handle the situation
* Stop the negative thoughts
Step 5: Use empathy
If another person is the source of your anger, try to see the situation from his or her perspective. Remind yourself to be objective and realize that everyone makes mistakes and it is through mistakes that people learn how to improve.
Step 6: Laugh at yourself
Humor is often the best medicine. Learn to laugh at yourself and not take everything so seriously.
The next time you feel tempted to kick the photocopier, think about how silly you would look and see the humor in your inappropriate expressions of anger.
Step 7: Relax
Angry people are often the ones who let the little things bother them. If you learn to calm down you will realize that there is no need to get uptight and you will have fewer angry episodes.
Step 8: Build Trust
Angry people can be cynical people. They believe that others are going to do something on purpose to annoy or frustrate them even before it happens. If you can build trust in people you will be less likely to become angry with them when something does go wrong and more likely to attribute the problem to something other than a malicious intent.
Step 9: Listen
Miscommunication contributes to frustrating and mistrusting situations. The better you listen to what a person is saying, the better able you will be to find a resolution that does not involve an anger response.
Step 10: Be Assertive
Remember, the word is assertive NOT aggressive. When you are angry it is often difficult to express yourself properly. You are too caught up in the negative emotion and your physiological symptoms (beating heart, red face) to put together solid arguments or appropriate responses. If you learn to assert yourself and let other people know your expectations, boundaries, issues, and so on, you will have much more interpersonal success.
Step 11: Live each day as if it is your last
This saying may be overused, but it holds a fundamental truth. Life is short and it is much better spent positively than negatively. Realize that if you spend all your time getting angry, you will miss out on the many joys and surprises that life has to offer.
Step 12: Forgive
To ensure that the changes you are making go much deeper than the surface, you need to forgive the people in your life that have angered you. It is not easy letting go of past hurts and resentments but the only way to move past your anger is to let go of these feelings and start fresh. (Depending on what, or who, is at the root of your anger, you may have to solicit the help of a professional to achieve this fully.)
These 12 steps form a comprehensive plan to get control of inappropriate and unproductive anger. And the quicker you begin the better. Anger and stress are highly correlated and the effects of stress on the body are well documented. Visit the MindTools stress management section to learn even more about the effects of stress and how to deal with it. You will find that many of the techniques presented here are used in stress management as well because both are negative, emotional-based influences in our lives, and the approach for dealing with them is therefore quite similar.
Even if you are not at the point where you feel your anger is a problem, it is a wise idea to familiarize yourself with the processes listed. If you do not have the tools to deal with anger correctly, it has a way of building-up over time. Before you know it, you can be in a position where anger is controlling you and becoming a negative influence in your life. Being proactive with anger management will help to ensure it remains a healthy emotion that protects you from unnecessary hurt or threat.
Key Points
Anger is a powerful force, both for good and bad. Used irresponsibly, it can jeopardize your relationships, your work and your health.
Redford Williams’ 12-step approach for dealing with unconstructive anger is a well-balanced system that emphasizes knowing yourself and your triggers and then using that awareness to replace negative angry behavior with more positive actions and thoughts. While you don’t want to quell your anger completely, you do need to manage it if you’re to use it creatively.
And remember that anger can be creative. People act when they get angry. And providing their actions are constructive, this actually helps drive change and get things done
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thinking On Your Feet
Staying Cool and Confident Under Pressure
"So, Susan, your report indicates you support forging ahead with the expansion but have you considered the impact this will have on our customers? Surely you remember the fiasco in Dallas last year when they tried the same type of project?"
Yikes! If you're Susan, you're likely feeling under pressure! You have to answer the question and allay the CEO's concerns about the disruption to customers. What do you do? What do you say? How do you say it? What if you can't think of anything to say?
This is not an uncommon situation. Whether you are put on the spot while attending a meeting, presenting a proposal, selling an idea, or answering questions after a presentation, articulating your thoughts in unanticipated situations is a skill. Thinking on your feet is highly coveted skill and when you master it, your clever and astute responses will instill immediate confidence in what you are saying.
When you can translate your thoughts and ideas into coherent speech quickly, you ensure your ideas are heard. You also come across as being confident, persuasive, and trustworthy.
Confidence is key when learning to think on your feet. When you present information, give an opinion or provide suggestions, make sure you know what you are talking about and that you are well informed. This doesn't mean you have to know everything about everything, but if you are reasonably confident in your knowledge of the subject, that confidence will help you to remain calm and collected even if you are put unexpectedly in the hot seat.
The secret of thinking on your feet is to be prepared: learn some skills and tactics, and do some preparation for situations that might put you under pressure. Then when you do find yourself faced with unexpected questions and debate, you'll be ready to draw on these tactics and preparation, and so stay poised while you compose your thoughts and prepare your response. Here are some tips and tactics:
1. Relax
This is often the opposite of how you are feeling when you're under pressure, but in order for your voice to remain calm and for your brain to "think", you have to be as relaxed as possible.
* Take deep breaths
* Take a second and give yourself a positive and affirming message
* Clench invisible muscles (thighs, biceps, feet) for a few seconds and release.
2. Listen
It comes as no surprise that listening is critical to thinking on your feet. Why do you need to listen? To make sure you fully understand the question or request before you reply. If you answer too soon, you risk going into a line of thinking that is unnecessary or inappropriate. To help you with your listening remember to:
* Look directly at the questioner
* Observe body language as well as what is being spoken
* Try to interpret what is being suggested by the question or request. Is this an attack, a legitimate request for more information, or a test? Why is this person asking this and what is the intention?
Tip:
Remember that the person is asking a question because he or she is interested. Some interest is positive - they simply want to know more - and some is negative - they want to see you squirm. Either way they are interested in what you have to say. It's your privilege and pleasure not to disappoint them!
3. Have the Question Repeated
If you're feeling particularly under pressure, ask for the question to be repeated. This gives you a bit more time to think about your response.
At first glance people think this will only make them look unsure. It doesn't. It makes you look concerned that you give an appropriate response. It also gives the questioner an opportunity to rephrase and ask a question that is more on point. Remember, the questioner may well have just "thought on his or her feet" to ask the question, so when you give them a second chance, the question may well be better articulated and clearer to all.
By asking to have the question repeated you also get another opportunity to assess the intentions of the questioner. If it is more specific or better worded, chances are the person really wants to learn more. If the repeated question is more aggressive than the first one, then you know the person is more interested in making you uncomfortable than anything else. When that's the case, the next tip comes in very handy.
4. Use Stall Tactics
Sometimes you need more time to get your thoughts straight and calm yourself down enough to make a clear reply. The last thing you want to do is blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind. Often this is a defensive comment that only makes you look insecure and anxious rather than confident and composed.
* Repeat the question yourself. This gives you time to think and you clarify exactly what is being asked. It also allows you to rephrase if necessary and put a positive spin on the request. "How have I considered the impact on customers in order to make sure they have a continued positive experience during the expansion?"
* Narrow the focus. Here, you ask a question of your own to not only clarify, but to bring the question down to a manageable scope. "You're interested in hearing how I've considered customer impacts. What impacts are you most interested in: product availability or in-store service? "
* Ask for clarification. Again, this will force the questioner to be more specific and hopefully get more to a specific point. "When you say you want to know how I've analyzed customer impacts, do you mean you want a detailed analysis or a list of the tools and methods I used?"
* Ask for a definition. Jargon and specific terminology may present a problem for you. Ask to have words and ideas clarified to ensure you are talking about the same thing.
5. Use Silence to your Advantage
We are conditioned to believe that silence is uncomfortable. However, if you use it sparingly, it communicates that you are in control of your thoughts and confident in your ability to answer expertly. When you rush to answer you also typically rush your words. Pausing to collect your thoughts tells your brain to slow everything down.
6. Stick to One Point and One Supporting Piece of Information
There's a high risk that, under pressure, you'll answer a question with either too much or too little information. If you give too short an answer, you risk letting the conversation slip into interrogation mode. (You'll get another question, and the questioner will be firmly in control of how the dialogue unfolds). When your reply is too long, you risk losing people's interest, coming across as boring, or giving away things that are better left unsaid. Remember, you aren't being asked to give a speech on the subject. The questioner wants to know something. Respect that and give them an answer, with just enough supporting information.
This technique gives you focus. Rather than trying to tie together all the ideas that are running through your head, when you pick one main point and one supporting fact, you allow yourself to answer accurately and assuredly.
Tip:
If you don't know the answer, say so. There is no point trying to make something up. You will end up looking foolish and this will lower your confidence when you need to think on your feet in the future. There is (usually) nothing wrong with not knowing something. Simply make sure you follow up as soon as possible afterwards with a researched answer.
7. Prepare some "what ifs"
With a bit of forethought, it's often possible to predict the types of questions you might be asked, so you can prepare and rehearse some answers to questions that might come your way. Let's say you are presenting the monthly sales figures to your management team. The chances are your report will cover most of the obvious questions that the management team might have, but what other questions might you predict? What's different about this month? What new questions might be asked? How would you respond? What additional information might you need to have to hand to support more detailed questions?
In particular, spend some time brainstorming the most difficult questions that people might ask, and preparing and rehearsing good answers to them.
8. Practice Clear Delivery
How you say something is almost as important as what you say. If you mumble or use "umm" or "ah" between every second word, confidence in what you are saying plummets. Whenever you are speaking with people, make a point to practice these key oration skills:
* Speak in a strong voice. (Don't confuse strong with loud!)
* Use pauses strategically to emphasize a point or slow yourself down
* Vary your tone and pay attention to how your message will be perceived given the intonation you use
* Use eye contact appropriately
* Pay attention to your grammar
* Use the level of formality that is appropriate to the situation.
9. Summarize and Stop
Wrap up your response with a quick summary statement. After that, resist adding more information. There may well be silence after your summary. Don't make the common mistake of filling the silence with more information! This is the time when other people are adsorbing the information you have given. If you persist with more information, you may end up causing confusion and undoing the great work you've already done in delivering your response.
Use words to indicate you are summarizing (i.e. "in conclusion," "finally") or briefly restate the question and your answer. So - what did I do to analyze customer impacts? I reviewed the Dallas case files in detail, and prepared a "What if" analysis for our own situation."
Key points:
No one enjoys being putting on the spot or answering questions that you aren't fully expecting. The uncertainty can be stressful. That stress doesn't need to be unmanageable and you can think on your feet if you remember the strategies we just discussed. Essentially, thinking on your feet means staying in control of the situation. Ask questions, buy time for yourself, and remember to stick to one point and make that one point count. When you are able to zoom in on the key areas of concern, you'll answer like an expert and you impress your audience, and yourself, with your confidence and poise.
"So, Susan, your report indicates you support forging ahead with the expansion but have you considered the impact this will have on our customers? Surely you remember the fiasco in Dallas last year when they tried the same type of project?"
Yikes! If you're Susan, you're likely feeling under pressure! You have to answer the question and allay the CEO's concerns about the disruption to customers. What do you do? What do you say? How do you say it? What if you can't think of anything to say?
This is not an uncommon situation. Whether you are put on the spot while attending a meeting, presenting a proposal, selling an idea, or answering questions after a presentation, articulating your thoughts in unanticipated situations is a skill. Thinking on your feet is highly coveted skill and when you master it, your clever and astute responses will instill immediate confidence in what you are saying.
When you can translate your thoughts and ideas into coherent speech quickly, you ensure your ideas are heard. You also come across as being confident, persuasive, and trustworthy.
Confidence is key when learning to think on your feet. When you present information, give an opinion or provide suggestions, make sure you know what you are talking about and that you are well informed. This doesn't mean you have to know everything about everything, but if you are reasonably confident in your knowledge of the subject, that confidence will help you to remain calm and collected even if you are put unexpectedly in the hot seat.
The secret of thinking on your feet is to be prepared: learn some skills and tactics, and do some preparation for situations that might put you under pressure. Then when you do find yourself faced with unexpected questions and debate, you'll be ready to draw on these tactics and preparation, and so stay poised while you compose your thoughts and prepare your response. Here are some tips and tactics:
1. Relax
This is often the opposite of how you are feeling when you're under pressure, but in order for your voice to remain calm and for your brain to "think", you have to be as relaxed as possible.
* Take deep breaths
* Take a second and give yourself a positive and affirming message
* Clench invisible muscles (thighs, biceps, feet) for a few seconds and release.
2. Listen
It comes as no surprise that listening is critical to thinking on your feet. Why do you need to listen? To make sure you fully understand the question or request before you reply. If you answer too soon, you risk going into a line of thinking that is unnecessary or inappropriate. To help you with your listening remember to:
* Look directly at the questioner
* Observe body language as well as what is being spoken
* Try to interpret what is being suggested by the question or request. Is this an attack, a legitimate request for more information, or a test? Why is this person asking this and what is the intention?
Tip:
Remember that the person is asking a question because he or she is interested. Some interest is positive - they simply want to know more - and some is negative - they want to see you squirm. Either way they are interested in what you have to say. It's your privilege and pleasure not to disappoint them!
3. Have the Question Repeated
If you're feeling particularly under pressure, ask for the question to be repeated. This gives you a bit more time to think about your response.
At first glance people think this will only make them look unsure. It doesn't. It makes you look concerned that you give an appropriate response. It also gives the questioner an opportunity to rephrase and ask a question that is more on point. Remember, the questioner may well have just "thought on his or her feet" to ask the question, so when you give them a second chance, the question may well be better articulated and clearer to all.
By asking to have the question repeated you also get another opportunity to assess the intentions of the questioner. If it is more specific or better worded, chances are the person really wants to learn more. If the repeated question is more aggressive than the first one, then you know the person is more interested in making you uncomfortable than anything else. When that's the case, the next tip comes in very handy.
4. Use Stall Tactics
Sometimes you need more time to get your thoughts straight and calm yourself down enough to make a clear reply. The last thing you want to do is blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind. Often this is a defensive comment that only makes you look insecure and anxious rather than confident and composed.
* Repeat the question yourself. This gives you time to think and you clarify exactly what is being asked. It also allows you to rephrase if necessary and put a positive spin on the request. "How have I considered the impact on customers in order to make sure they have a continued positive experience during the expansion?"
* Narrow the focus. Here, you ask a question of your own to not only clarify, but to bring the question down to a manageable scope. "You're interested in hearing how I've considered customer impacts. What impacts are you most interested in: product availability or in-store service? "
* Ask for clarification. Again, this will force the questioner to be more specific and hopefully get more to a specific point. "When you say you want to know how I've analyzed customer impacts, do you mean you want a detailed analysis or a list of the tools and methods I used?"
* Ask for a definition. Jargon and specific terminology may present a problem for you. Ask to have words and ideas clarified to ensure you are talking about the same thing.
5. Use Silence to your Advantage
We are conditioned to believe that silence is uncomfortable. However, if you use it sparingly, it communicates that you are in control of your thoughts and confident in your ability to answer expertly. When you rush to answer you also typically rush your words. Pausing to collect your thoughts tells your brain to slow everything down.
6. Stick to One Point and One Supporting Piece of Information
There's a high risk that, under pressure, you'll answer a question with either too much or too little information. If you give too short an answer, you risk letting the conversation slip into interrogation mode. (You'll get another question, and the questioner will be firmly in control of how the dialogue unfolds). When your reply is too long, you risk losing people's interest, coming across as boring, or giving away things that are better left unsaid. Remember, you aren't being asked to give a speech on the subject. The questioner wants to know something. Respect that and give them an answer, with just enough supporting information.
This technique gives you focus. Rather than trying to tie together all the ideas that are running through your head, when you pick one main point and one supporting fact, you allow yourself to answer accurately and assuredly.
Tip:
If you don't know the answer, say so. There is no point trying to make something up. You will end up looking foolish and this will lower your confidence when you need to think on your feet in the future. There is (usually) nothing wrong with not knowing something. Simply make sure you follow up as soon as possible afterwards with a researched answer.
7. Prepare some "what ifs"
With a bit of forethought, it's often possible to predict the types of questions you might be asked, so you can prepare and rehearse some answers to questions that might come your way. Let's say you are presenting the monthly sales figures to your management team. The chances are your report will cover most of the obvious questions that the management team might have, but what other questions might you predict? What's different about this month? What new questions might be asked? How would you respond? What additional information might you need to have to hand to support more detailed questions?
In particular, spend some time brainstorming the most difficult questions that people might ask, and preparing and rehearsing good answers to them.
8. Practice Clear Delivery
How you say something is almost as important as what you say. If you mumble or use "umm" or "ah" between every second word, confidence in what you are saying plummets. Whenever you are speaking with people, make a point to practice these key oration skills:
* Speak in a strong voice. (Don't confuse strong with loud!)
* Use pauses strategically to emphasize a point or slow yourself down
* Vary your tone and pay attention to how your message will be perceived given the intonation you use
* Use eye contact appropriately
* Pay attention to your grammar
* Use the level of formality that is appropriate to the situation.
9. Summarize and Stop
Wrap up your response with a quick summary statement. After that, resist adding more information. There may well be silence after your summary. Don't make the common mistake of filling the silence with more information! This is the time when other people are adsorbing the information you have given. If you persist with more information, you may end up causing confusion and undoing the great work you've already done in delivering your response.
Use words to indicate you are summarizing (i.e. "in conclusion," "finally") or briefly restate the question and your answer. So - what did I do to analyze customer impacts? I reviewed the Dallas case files in detail, and prepared a "What if" analysis for our own situation."
Key points:
No one enjoys being putting on the spot or answering questions that you aren't fully expecting. The uncertainty can be stressful. That stress doesn't need to be unmanageable and you can think on your feet if you remember the strategies we just discussed. Essentially, thinking on your feet means staying in control of the situation. Ask questions, buy time for yourself, and remember to stick to one point and make that one point count. When you are able to zoom in on the key areas of concern, you'll answer like an expert and you impress your audience, and yourself, with your confidence and poise.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Physical Relaxation
Physical Relaxation Techniques
Deep Breathing, PMR and the Relaxation Response
Physical relaxation techniques are as effective as mental techniques in reducing stress. In fact, the best relaxation is achieved by using physical and mental techniques together.
These three useful physical relaxation techniques can help you reduce muscle tension and manage the effects of the fight-or-flight response on your body. This is particularly important if you need to think clearly and perform precisely when you are under pressure.
The techniques we will look at are Deep Breathing, Progressive Muscular Relaxation and “The Relaxation Response”.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is a simple, but very effective, method of relaxation. It is a core component of everything from the "take ten deep breaths" approach to calming someone down, right through to yoga relaxation and Zen meditation. It works well in conjunction with other relaxation techniques such as Progressive Muscular Relaxation, relaxation imagery and meditation to reduce stress.
To use the technique, take a number of deep breaths and relax your body further with each breath. That's all there is to it!
Progressive Muscular Relaxation
Progressive Muscular Relaxation is useful for relaxing your body when your muscles are tense.
The idea behind PMR is that you tense up a group of muscles so that they are as tightly contracted as possible. Hold them in a state of extreme tension for a few seconds. Then, relax the muscles normally. Then, consciously relax the muscles even further so that you are as relaxed as possible.
By tensing your muscles first, you will find that you are able to relax your muscles more than would be the case if you tried to relax your muscles directly.
Experiment with PMR by forming a fist, and clenching your hand as tight as you can for a few seconds. Relax your hand to its previous tension, and then consciously relax it again so that it is as loose as possible. You should feel deep relaxation in your hand muscles.
The Relaxation Response
‘The Relaxation Response’ is the name of a book published by Dr Herbert Benson of Harvard University in 1968. In a series of experiments into various popular meditation techniques, Dr Benson established that these techniques had a very real effect on reducing stress and controlling the fight-or-flight response. Direct effects included deep relaxation, slowed heartbeat and breathing, reduced oxygen consumption and increased skin resistance.
This is something that you can do for yourself by following these steps:
* Sit quietly and comfortably.
* Close your eyes.
* Start by relaxing the muscles of your feet and work up your body relaxing muscles.
* Focus your attention on your breathing.
* Breathe in deeply and then let your breath out. Count your breaths, and say the number of the breath as you let it out (this gives you something to do with your mind, helping you to avoid distraction).
Do this for ten or twenty minutes.
An even more potent alternative approach is to follow these steps, but to use relaxation imagery instead of counting breaths in step 5. Again, you can prove to yourself that this works using the biofeedback equipment.
Summary
“Deep Breathing,” “Progressive Muscular Relaxation,” and the steps leading to the “Relaxation Response” are three good techniques that can help you to relax your body and manage the symptoms of the fight-or-flight response.
These are particularly helpful for both handling nerves prior to an important performance, and reducing stress generally.
This is an excerpt from "Managing Stress for Career Success", the Mind Tools Stress Management Masterclass. These physical relaxation techniques are just some of the important skills that we explain. As well as explaining relaxation techniques, the Stress Management Masterclass shows you how to take action to tackle the root causes of job stress - a side-effect of this approach is that you become more effective and successful in your career
Deep Breathing, PMR and the Relaxation Response
Physical relaxation techniques are as effective as mental techniques in reducing stress. In fact, the best relaxation is achieved by using physical and mental techniques together.
These three useful physical relaxation techniques can help you reduce muscle tension and manage the effects of the fight-or-flight response on your body. This is particularly important if you need to think clearly and perform precisely when you are under pressure.
The techniques we will look at are Deep Breathing, Progressive Muscular Relaxation and “The Relaxation Response”.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is a simple, but very effective, method of relaxation. It is a core component of everything from the "take ten deep breaths" approach to calming someone down, right through to yoga relaxation and Zen meditation. It works well in conjunction with other relaxation techniques such as Progressive Muscular Relaxation, relaxation imagery and meditation to reduce stress.
To use the technique, take a number of deep breaths and relax your body further with each breath. That's all there is to it!
Progressive Muscular Relaxation
Progressive Muscular Relaxation is useful for relaxing your body when your muscles are tense.
The idea behind PMR is that you tense up a group of muscles so that they are as tightly contracted as possible. Hold them in a state of extreme tension for a few seconds. Then, relax the muscles normally. Then, consciously relax the muscles even further so that you are as relaxed as possible.
By tensing your muscles first, you will find that you are able to relax your muscles more than would be the case if you tried to relax your muscles directly.
Experiment with PMR by forming a fist, and clenching your hand as tight as you can for a few seconds. Relax your hand to its previous tension, and then consciously relax it again so that it is as loose as possible. You should feel deep relaxation in your hand muscles.
The Relaxation Response
‘The Relaxation Response’ is the name of a book published by Dr Herbert Benson of Harvard University in 1968. In a series of experiments into various popular meditation techniques, Dr Benson established that these techniques had a very real effect on reducing stress and controlling the fight-or-flight response. Direct effects included deep relaxation, slowed heartbeat and breathing, reduced oxygen consumption and increased skin resistance.
This is something that you can do for yourself by following these steps:
* Sit quietly and comfortably.
* Close your eyes.
* Start by relaxing the muscles of your feet and work up your body relaxing muscles.
* Focus your attention on your breathing.
* Breathe in deeply and then let your breath out. Count your breaths, and say the number of the breath as you let it out (this gives you something to do with your mind, helping you to avoid distraction).
Do this for ten or twenty minutes.
An even more potent alternative approach is to follow these steps, but to use relaxation imagery instead of counting breaths in step 5. Again, you can prove to yourself that this works using the biofeedback equipment.
Summary
“Deep Breathing,” “Progressive Muscular Relaxation,” and the steps leading to the “Relaxation Response” are three good techniques that can help you to relax your body and manage the symptoms of the fight-or-flight response.
These are particularly helpful for both handling nerves prior to an important performance, and reducing stress generally.
This is an excerpt from "Managing Stress for Career Success", the Mind Tools Stress Management Masterclass. These physical relaxation techniques are just some of the important skills that we explain. As well as explaining relaxation techniques, the Stress Management Masterclass shows you how to take action to tackle the root causes of job stress - a side-effect of this approach is that you become more effective and successful in your career
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Building Defenses
Building Defenses Against Stress
The way we live our lives can have a huge impact on the way that we experience stress. This section of stress.mindtools.com shows how living a healthy lifestyle can help you reduce background stress levels. This makes you more resilient, and means that you can cope with major work stresses more effectively.
This is one part of dealing with intense long-term stress. Other parts involve developing support networks to relieve stress, and adopting enjoyable pastimes to counterbalance the unpleasantness of stress. Again, we look at these here.
Adopting a healthy lifestyle means that you can concentrate better and are more energetic in what you do. This is particularly important when you are in challenging or stressful situations. It is also important in building stamina (the ability to survive intensely stressful situations over the long term).
Equally important is achieving a good work-life balance. By offsetting the unpleasant, stressful events in your life with plenty of good, enjoyable events, you make life more tolerable and reduce the risk of burnout.
The articles below will help you adopt a more healthy lifestyle. Click here to read the first one.
James Manktelow and the stress.mindtools.com team
What This Section Gives You
Managing Your Support Networks
- Getting help when you need it
Rest, Relaxation and Sleep
Managing Chemical Stress
Managing Stress With Exercise
Minimizing Environmental Stress
Building Relaxation Techniques Into Your Lifestyle
Finding Other Ways of Relaxing
Applying This to Your Life
The way we live our lives can have a huge impact on the way that we experience stress. This section of stress.mindtools.com shows how living a healthy lifestyle can help you reduce background stress levels. This makes you more resilient, and means that you can cope with major work stresses more effectively.
This is one part of dealing with intense long-term stress. Other parts involve developing support networks to relieve stress, and adopting enjoyable pastimes to counterbalance the unpleasantness of stress. Again, we look at these here.
Adopting a healthy lifestyle means that you can concentrate better and are more energetic in what you do. This is particularly important when you are in challenging or stressful situations. It is also important in building stamina (the ability to survive intensely stressful situations over the long term).
Equally important is achieving a good work-life balance. By offsetting the unpleasant, stressful events in your life with plenty of good, enjoyable events, you make life more tolerable and reduce the risk of burnout.
The articles below will help you adopt a more healthy lifestyle. Click here to read the first one.
James Manktelow and the stress.mindtools.com team
What This Section Gives You
Managing Your Support Networks
- Getting help when you need it
Rest, Relaxation and Sleep
Managing Chemical Stress
Managing Stress With Exercise
Minimizing Environmental Stress
Building Relaxation Techniques Into Your Lifestyle
Finding Other Ways of Relaxing
Applying This to Your Life
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Definition
Definition
Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension.
See also: Stress in childhood
Information
Emotional stress usually occurs when people consider situations difficult or unable to manage. Different people consider different situations as stressful.
Physical stress refers to a physical reaction of the body to various triggers. The pain experienced after surgery is an example of physical stress. Physical stress often leads to emotional stress, and emotional stress often occurs as physical discomfort (e.g., stomach cramps).
Stress management involves controlling and reducing the tension that occurs in stressful situations by making emotional and physical changes. The degree of stress and the desire to make the changes will determine how much change takes place.
ASSESSING STRESS
Attitude: A person's attitude can influence whether or not a situation or emotion is stressful. A person with a negative attitude will often report more stress than would someone with a positive attitude.
Physical well-being: A poor diet puts the body in a state of physical stress and weakens the immune system. As a result, the person can be more likely to get infections. A poor diet can mean unhealthy food choices, not eating enough, or not eating on a normal schedule. This can cause a person to not get enough nutrients.
This form of physical stress also decreases the ability to deal with emotional stress, because not getting the right nutrition may affect the way the brain processes information.
Physical activity: Not getting enough physical activity can put the body in a stressful state. Physical activity has many benefits. A regular physical activity program can help decrease depression, if it exists. It also improves the feeling of well-being.
Support systems: Most everyone needs someone in their life they can rely on when they are having a hard time. Having little or no support makes stressful situations even more difficult to deal with.
Relaxation: People with no outside interests, hobbies, or ways to relax may be unable to handle stressful situations because they have no outlet for their stress.
AN INDIVIDUAL STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
* Make an effort to stop negative thoughts
* Plan some fun
* Refocus the negative into the positive
* Take a break
* Think positively
Physical activity:
* Start a physical activity program. Most experts recommend doing 20 minutes of aerobic activity three times per week.
* Decide on a specific time, type, amount, and level of physical activity. Fit this time into your schedule so it can be part of your routine.
* Find a buddy to exercise with -- it is more fun and it will encourage you to stick with your routine.
* You do not have to join a gym -- 20 minutes of brisk walking outdoors will do the trick.
Nutrition:
* Plan to eat foods that improve your health and well-being. For example, increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat.
* Use the food guide pyramid to help you make healthy food choices.
* Eat the right amount of food on a regular schedule.
Social support:
* Make an effort to interact socially with people. Even though you feel stressed, you will be glad to meet your friends, if only to get your mind off of things.
* Nurture yourself and others.
* Reach out to other people.
Relaxation:
* Learn about and try using one or more of the many relaxation techniques, such as guided imagery, listening to music, or practicing yoga or meditation. One or more of these techniques should work for you.
* Listen to your body.
* Take a mini retreat.
* Take time for personal interests and hobbies.
Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension.
See also: Stress in childhood
Information
Emotional stress usually occurs when people consider situations difficult or unable to manage. Different people consider different situations as stressful.
Physical stress refers to a physical reaction of the body to various triggers. The pain experienced after surgery is an example of physical stress. Physical stress often leads to emotional stress, and emotional stress often occurs as physical discomfort (e.g., stomach cramps).
Stress management involves controlling and reducing the tension that occurs in stressful situations by making emotional and physical changes. The degree of stress and the desire to make the changes will determine how much change takes place.
ASSESSING STRESS
Attitude: A person's attitude can influence whether or not a situation or emotion is stressful. A person with a negative attitude will often report more stress than would someone with a positive attitude.
Physical well-being: A poor diet puts the body in a state of physical stress and weakens the immune system. As a result, the person can be more likely to get infections. A poor diet can mean unhealthy food choices, not eating enough, or not eating on a normal schedule. This can cause a person to not get enough nutrients.
This form of physical stress also decreases the ability to deal with emotional stress, because not getting the right nutrition may affect the way the brain processes information.
Physical activity: Not getting enough physical activity can put the body in a stressful state. Physical activity has many benefits. A regular physical activity program can help decrease depression, if it exists. It also improves the feeling of well-being.
Support systems: Most everyone needs someone in their life they can rely on when they are having a hard time. Having little or no support makes stressful situations even more difficult to deal with.
Relaxation: People with no outside interests, hobbies, or ways to relax may be unable to handle stressful situations because they have no outlet for their stress.
AN INDIVIDUAL STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
* Make an effort to stop negative thoughts
* Plan some fun
* Refocus the negative into the positive
* Take a break
* Think positively
Physical activity:
* Start a physical activity program. Most experts recommend doing 20 minutes of aerobic activity three times per week.
* Decide on a specific time, type, amount, and level of physical activity. Fit this time into your schedule so it can be part of your routine.
* Find a buddy to exercise with -- it is more fun and it will encourage you to stick with your routine.
* You do not have to join a gym -- 20 minutes of brisk walking outdoors will do the trick.
Nutrition:
* Plan to eat foods that improve your health and well-being. For example, increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat.
* Use the food guide pyramid to help you make healthy food choices.
* Eat the right amount of food on a regular schedule.
Social support:
* Make an effort to interact socially with people. Even though you feel stressed, you will be glad to meet your friends, if only to get your mind off of things.
* Nurture yourself and others.
* Reach out to other people.
Relaxation:
* Learn about and try using one or more of the many relaxation techniques, such as guided imagery, listening to music, or practicing yoga or meditation. One or more of these techniques should work for you.
* Listen to your body.
* Take a mini retreat.
* Take time for personal interests and hobbies.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Ur Support Networks
Managing Your Support Networks
- Getting help when you need it
When under intense stress, it is very natural to withdraw from the world and concentrate exclusively on solving the problem that is causing the stress. Sometimes this is a useful and appropriate reaction.
Often, it is not. This is particularly the case as the projects you take on get bigger and bigger: One person working on his or her own simply cannot achieve tasks beyond a certain size. Similarly, many stressful situations cannot be resolved without the help of other people.
We all have networks of people who can help us solve problems. This network extends professionally and socially, as well as including our family and public services.
Within your organization, your professional networks include relations with your boss, mentors within the organization, colleagues, your team, previous colleagues and organizational support services. Outside your organization, they can include professional contacts, clients, suppliers (who may provide services that specifically address the problem), professional organizations, trades unions, trades associations and many others.
Your social networks obviously include your friends, clubs and social organizations. Your close and extended family is obviously important.
Finally, there is a raft of state and independent organizations whose purpose may be to help you solve the problems you are facing.
These people can give help and support in a wide variety of ways, including:
* Physical assistance: This can be financial or direct help, or provision of useful resources.
* Political assistance: Other people can use their influence and personal networks on your behalf to help with the situation, for example, by persuading other people to move deadlines, change what they are doing or help directly.
* Information: People may have information that helps in the situation or solves the problem, or may have personal experience that can help you. They may have solved the problem before, or may have seen the problem solved elsewhere.
* Problem solving: Similarly, they may be able to help you to think through how to solve the problem. Just explaining a problem clearly to someone else can bring a problem into focus so that the solution is obvious. Alternatively, other people may have problem solving skills you do not have, or may just be fresh and unstressed enough to see good alternatives.
* Reassurance: People can also give emotional support and reassurance when you may be starting to doubt yourself, can help you put problems into context or can help you find solace elsewhere. Others can cheer you up when you are feeling down.
When you are under pressure, make sure that you ask for help when you need it.
Having said this, it is worth being cautious in asking for help from people. People can help, but they can also hinder. They can give the wrong advice or can waste your time leading you down blind alleys. Pragmatically, if someone is going to help you, you need to be sure that they have the resources you need. These might be experience, connections, or good judgment, as well as the obvious resources of time, money or willingness to help.
People can also tire of giving support if it is asked for too often. This is particularly the case when they have to deal with someone who is negative. It is much more satisfying to help someone who is actively trying to solve problems than it is to try to help someone who seems to have already given up.
People can also tire if support is a one-way process: You also need to provide a reasonable level of help and support to your friends, family and colleagues, particularly to the ones who help you the most.
However stressed you are, you need to keep talking to people and building your relationships with them. There are very good, practical reasons for having fun with people you like!
- Getting help when you need it
When under intense stress, it is very natural to withdraw from the world and concentrate exclusively on solving the problem that is causing the stress. Sometimes this is a useful and appropriate reaction.
Often, it is not. This is particularly the case as the projects you take on get bigger and bigger: One person working on his or her own simply cannot achieve tasks beyond a certain size. Similarly, many stressful situations cannot be resolved without the help of other people.
We all have networks of people who can help us solve problems. This network extends professionally and socially, as well as including our family and public services.
Within your organization, your professional networks include relations with your boss, mentors within the organization, colleagues, your team, previous colleagues and organizational support services. Outside your organization, they can include professional contacts, clients, suppliers (who may provide services that specifically address the problem), professional organizations, trades unions, trades associations and many others.
Your social networks obviously include your friends, clubs and social organizations. Your close and extended family is obviously important.
Finally, there is a raft of state and independent organizations whose purpose may be to help you solve the problems you are facing.
These people can give help and support in a wide variety of ways, including:
* Physical assistance: This can be financial or direct help, or provision of useful resources.
* Political assistance: Other people can use their influence and personal networks on your behalf to help with the situation, for example, by persuading other people to move deadlines, change what they are doing or help directly.
* Information: People may have information that helps in the situation or solves the problem, or may have personal experience that can help you. They may have solved the problem before, or may have seen the problem solved elsewhere.
* Problem solving: Similarly, they may be able to help you to think through how to solve the problem. Just explaining a problem clearly to someone else can bring a problem into focus so that the solution is obvious. Alternatively, other people may have problem solving skills you do not have, or may just be fresh and unstressed enough to see good alternatives.
* Reassurance: People can also give emotional support and reassurance when you may be starting to doubt yourself, can help you put problems into context or can help you find solace elsewhere. Others can cheer you up when you are feeling down.
When you are under pressure, make sure that you ask for help when you need it.
Having said this, it is worth being cautious in asking for help from people. People can help, but they can also hinder. They can give the wrong advice or can waste your time leading you down blind alleys. Pragmatically, if someone is going to help you, you need to be sure that they have the resources you need. These might be experience, connections, or good judgment, as well as the obvious resources of time, money or willingness to help.
People can also tire of giving support if it is asked for too often. This is particularly the case when they have to deal with someone who is negative. It is much more satisfying to help someone who is actively trying to solve problems than it is to try to help someone who seems to have already given up.
People can also tire if support is a one-way process: You also need to provide a reasonable level of help and support to your friends, family and colleagues, particularly to the ones who help you the most.
However stressed you are, you need to keep talking to people and building your relationships with them. There are very good, practical reasons for having fun with people you like!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Rest, Relaxation and Sleep
Rest, Relaxation and Sleep
When many people are faced by a stressful situation at work, they respond with complete commitment, by working intensely hard at resolving it. To do this, they may work all hours, cancel vacations and cut back on sleep, all to make more time to tackle the problem.
If this is short-lived, then negative effects will be minimal and success will often be spectacular. However, if this level of hard work is sustained for a long time without relief, people increasingly risk ill-health and burnout.
We rest and sleep because we need to.
Rest and Relaxation
Rest is what we do to let stress subside. Rest at the end of a day, and at the end of a week, helps us to calm down.
Doing fun things that we enjoy in our leisure time compensates us for the stress we experience at work, bringing some balance back into life. This is particularly important if we routinely experience unpleasant levels of stress.
A good way of getting rest and reducing long-term stress is to take up an enjoyable, non-rushed sport or hobby. If you spend all your working day competing, then can be very pleasant to be completely non-competitive for some of your free time. Slow physical activities such as sailing or walking are good for this, as are others where there is little or no pressure for performance. Reading novels, watching television or socializing can also be very restful.
Vacations are particularly important, and you really do need to take these. Where possible, take two weeks off rather than just one week: A common observation that people make is that they really do not start to relax properly until the end of their first week of vacation.
Make sure that you take your vacations and that you use them to relax. Also, make sure that you get enough good quality rest during the week, so that you can keep on enjoying life to its fullest.
Sleep
On average, people need around eight hours sleep a night (although this can vary between three hours and eleven hours, depending on the person and his or her age).
If we are regularly short of sleep, then our concentration and our effectiveness suffer and our energy levels decline. We have all seen and experienced this.
This diminishes our effectiveness in our job, and can therefore increase stress: As our concentration wanders, we start to make mistakes. As our energy declines, we become less proactive in what we do, reducing our control over events. This means that a situation that is already difficult and stressful can become worse, needing even more sacrifice to bring it back under control.
Make sure you get enough sleep. If you have become used to being tired all the time, you will be amazed by how sharp and energetic you will feel once you start sleeping normally.
Tip:
When we are stressed and anxious, we can often find it difficult to get to sleep as thoughts keep on whizzing through our heads, stopping us from relaxing enough to fall asleep.
If you find this is the case:
* Make sure that you stop doing mentally demanding work several hours before coming to bed – give your brain time to calm down before you try to sleep.
* Try reading a calming, undemanding book for a few minutes, again to relax your body, tire your eyes and help you forget about the things that are worrying you.
* Write persistent thoughts and worries down in a notebook and then put them out of your mind. Review the notebook in the morning and take action if appropriate.
* Keep the same bedtime. Let your body and mind get used to a predictable routine.
* Cut back on caffeine and alcohol. Some people find that they sleep badly if they drink coffee or cola after 4pm. Others find that if they drink alcohol to excess, they wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep.
If you are still having trouble getting to sleep, meditation scripts like Meditainment's Secret Garden, Deep Relaxation and Falling Asleep can help enormously.
When many people are faced by a stressful situation at work, they respond with complete commitment, by working intensely hard at resolving it. To do this, they may work all hours, cancel vacations and cut back on sleep, all to make more time to tackle the problem.
If this is short-lived, then negative effects will be minimal and success will often be spectacular. However, if this level of hard work is sustained for a long time without relief, people increasingly risk ill-health and burnout.
We rest and sleep because we need to.
Rest and Relaxation
Rest is what we do to let stress subside. Rest at the end of a day, and at the end of a week, helps us to calm down.
Doing fun things that we enjoy in our leisure time compensates us for the stress we experience at work, bringing some balance back into life. This is particularly important if we routinely experience unpleasant levels of stress.
A good way of getting rest and reducing long-term stress is to take up an enjoyable, non-rushed sport or hobby. If you spend all your working day competing, then can be very pleasant to be completely non-competitive for some of your free time. Slow physical activities such as sailing or walking are good for this, as are others where there is little or no pressure for performance. Reading novels, watching television or socializing can also be very restful.
Vacations are particularly important, and you really do need to take these. Where possible, take two weeks off rather than just one week: A common observation that people make is that they really do not start to relax properly until the end of their first week of vacation.
Make sure that you take your vacations and that you use them to relax. Also, make sure that you get enough good quality rest during the week, so that you can keep on enjoying life to its fullest.
Sleep
On average, people need around eight hours sleep a night (although this can vary between three hours and eleven hours, depending on the person and his or her age).
If we are regularly short of sleep, then our concentration and our effectiveness suffer and our energy levels decline. We have all seen and experienced this.
This diminishes our effectiveness in our job, and can therefore increase stress: As our concentration wanders, we start to make mistakes. As our energy declines, we become less proactive in what we do, reducing our control over events. This means that a situation that is already difficult and stressful can become worse, needing even more sacrifice to bring it back under control.
Make sure you get enough sleep. If you have become used to being tired all the time, you will be amazed by how sharp and energetic you will feel once you start sleeping normally.
Tip:
When we are stressed and anxious, we can often find it difficult to get to sleep as thoughts keep on whizzing through our heads, stopping us from relaxing enough to fall asleep.
If you find this is the case:
* Make sure that you stop doing mentally demanding work several hours before coming to bed – give your brain time to calm down before you try to sleep.
* Try reading a calming, undemanding book for a few minutes, again to relax your body, tire your eyes and help you forget about the things that are worrying you.
* Write persistent thoughts and worries down in a notebook and then put them out of your mind. Review the notebook in the morning and take action if appropriate.
* Keep the same bedtime. Let your body and mind get used to a predictable routine.
* Cut back on caffeine and alcohol. Some people find that they sleep badly if they drink coffee or cola after 4pm. Others find that if they drink alcohol to excess, they wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep.
If you are still having trouble getting to sleep, meditation scripts like Meditainment's Secret Garden, Deep Relaxation and Falling Asleep can help enormously.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Managing Chemical Stress
Managing Chemical Stress
The chemicals (food, drink, pills, etc) we put in our bodies can cause a surprising amount of stress.
Similarly, if we are eating an unbalanced diet, we may be stressing our bodies by depriving them of essential nutrients. And eating too much for a long period causes obesity: This puts your heart and lungs under stress, overloads your organs and reduces your stamina.
You should be aware of the effects of the following:
* Caffeine:
Caffeine is a stimulant. One of the reasons we drink it is to raise our levels of arousal, particularly at the start of the day. If you drink many cups of coffee a day, then you may become twitchy, hyperactive and irritable. You may find that you can eliminate a lot of stress by switching to a good decaffeinated coffee (or an alternative).
* Alcohol:
In small amounts, alcohol may help you relax. In larger amounts, it may increase stress as it disrupts sleep, reduces your effectiveness, and possibly harms working relationships. Large amounts of alcohol over a long period of time will damage your body. Be aware of this, and keep your alcohol consumption under control.
* Nicotine:
While in the very short term, nicotine can cause its users to relax, its toxic effects raise your heart rate and stress your body. If you smoke, try taking your pulse before and after a cigarette, and notice the difference: You will probably see your pulse rate increase. After the initial period of giving up smoking, most ex-smokers report feeling much more relaxed than they did beforehand.
* Sugar:
Sugar-rich foods can raise energy in the short term. The problem with this is that your body copes with high levels of sugar by secreting insulin, which reduces the amount of sugar in your blood stream. Insulin can persist and continue acting after it has controlled blood sugar levels. This can cause an energy dip.
If you eat a good, well-balanced diet, you should be able to minimize this sort of chemical stress. With a little forethought, you can make sure that your body receives all the nutrients it needs to function effectively.
The chemicals (food, drink, pills, etc) we put in our bodies can cause a surprising amount of stress.
Similarly, if we are eating an unbalanced diet, we may be stressing our bodies by depriving them of essential nutrients. And eating too much for a long period causes obesity: This puts your heart and lungs under stress, overloads your organs and reduces your stamina.
You should be aware of the effects of the following:
* Caffeine:
Caffeine is a stimulant. One of the reasons we drink it is to raise our levels of arousal, particularly at the start of the day. If you drink many cups of coffee a day, then you may become twitchy, hyperactive and irritable. You may find that you can eliminate a lot of stress by switching to a good decaffeinated coffee (or an alternative).
* Alcohol:
In small amounts, alcohol may help you relax. In larger amounts, it may increase stress as it disrupts sleep, reduces your effectiveness, and possibly harms working relationships. Large amounts of alcohol over a long period of time will damage your body. Be aware of this, and keep your alcohol consumption under control.
* Nicotine:
While in the very short term, nicotine can cause its users to relax, its toxic effects raise your heart rate and stress your body. If you smoke, try taking your pulse before and after a cigarette, and notice the difference: You will probably see your pulse rate increase. After the initial period of giving up smoking, most ex-smokers report feeling much more relaxed than they did beforehand.
* Sugar:
Sugar-rich foods can raise energy in the short term. The problem with this is that your body copes with high levels of sugar by secreting insulin, which reduces the amount of sugar in your blood stream. Insulin can persist and continue acting after it has controlled blood sugar levels. This can cause an energy dip.
If you eat a good, well-balanced diet, you should be able to minimize this sort of chemical stress. With a little forethought, you can make sure that your body receives all the nutrients it needs to function effectively.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Regular Exercise
Managing Stress With Regular Exercise
Taking frequent effective exercise is one of the best physical stress-reduction techniques available. Exercise not only improves your health and reduces stress caused by unfitness, it also relaxes tense muscles and helps you to sleep.
Exercise has a number of other positive benefits you may not be aware of:
* It improves blood flow to your brain, bringing additional sugars and oxygen that may be needed when you are thinking intensely.
* When you think hard, the neurons of your brain function more intensely. As they do this, they can build up toxic waste products that can cause foggy thinking (you may have experienced the feeling that your brain has "turned to cotton wool"). By exercising, you speed the flow of blood through your brain, moving these waste products faster.
* Exercise can cause release of chemicals called endorphins into your blood stream. These give you a feeling of happiness and positively affect your overall sense of well-being.
There is also good evidence that physically fit people have less extreme physiological responses when under pressure than those who are not. This means that fit people are more able to handle the long- term effects of stress, without suffering ill health or burnout.
There are many wrong approaches to exercise. Some traditionally recommended forms of exercise actually damage your body over the medium- or long-term. Your doctor is a good starting point for recommending good forms of exercise.
NB: If you are not used to taking exercise regularly, then it may be appropriate to take medical advice before starting an exercise program.
An important thing to remember is that exercise should be fun. It is difficult to keep going with an exercise program that you do not enjoy
Taking frequent effective exercise is one of the best physical stress-reduction techniques available. Exercise not only improves your health and reduces stress caused by unfitness, it also relaxes tense muscles and helps you to sleep.
Exercise has a number of other positive benefits you may not be aware of:
* It improves blood flow to your brain, bringing additional sugars and oxygen that may be needed when you are thinking intensely.
* When you think hard, the neurons of your brain function more intensely. As they do this, they can build up toxic waste products that can cause foggy thinking (you may have experienced the feeling that your brain has "turned to cotton wool"). By exercising, you speed the flow of blood through your brain, moving these waste products faster.
* Exercise can cause release of chemicals called endorphins into your blood stream. These give you a feeling of happiness and positively affect your overall sense of well-being.
There is also good evidence that physically fit people have less extreme physiological responses when under pressure than those who are not. This means that fit people are more able to handle the long- term effects of stress, without suffering ill health or burnout.
There are many wrong approaches to exercise. Some traditionally recommended forms of exercise actually damage your body over the medium- or long-term. Your doctor is a good starting point for recommending good forms of exercise.
NB: If you are not used to taking exercise regularly, then it may be appropriate to take medical advice before starting an exercise program.
An important thing to remember is that exercise should be fun. It is difficult to keep going with an exercise program that you do not enjoy
Monday, February 2, 2009
Environmental Stress
Minimizing Environmental Stress - A Recap...
Our environment is an important contributor to our lifestyle. We looked at this in detail in our section on Environmental Stress. This article briefly recaps on the key points in that section.
Things that we could do to improve our environment included making sure that:
* We have enough privacy when we need it, and enough social interaction when we want it;
* Our furniture is designed well, is comfortable and properly adjusted;
* Our space is well lit, and that light is not too dim, too bright or too direct;
* Air quality is good and that it is free of hidden pollutants; and that
* Our living and working environments are pleasant and well maintained.
We also looked at commutes between home and work, and how unpleasant these can be.
Part of living a healthy lifestyle is making sure that our environment is pleasant.
Another part is making sure that our life works as well as possible. If your living or working environment is bad, or you have a bad commute, then you can often improve your lifestyle by changing where you work or where you live.
Our environment is an important contributor to our lifestyle. We looked at this in detail in our section on Environmental Stress. This article briefly recaps on the key points in that section.
Things that we could do to improve our environment included making sure that:
* We have enough privacy when we need it, and enough social interaction when we want it;
* Our furniture is designed well, is comfortable and properly adjusted;
* Our space is well lit, and that light is not too dim, too bright or too direct;
* Air quality is good and that it is free of hidden pollutants; and that
* Our living and working environments are pleasant and well maintained.
We also looked at commutes between home and work, and how unpleasant these can be.
Part of living a healthy lifestyle is making sure that our environment is pleasant.
Another part is making sure that our life works as well as possible. If your living or working environment is bad, or you have a bad commute, then you can often improve your lifestyle by changing where you work or where you live.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Relaxation Techniques
Building Relaxation Techniques Into Your Life
In our Relaxation techniques section, we look at a range of useful relaxation techniques. These are Imagery, Meditation, Self-hypnosis and use of relaxation tapes.
A similar approach is also to use downloadable self-hypnosis MP3s. These are calming soundtracks that give you a short period of intense relaxation. Hypnosis Downloads produce a number of these: A Healthy Rest, The Four Seasons, A Warm Place, and The Island, all of which we recommend strongly. These are particularly useful in that you do not have to concentrate while using them - this makes them very easy to use when you are run down and tired.
Just as relaxation techniques are useful for managing immediate points of stress, they are also help with managing long term stress. They do this by helping you calm down, resting you and reducing the levels of stress hormones in your body.
You may find it useful to spend a few minutes using relaxation techniques during or at the end of your day: A good way of making sure you do this is to make relaxation a regular part of your daily routine.
In our Relaxation techniques section, we look at a range of useful relaxation techniques. These are Imagery, Meditation, Self-hypnosis and use of relaxation tapes.
A similar approach is also to use downloadable self-hypnosis MP3s. These are calming soundtracks that give you a short period of intense relaxation. Hypnosis Downloads produce a number of these: A Healthy Rest, The Four Seasons, A Warm Place, and The Island, all of which we recommend strongly. These are particularly useful in that you do not have to concentrate while using them - this makes them very easy to use when you are run down and tired.
Just as relaxation techniques are useful for managing immediate points of stress, they are also help with managing long term stress. They do this by helping you calm down, resting you and reducing the levels of stress hormones in your body.
You may find it useful to spend a few minutes using relaxation techniques during or at the end of your day: A good way of making sure you do this is to make relaxation a regular part of your daily routine.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Other Ways of Relaxing
Other Ways of Relaxing
There are many other ways of relaxing, and different approaches suit different people. Stores like www.StressLess.com have a wide range of products that can help relieve stress. Health spas offer many treatments targeted at relaxation. Time spent with friends and family can be very satisfying. And there are many forms of entertainment that you can enjoy, and sports and hobbies that you can participate in.
When you are stressed, remember to give yourself "treats". Do the things you enjoy and see the people you like. Where your life is full of unpleasant and stressful events, you can restore some balance to it by doing these things. Spend as much time as you need to find the things that help you relax, and ensure that you make enough time available to do these things.
This is not self-indulgent: It is an important part of keeping yourself functioning effectively and avoiding the problems of burnout, anxiety and depression that come with intense, sustained stress.
There are many other ways of relaxing, and different approaches suit different people. Stores like www.StressLess.com have a wide range of products that can help relieve stress. Health spas offer many treatments targeted at relaxation. Time spent with friends and family can be very satisfying. And there are many forms of entertainment that you can enjoy, and sports and hobbies that you can participate in.
When you are stressed, remember to give yourself "treats". Do the things you enjoy and see the people you like. Where your life is full of unpleasant and stressful events, you can restore some balance to it by doing these things. Spend as much time as you need to find the things that help you relax, and ensure that you make enough time available to do these things.
This is not self-indulgent: It is an important part of keeping yourself functioning effectively and avoiding the problems of burnout, anxiety and depression that come with intense, sustained stress.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Yoga
Yoga - An important physical relaxation technique
Relaxation Techniques from Mind Tools
by Kellie Fowler
Many people turn to yoga for simple reasons, perhaps they just enjoy it, perhaps they find it relieves stress, maybe yoga helps them to better cope with life’s ups and downs, or perhaps it's because a physician has prescribed it. Regardless of the reason for participating in yoga, the result is almost always a more fulfilled life.
If you have tried yoga, you already know that it can help you achieve your goals with a clearer head, a more in-tune body and a renewed spirit.
In this article, we will take a look at the many benefits of yoga but we must caution that no physical fitness program should be taken on without the knowledge and consent of your personal physician.
Before we discuss the benefits of yoga, we should also point out that the body is actually an energy system with close interplay between breathing, heart beat and brain function. Yoga provides a useful maintenance service for this system.
Working from the premise that “Life is breath, breath is life,” yoga places great emphasis on making the breathing deep, rhythmic and effective. The principle here is that essential thoughts and messages are delivered more effectively when the body is relaxed and the brain is well-oxygenated, helping the body and mind to work more successfully while feeling less tired and less stressed.
Yoga breathing (as we see in a later article in this newsletter) lowers blood pressure and brings intense relaxation. Of course, shallow breathing does not always cause unclear thinking or low spirits, but it has been medically linked with attacks of depression, mood swings and other various disorders.
Furthermore, improved appearance through better posture, muscle and skin-tone, follows the dedicated practice of yoga. Bones are strengthened and joints become more flexible. And, it can be amazing to see how much more flexible the body is and how much more positive one’s outlook becomes with just a few month’s of yoga practice.
If you are unable to locate a reputable yoga studio in your area, you may benefit from purchasing a DVD or video that allows you to practice yoga in your home. Keep in mind, many of these can be checked-out at your local library or even previewed over the Internet before purchasing.
An alternative approach is to use the streamed video yoga exercises provided by the Yoga Learning Center. These videos are unbeatable for soothing tense and aching muscles, and helping participants relax deeply with proven stress relieving yoga techniques. Their programs (many of which are at an introductory level) include yoga poses and stretches that will help revitalize your mind and body and refresh your spirit.
Relaxation Techniques from Mind Tools
by Kellie Fowler
Many people turn to yoga for simple reasons, perhaps they just enjoy it, perhaps they find it relieves stress, maybe yoga helps them to better cope with life’s ups and downs, or perhaps it's because a physician has prescribed it. Regardless of the reason for participating in yoga, the result is almost always a more fulfilled life.
If you have tried yoga, you already know that it can help you achieve your goals with a clearer head, a more in-tune body and a renewed spirit.
In this article, we will take a look at the many benefits of yoga but we must caution that no physical fitness program should be taken on without the knowledge and consent of your personal physician.
Before we discuss the benefits of yoga, we should also point out that the body is actually an energy system with close interplay between breathing, heart beat and brain function. Yoga provides a useful maintenance service for this system.
Working from the premise that “Life is breath, breath is life,” yoga places great emphasis on making the breathing deep, rhythmic and effective. The principle here is that essential thoughts and messages are delivered more effectively when the body is relaxed and the brain is well-oxygenated, helping the body and mind to work more successfully while feeling less tired and less stressed.
Yoga breathing (as we see in a later article in this newsletter) lowers blood pressure and brings intense relaxation. Of course, shallow breathing does not always cause unclear thinking or low spirits, but it has been medically linked with attacks of depression, mood swings and other various disorders.
Furthermore, improved appearance through better posture, muscle and skin-tone, follows the dedicated practice of yoga. Bones are strengthened and joints become more flexible. And, it can be amazing to see how much more flexible the body is and how much more positive one’s outlook becomes with just a few month’s of yoga practice.
If you are unable to locate a reputable yoga studio in your area, you may benefit from purchasing a DVD or video that allows you to practice yoga in your home. Keep in mind, many of these can be checked-out at your local library or even previewed over the Internet before purchasing.
An alternative approach is to use the streamed video yoga exercises provided by the Yoga Learning Center. These videos are unbeatable for soothing tense and aching muscles, and helping participants relax deeply with proven stress relieving yoga techniques. Their programs (many of which are at an introductory level) include yoga poses and stretches that will help revitalize your mind and body and refresh your spirit.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Relaxation Response
Relaxation & The Relaxation Response
Relaxation Techniques from Mind Tools
by Kellie Fowler
Multitasking has become a part of our everyday lives. At any given time, most of us are actively working on, or overseeing, a handful of projects and problems all at once, making it nearly impossible to slow down and relax.
Years ago, when I first embarked on a journalism career and subsequently found myself in a bustling newsroom working amongst some of the most experienced writers for a very large, reputable newspaper, I was overwhelmed. As the youngest and one of only two females, I found that the only way I could earn the respect of those around me was to show up first, leave last and give 110% all day long, even when my work days lasted 16 hours! Talk about being on the fast track – the fast track to burnout, that is!
Needless to say, it took just a few short months to realize that the pace I had set for myself was unrealistic. Sure, I was playing in the big leagues and making a great name for myself, but if I wound up too tired to perform, which was inevitable, I would surely make costly mistakes and quickly place myself out of work.
Considering this one weekend, I turned to the local library (I am embarrassed to say that this was before the days of the World Wide Web) to find sources on relaxation. I knew I had to work in some relaxation if I wanted to continue meeting tight deadlines each day with copy that was strong and print-worthy. So, I spent hours at the library that day and left with seven books. To this day, I continue to rely on the information I found in one book, and would like to share this with you.
It was a book called “The Relaxation Response,” by Dr. Herbert Benson, that changed my life and taught me the importance of relaxing each day, and even showed me exactly how to do it.
Based on studies at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Benson’s quick and easy relaxation techniques have immense physical benefits, from lowering blood pressure to a reduction in heart disease. The book explains how anyone can benefit from learning and perfecting relaxation techniques. In doing so, Dr. Benson created a book that is relied on by healthcare professionals and authorities to treat the negative effects of stress.
By learning to invoke the relaxation response once or twice a day for just ten minutes at a sitting, one can effectively lower blood pressure and gain tranquility in their emotional life, making them more successful both in the workplace and at home.
Try the following 6-step relaxation response the next time you feel anxiety or stress:
1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Deeply relax all of your muscles, beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face. Keep your muscles relaxed.
4. Breathe through your nose. Become aware of your breathing. As you breathe out (exhale), say the word, “ONE”, silently to yourself. For example: breathe IN…OUT, “ONE”, -IN…OUT, “ONE”, etc. Breathe easily and naturally.
5. Continue for 10 to 20 minutes (depending on your schedule). You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an alarm. When you finish, sit quietly for several minutes, at first with your eyes closed, then with your eyes opened. Do not stand up for a few minutes.
6. Do not worry about if you are successful in achieving a deep state of relaxation. When distracted, simply return to repeating “ONE.”
Besides relying on this technique a few times each day, I regularly use it to get to sleep at night, especially after a long, hard day or before a tough next day. It’s simple, I can fit it in to my workdays when needed, is fast, reliable and most importantly, it works!
Relaxation Techniques from Mind Tools
by Kellie Fowler
Multitasking has become a part of our everyday lives. At any given time, most of us are actively working on, or overseeing, a handful of projects and problems all at once, making it nearly impossible to slow down and relax.
Years ago, when I first embarked on a journalism career and subsequently found myself in a bustling newsroom working amongst some of the most experienced writers for a very large, reputable newspaper, I was overwhelmed. As the youngest and one of only two females, I found that the only way I could earn the respect of those around me was to show up first, leave last and give 110% all day long, even when my work days lasted 16 hours! Talk about being on the fast track – the fast track to burnout, that is!
Needless to say, it took just a few short months to realize that the pace I had set for myself was unrealistic. Sure, I was playing in the big leagues and making a great name for myself, but if I wound up too tired to perform, which was inevitable, I would surely make costly mistakes and quickly place myself out of work.
Considering this one weekend, I turned to the local library (I am embarrassed to say that this was before the days of the World Wide Web) to find sources on relaxation. I knew I had to work in some relaxation if I wanted to continue meeting tight deadlines each day with copy that was strong and print-worthy. So, I spent hours at the library that day and left with seven books. To this day, I continue to rely on the information I found in one book, and would like to share this with you.
It was a book called “The Relaxation Response,” by Dr. Herbert Benson, that changed my life and taught me the importance of relaxing each day, and even showed me exactly how to do it.
Based on studies at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Benson’s quick and easy relaxation techniques have immense physical benefits, from lowering blood pressure to a reduction in heart disease. The book explains how anyone can benefit from learning and perfecting relaxation techniques. In doing so, Dr. Benson created a book that is relied on by healthcare professionals and authorities to treat the negative effects of stress.
By learning to invoke the relaxation response once or twice a day for just ten minutes at a sitting, one can effectively lower blood pressure and gain tranquility in their emotional life, making them more successful both in the workplace and at home.
Try the following 6-step relaxation response the next time you feel anxiety or stress:
1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Deeply relax all of your muscles, beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face. Keep your muscles relaxed.
4. Breathe through your nose. Become aware of your breathing. As you breathe out (exhale), say the word, “ONE”, silently to yourself. For example: breathe IN…OUT, “ONE”, -IN…OUT, “ONE”, etc. Breathe easily and naturally.
5. Continue for 10 to 20 minutes (depending on your schedule). You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an alarm. When you finish, sit quietly for several minutes, at first with your eyes closed, then with your eyes opened. Do not stand up for a few minutes.
6. Do not worry about if you are successful in achieving a deep state of relaxation. When distracted, simply return to repeating “ONE.”
Besides relying on this technique a few times each day, I regularly use it to get to sleep at night, especially after a long, hard day or before a tough next day. It’s simple, I can fit it in to my workdays when needed, is fast, reliable and most importantly, it works!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Identify Burnout
Identifying Burnout Pressure Points
As we have already discussed, part of the cause of burnout lies with your situation. The other part comes from within yourself: From your ideals, your ambitions and your goals.
This simple tool gives you the opportunity to think about what you want to get out of your job, and then to compare this with the reality of your situation. This helps you to identify possible areas of mismatch, as these mismatches are possible pressure points that may develop into burnout. Knowing these pressure points helps you to manage the situation to avoid burnout.
Using the Tool:
To start using this tool, list the things that give real meaning to what you do.
Write down what attracted you to your current job or profession in the first place. List the things about it that you find fulfilling now. Include the value of the profession to humanity and what excites you about it. Think about what you want to achieve within it, and what you think is important to doing the job well.
This will give you a long list of things that are good about what you do. From this list, identify the five things that give the greatest meaning to your work. These should be the things about the job that most inspire you. Write these down in order with the most important item at the top of the list. This list shows you the things that you should protect as much as you can.
Next, write down the things that frustrate you most about your work. This may involve things like inadequacy of resource, lack of recognition, or bureaucracy. As well as this, list the factors that are causing you difficulty and which are likely to cause stress in the future.
Now work through the list of things that give you meaning item-by-item. For each item, look at the list of frustrations. Where these threaten the things that are most importnat to you, note these down: These are particular pressure points that you need to monitor.
Think these through carefully, and plan in advance how you will handle build-ups of stress in these areas. Our article on avoiding burnout can help you to do this.
Summary:
You are most vulnerable to burnout when the stresses you experience impact negatively on the things that you find most fulfilling in your job. Not only do you experience the unpleasantness of stress, you lose the job satisfaction that counter-balances this.
This simple tool helps you to identify the things that give meaning to the work you do. It then helps you to understand where the stresses that you experience undermine these. These are often the stresses that are most likely to cause you burnout.
As well as this, by understanding what gives meaning to your work, you know how to steer the development of your job to give yourself the greatest job satisfaction.
As we have already discussed, part of the cause of burnout lies with your situation. The other part comes from within yourself: From your ideals, your ambitions and your goals.
This simple tool gives you the opportunity to think about what you want to get out of your job, and then to compare this with the reality of your situation. This helps you to identify possible areas of mismatch, as these mismatches are possible pressure points that may develop into burnout. Knowing these pressure points helps you to manage the situation to avoid burnout.
Using the Tool:
To start using this tool, list the things that give real meaning to what you do.
Write down what attracted you to your current job or profession in the first place. List the things about it that you find fulfilling now. Include the value of the profession to humanity and what excites you about it. Think about what you want to achieve within it, and what you think is important to doing the job well.
This will give you a long list of things that are good about what you do. From this list, identify the five things that give the greatest meaning to your work. These should be the things about the job that most inspire you. Write these down in order with the most important item at the top of the list. This list shows you the things that you should protect as much as you can.
Next, write down the things that frustrate you most about your work. This may involve things like inadequacy of resource, lack of recognition, or bureaucracy. As well as this, list the factors that are causing you difficulty and which are likely to cause stress in the future.
Now work through the list of things that give you meaning item-by-item. For each item, look at the list of frustrations. Where these threaten the things that are most importnat to you, note these down: These are particular pressure points that you need to monitor.
Think these through carefully, and plan in advance how you will handle build-ups of stress in these areas. Our article on avoiding burnout can help you to do this.
Summary:
You are most vulnerable to burnout when the stresses you experience impact negatively on the things that you find most fulfilling in your job. Not only do you experience the unpleasantness of stress, you lose the job satisfaction that counter-balances this.
This simple tool helps you to identify the things that give meaning to the work you do. It then helps you to understand where the stresses that you experience undermine these. These are often the stresses that are most likely to cause you burnout.
As well as this, by understanding what gives meaning to your work, you know how to steer the development of your job to give yourself the greatest job satisfaction.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Avoiding Burnout
Avoiding Burnout
So far, we have looked at identifying your personal burnout pressure points and have shown how you can check yourself for burnout.
This section shows you some of the practical steps that you can take if you are at risk of burning out. We have already looked at many of these in detail in previous sections. This section acts as a reminder of these important skills.
Understanding Where Pressure Comes From
Before you can take action to counter burnout, you need to understand why you are at danger of it. The tools in our Pin-Pointing Stress section can help you in this.
If you need more help in identifying the most important sources of stress in your life, then use the Schedule of Recent Experience to get a view of the long term stress you are experiencing, and keep a Stress Diary to see what is causing stress in your day-to-day life.
Too much to do, too little time…
Where excessive workload is the problem, then three major groups of tools may help: First, look at the tools in our Work Overload section. Use the Job Analysis tool to see if you can cut away low-yield work. Review your management of time to use this to its full, and delegate tasks to other people where you can.
Second, consider whether you are being too accommodating. Should you let people know that you have too much work to do? Should you be politely turning down new work that people pass you? If this is the case, then improved assertiveness skills may help you to do this in a positive way. Remember that you will have to say “no” at some stage, otherwise your commitments will get bigger and bigger. You must learn to say no to commitments that you should not take on, otherwise you will be in severe danger of becoming intensely stressed and exhausted.
An obvious point is to check that you are using all of the resources available to you. Included within this, make sure that you are using your support network as fully as you can and that you are getting the help you need when you need it.
Finally, be aware that it is just not possible to do some jobs. Sometimes organizations commit themselves to projects that they do not have the capabilities, resources or skills to complete. These quickly become “projects from Hell”. Beware of these projects - they can be traps from which it is difficult to escape, even if you are at severe risk of burning out.
Political and people problems
Where politics seems to be a problem, you need to check that you are allocating enough time to managing your stakeholders and that you are correctly managing your support network. It is very easy when under stress to stop communicating with people, and this can lead to political problems that compound with other issues to create a toxic cocktail of stress.
Alternatively, a major cause of burnout can happen when too many people lean too heavily upon you. While it is important to provide support to the people around you, some people will suck up as much support as you can give and demand still more. This can be both tiresome and intensely disappointing, as you never seem to be able to meet their needs.
While distancing yourself from people is a symptom of burnout, it is also a defense against it. You need to find the fine balance between being reasonably open and available to the people you live and work with, while at the same time distancing yourself from people who drain you of emotional energy. A way of doing this may be to involve other people in providing support.
Another area where you need to find a balance is with the different (and often conflicting) demands of different groups of people and organizations. An obvious conflict is between work and family: Both really want as much of your time and energy as possible. You need to find a way of reconciling both, while still leaving time for yourself. However, this is also true of almost all of the people or organizations you deal with. All have their own goals and values, and all have their own ideas of how you should behave. In many cases, these goals will conflict with those of other organizations and in many cases they will conflict with yours.
As the only person who is an expert in your own life, you need to find what seems like a reasonable balance and then defend this assertively.
Avoiding Exhaustion
In the introduction to this section, we saw how exhaustion was such a major factor in burnout. Elsewhere on this site, we look at the importance of sleep and rest in detail.
Going on a good, long vacation is one of the best ways of avoiding burnout. Choose a vacation that does not expose you to the stresses you experience at home or which distracts you from them. Leave your laptop and mobile phone behind. Forget about work completely until your return. Rest, and enjoy life. Being a workaholic is not something to be proud of.
Similarly, make sure you get enough sleep and rest, and that you frequently use relaxation techniques to calm down and relax.
Protecting the Meaning of Your Job
The other major cause of burnout is disillusionment with your job, particularly when you get a great deal of the meaning in your life from the work you do.
The emphasis here is on protecting the parts of your job that give you meaning and satisfaction. If you have trouble in justifying this to yourself, then think about the people you serve: if you burn out, then they will not get the benefit of the energy and enthusiasm you can provide: You owe it to them to enjoy your job!
It is possible also that the job itself is badly designed and that contradictions inherent within it are causing much of the stress you are experiencing. Use our Job Analysis tool to check this out. Alternatively, if frustration with lack of career development is the problem, use our Career Planning tool.
Summary:
There is a lot that you can do to avoid job burnout. Perhaps the most important thing is to recognize that you are at risk, and take this seriously.
This article briefly shows you the sort of things you can do to avoid burnout. These mainly focus on managing workload, dealing with people problems, avoiding exhaustion and protecting the meaning of your work. If you can do these things, then you should be able to avoid burnout and continue to get satisfaction from the work you do.
So far, we have looked at identifying your personal burnout pressure points and have shown how you can check yourself for burnout.
This section shows you some of the practical steps that you can take if you are at risk of burning out. We have already looked at many of these in detail in previous sections. This section acts as a reminder of these important skills.
Understanding Where Pressure Comes From
Before you can take action to counter burnout, you need to understand why you are at danger of it. The tools in our Pin-Pointing Stress section can help you in this.
If you need more help in identifying the most important sources of stress in your life, then use the Schedule of Recent Experience to get a view of the long term stress you are experiencing, and keep a Stress Diary to see what is causing stress in your day-to-day life.
Too much to do, too little time…
Where excessive workload is the problem, then three major groups of tools may help: First, look at the tools in our Work Overload section. Use the Job Analysis tool to see if you can cut away low-yield work. Review your management of time to use this to its full, and delegate tasks to other people where you can.
Second, consider whether you are being too accommodating. Should you let people know that you have too much work to do? Should you be politely turning down new work that people pass you? If this is the case, then improved assertiveness skills may help you to do this in a positive way. Remember that you will have to say “no” at some stage, otherwise your commitments will get bigger and bigger. You must learn to say no to commitments that you should not take on, otherwise you will be in severe danger of becoming intensely stressed and exhausted.
An obvious point is to check that you are using all of the resources available to you. Included within this, make sure that you are using your support network as fully as you can and that you are getting the help you need when you need it.
Finally, be aware that it is just not possible to do some jobs. Sometimes organizations commit themselves to projects that they do not have the capabilities, resources or skills to complete. These quickly become “projects from Hell”. Beware of these projects - they can be traps from which it is difficult to escape, even if you are at severe risk of burning out.
Political and people problems
Where politics seems to be a problem, you need to check that you are allocating enough time to managing your stakeholders and that you are correctly managing your support network. It is very easy when under stress to stop communicating with people, and this can lead to political problems that compound with other issues to create a toxic cocktail of stress.
Alternatively, a major cause of burnout can happen when too many people lean too heavily upon you. While it is important to provide support to the people around you, some people will suck up as much support as you can give and demand still more. This can be both tiresome and intensely disappointing, as you never seem to be able to meet their needs.
While distancing yourself from people is a symptom of burnout, it is also a defense against it. You need to find the fine balance between being reasonably open and available to the people you live and work with, while at the same time distancing yourself from people who drain you of emotional energy. A way of doing this may be to involve other people in providing support.
Another area where you need to find a balance is with the different (and often conflicting) demands of different groups of people and organizations. An obvious conflict is between work and family: Both really want as much of your time and energy as possible. You need to find a way of reconciling both, while still leaving time for yourself. However, this is also true of almost all of the people or organizations you deal with. All have their own goals and values, and all have their own ideas of how you should behave. In many cases, these goals will conflict with those of other organizations and in many cases they will conflict with yours.
As the only person who is an expert in your own life, you need to find what seems like a reasonable balance and then defend this assertively.
Avoiding Exhaustion
In the introduction to this section, we saw how exhaustion was such a major factor in burnout. Elsewhere on this site, we look at the importance of sleep and rest in detail.
Going on a good, long vacation is one of the best ways of avoiding burnout. Choose a vacation that does not expose you to the stresses you experience at home or which distracts you from them. Leave your laptop and mobile phone behind. Forget about work completely until your return. Rest, and enjoy life. Being a workaholic is not something to be proud of.
Similarly, make sure you get enough sleep and rest, and that you frequently use relaxation techniques to calm down and relax.
Protecting the Meaning of Your Job
The other major cause of burnout is disillusionment with your job, particularly when you get a great deal of the meaning in your life from the work you do.
The emphasis here is on protecting the parts of your job that give you meaning and satisfaction. If you have trouble in justifying this to yourself, then think about the people you serve: if you burn out, then they will not get the benefit of the energy and enthusiasm you can provide: You owe it to them to enjoy your job!
It is possible also that the job itself is badly designed and that contradictions inherent within it are causing much of the stress you are experiencing. Use our Job Analysis tool to check this out. Alternatively, if frustration with lack of career development is the problem, use our Career Planning tool.
Summary:
There is a lot that you can do to avoid job burnout. Perhaps the most important thing is to recognize that you are at risk, and take this seriously.
This article briefly shows you the sort of things you can do to avoid burnout. These mainly focus on managing workload, dealing with people problems, avoiding exhaustion and protecting the meaning of your work. If you can do these things, then you should be able to avoid burnout and continue to get satisfaction from the work you do.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Recove Burnout
Recovering From Burnout
It may be too late to talk about avoiding burnout. Maybe you've already reached the stage where you are thoroughly disillusioned with your job and where you no longer get anything of emotional value from it. You may feel let down or betrayed by your organization, and may be "going through the motions" just for the money your job brings in.
While you can deal with exhaustion by taking a good break, rest may not cure this sense of disillusionment. The passion and commitment that you previously brought to your job may now have completely burned out. Without this, your career may not progress much further.
People deal with this situation in a number of different ways. Some are effective, while others are not so good:
* Doing Nothing: Often, one of the worst ways of dealing with burnout is to accept it and do nothing about it. By remaining in place, you risk becoming bitter and angry as opportunities pass you by. Your organization may come to regard you as “dead wood” and if things do not change, you may be doomed to a gradual or sudden decline. You need to change the situation in some way.
* Changing Career: If you have lost all interest in the values that led you into your profession in the first place, then career change may be the best option open to you.
The first downside of this, however, is that you lose the benefit of the precious experience you have already gained within the profession. In entering a new profession, you will be competing equally with people much younger than you, and these people may be willing to accept much lower salaries.
A second downside is that you risk a strong sense of failure in the way you handled things, whereas burnout will only have been a temporary setback if you succeed in turning the situation around.
* Changing Jobs: Job change within the same profession is usually less of an issue than full-scale career change, in that many of your skills and much of your experience will be transferrable. Job change gives you the opportunity to rededicate yourself to your original goals. It also provides a fresh start in a new environment, without the painful reminders that come with staying in the same job.
Changing jobs is an appropriate response where you are disillusioned with your organization more than you are with your career. What you risk, however, is ending up in the same situation again: In changing your job, you must make sure that you understand what lead you to burn out, and ensure that history does not repeat itself. Looking at this positively, you should know what to look for, and have a good idea of how to avoid it!
* Using Burnout as a Trigger for Personal Growth: This is probably one the most positive ways that people manage burnout: By using it as a wakeup call to re-evaluate the way they want to live their lives and what they want to achieve. We look at this in more detail below.
Using Burnout as a Trigger for Personal Growth:
Understanding Why You Burned Out
An important first step in managing burnout is to deal with the sense of failure that you may experience following it. A starting point for this is to take a long, rational, dispassionate look at the circumstances leading up to it.
A good way of doing this is by talking to someone who you trust and who is experienced in similar situations in similar organizations (you may find a personal coach helpful here). Avoid people within your own organization, as these people will be tainted with its assumptions and thinking habits: These may contribute to the problem. Take the time to talk the situation through in detail, looking at the circumstances before your involvement, your workload, your actions and the actions of other people, and the situations that evolved.
If you are the sort of person who has been committed enough to your work to burn out, it is more than likely that you will have already done everything in your power to resolve the situation.
In reflecting, you will probably find that you made some mistakes, but you will most likely see that these are excusable under the circumstances. You will almost certainly see that a great deal of blame should be attributed externally to the situation, to people around you, or to the people who set up the situation in the first place. In your mind, make sure you place this blame where it fairly belongs.
Lessons that people typically learn through this process are that they are not superhuman, that hard work does not cure all ills, and that major achievements need the commitment and support of other people: In many circumstances, the intense commitment of only one person simply is not enough. They also learn to look at situations with skepticism as they go into them, and to trust their own judgment in spotting and communicating problems early on.
Learn the lessons of your mistakes so that you do not repeat them.
Moving On… Finding New Direction
Having come to terms with the situation, the next step is to re-evaluate your goals and think about what you want to achieve with your life. We touch on this briefly in our Avoiding Burnout article; however in recovering from burnout, it is worth doing this in detail.
Articles on the Mind Tools main site guide you through the processes of thinking about what you want to achieve with your life and of reviewing and setting life goals.
Inform these processes with the increased wisdom and self-understanding you will have gained by understanding why you burned out. Ensure that you give due weight to the relaxation, quality of life issues and social activities that will help to protect you against burnout in the future. Make sure that your goals are set in a balanced manner so that they do not conflict with one-another, and that they are not so challenging that they become a source of excessive stress in their own right.
Next, use SWOT Analysis to more fully understand your current position with respect to these goals. Use it to identify where you need to develop new skills and capabilities, and to understand where you need the help of other people.
Make an Action Plan for achieving these goals and start work on it. While part of this Action Plan may include changing job or career, you will be doing this as part of an active plan for the future, not as an escape from one job into another one that is equally bad.
As well as taking these active steps to put burnout behind you, make sure that you adopt the steps towards a healthy lifestyle we looked at in our Defenses Against Stress section. These will help you to avoid exhaustion and long-term stress in the future.
It may be too late to talk about avoiding burnout. Maybe you've already reached the stage where you are thoroughly disillusioned with your job and where you no longer get anything of emotional value from it. You may feel let down or betrayed by your organization, and may be "going through the motions" just for the money your job brings in.
While you can deal with exhaustion by taking a good break, rest may not cure this sense of disillusionment. The passion and commitment that you previously brought to your job may now have completely burned out. Without this, your career may not progress much further.
People deal with this situation in a number of different ways. Some are effective, while others are not so good:
* Doing Nothing: Often, one of the worst ways of dealing with burnout is to accept it and do nothing about it. By remaining in place, you risk becoming bitter and angry as opportunities pass you by. Your organization may come to regard you as “dead wood” and if things do not change, you may be doomed to a gradual or sudden decline. You need to change the situation in some way.
* Changing Career: If you have lost all interest in the values that led you into your profession in the first place, then career change may be the best option open to you.
The first downside of this, however, is that you lose the benefit of the precious experience you have already gained within the profession. In entering a new profession, you will be competing equally with people much younger than you, and these people may be willing to accept much lower salaries.
A second downside is that you risk a strong sense of failure in the way you handled things, whereas burnout will only have been a temporary setback if you succeed in turning the situation around.
* Changing Jobs: Job change within the same profession is usually less of an issue than full-scale career change, in that many of your skills and much of your experience will be transferrable. Job change gives you the opportunity to rededicate yourself to your original goals. It also provides a fresh start in a new environment, without the painful reminders that come with staying in the same job.
Changing jobs is an appropriate response where you are disillusioned with your organization more than you are with your career. What you risk, however, is ending up in the same situation again: In changing your job, you must make sure that you understand what lead you to burn out, and ensure that history does not repeat itself. Looking at this positively, you should know what to look for, and have a good idea of how to avoid it!
* Using Burnout as a Trigger for Personal Growth: This is probably one the most positive ways that people manage burnout: By using it as a wakeup call to re-evaluate the way they want to live their lives and what they want to achieve. We look at this in more detail below.
Using Burnout as a Trigger for Personal Growth:
Understanding Why You Burned Out
An important first step in managing burnout is to deal with the sense of failure that you may experience following it. A starting point for this is to take a long, rational, dispassionate look at the circumstances leading up to it.
A good way of doing this is by talking to someone who you trust and who is experienced in similar situations in similar organizations (you may find a personal coach helpful here). Avoid people within your own organization, as these people will be tainted with its assumptions and thinking habits: These may contribute to the problem. Take the time to talk the situation through in detail, looking at the circumstances before your involvement, your workload, your actions and the actions of other people, and the situations that evolved.
If you are the sort of person who has been committed enough to your work to burn out, it is more than likely that you will have already done everything in your power to resolve the situation.
In reflecting, you will probably find that you made some mistakes, but you will most likely see that these are excusable under the circumstances. You will almost certainly see that a great deal of blame should be attributed externally to the situation, to people around you, or to the people who set up the situation in the first place. In your mind, make sure you place this blame where it fairly belongs.
Lessons that people typically learn through this process are that they are not superhuman, that hard work does not cure all ills, and that major achievements need the commitment and support of other people: In many circumstances, the intense commitment of only one person simply is not enough. They also learn to look at situations with skepticism as they go into them, and to trust their own judgment in spotting and communicating problems early on.
Learn the lessons of your mistakes so that you do not repeat them.
Moving On… Finding New Direction
Having come to terms with the situation, the next step is to re-evaluate your goals and think about what you want to achieve with your life. We touch on this briefly in our Avoiding Burnout article; however in recovering from burnout, it is worth doing this in detail.
Articles on the Mind Tools main site guide you through the processes of thinking about what you want to achieve with your life and of reviewing and setting life goals.
Inform these processes with the increased wisdom and self-understanding you will have gained by understanding why you burned out. Ensure that you give due weight to the relaxation, quality of life issues and social activities that will help to protect you against burnout in the future. Make sure that your goals are set in a balanced manner so that they do not conflict with one-another, and that they are not so challenging that they become a source of excessive stress in their own right.
Next, use SWOT Analysis to more fully understand your current position with respect to these goals. Use it to identify where you need to develop new skills and capabilities, and to understand where you need the help of other people.
Make an Action Plan for achieving these goals and start work on it. While part of this Action Plan may include changing job or career, you will be doing this as part of an active plan for the future, not as an escape from one job into another one that is equally bad.
As well as taking these active steps to put burnout behind you, make sure that you adopt the steps towards a healthy lifestyle we looked at in our Defenses Against Stress section. These will help you to avoid exhaustion and long-term stress in the future.
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