Stress is a problem. And it is managed like any other operational problem faced by managers in an organization. BUT, and this is important, you most likely will have to do two things: educate yourself about it and develop new skills.
One has to manage stress day by day. We don’t eat once a week. Neither should you put together a program. You might view this as a never-ending battle where you win-lose should be better and better. And it will if you have a process in place.
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write; it will be those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” — Alvin Toffler
Written by Murray Johannsen. I welcome connections via LinkedIn or directly on this website. And DON’T MISS OUT on insightful content on our Linkedin feeds. Themes for posts are: 21st Century Skills: What’s Needed and What’s Not; AI Savvy: Essential Skills For AI at Work; and Bootstrapping Your Dreams: Growing Digital Business Skills.
Get the Most From Meditation
Meditation has many benefits besides the ability to relax. But, just this one thing makes it worth while learning.
Learn the Practice of Meditation
Meditation is a natural, latent relaxation response built into the mind-body. It works — as tens millions who have used it over thousands of years can attest.
Don’t delay. Get started now to take greater control.
Plus you can unlock your earning potential by participating in our affiliate program by referring others.
Stress Management: Start Giving Yourself Control
“Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.” — Richard Carlson.
There are two stress management phases.
Phase 1: Diagnostic Phase
This consists of figuring out what your stressors are. Be sure to look at the environment, the mind, and the body.
But you should seek help from a mental health professional if you are overwhelmed, feel you cannot cope, have suicidal thoughts, or use drugs or alcohol to cope.
Phase 2: Intervention Phase
This phase means that you must add more tools than you currently use. Typically, people don’t have robust tools and will need to add more to their daily routine.
Getting Started
Diagnose the Symptoms of Your Stress. So how do you know you are stressed out? This article lists stress symptoms impacting intellectual, emotional, and psychical symptoms.
Know The Effects of Stress. Besides that, how it affects the mind and body and stress and performance — mostly lousy news here.
Sources of Stress. One aspect of stress management is knowing where your stress comes from. So first, examine the three primary sources of stress: environmental, psychological, and physiological.
Prevent Stress-Related Illness. When you are young, you don’t worry about stress. Big mistake. You will pay for this with more misery and suffering when you are older.
Educate Yourself
Up Your Knowledge and Understanding
All games have a set of rules. You can’t win at chess if you don’t understand the game. One cannot beat back stress if we don’t understand the nature of the problem. If you are ignorant, best be lucky.
Find Your Teacher and Coach
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” — Said by many in the martial arts traditions and Buddhism.
Dealing With The Problem of Stress
This is when the standard process does not work. Something may have changed in life. An example is the chaos and worry created by the new coronavirus. But it could be losing a loved one, getting laid off, a sickness, a fight with your wife, and the ever-present problem with money — usually not enough.
Step 1: Problem Definition
Essentially, your need to know why you are learning something and how the knowledge or skill applies to your life.
Management problem solving classically always starts with a performance gap—a distance between where you now are and where you want to be.
I see it all the time. Worthless solutions, tips that don’t work. Techniques that are a total waste of money. One would have known this if there had been a clear understanding of the nature of the problem. Happily, you don’t need an M.D. But unfortunately, it turns out that the doctors don’t understand how to deal with stress either. One could see this in the burnout numbers associated with the Covid pandemic.
If life were a paradise, there would be no need to waste our time with this. But, something happens. We are TESTED. A test is a challenge that pulls us out of the complacency bubble. For many, the new coronavirus is such a test.
Getting Started Exercise
In one paragraph, write where you are. Describe your current state in one paragraph, then describe the desired state. Where you want to be. This is harder than it sounds. What would it mean to be “stress-free?”
“Ignorance of stress is an enemy who must be defeated.” — Murray Johannsen
2. Situation Analysis
Like a great detective, the process starts, and it begins with understanding and insight. Suffering has multiple causes. Anxiety has causes. But there might be many causes.
Stress management starts with knowing what your stressors are. Some are more important than others. Some come from the environment; many come from the mind itself. How the mind perceives and believes about an external stressor is more critical than the stressor itself.
From a control standpoint, one can try to control your external stressors. But, of course, a nasty boss is a creature one cannot do a great deal about until one transfers out. So the external environment sometimes cannot be controlled.
But we control our emotions, states of mind, and thoughts. If we get good at it, that chaos around us will not affect us — something called equanimity. For most of us, the environment is less stressful than the suffering created by our imagination, our worries, and our imaginary fears.
We should take comfort in having almost perfect control over our mind — if we choose to exercise it.
3. Generate Solutions
“The best way to have a great idea is to have many ideas.” — Linus Pauling, Two times winner of the Noble Prize.
You might be an expert already; if so, you can quickly develop a list of solutions. However, you can still do some common-sense actions if you are not.
Real-World Story 1: When I’m stressed, I listen to music. Listening to music I like helps me to relax and enjoy my time. Music helps me to be alone. Shopping is the next way to reduce my stress. I love shopping. It helps me relax and get energy. When I buy the things I like, it makes me happy, thus making me feel energized.
Real-World Story 2: I need a technique that works —not all of them do. You must understand well enough to decide whether someone or something can do what it’s supposed to do. For example, will the meditation app work? Why do you need an app anyway?
Create Your Plan
For some of you, the plan might be to make changes you know you should make but never get around to it.
6. Implement Your Plan
Most who read a self-help book never put the advice into action. Rare is the person who is willing to teach themselves and practice as well.
As you know, perfect practice makes perfect. So if you’re not willing to practice, you need a coach.
Want To Mastery Meditation More Quickly? Get Your Own Executive Coach
Legacee’s founder, Murray Johannsen coaches on meditation. He speaks from experience — having started meditating at 22. And he’s well aware of the unique stressors faced by executives and entrepreneurs and how to deal with them.
Learn To Dial Down Stress
Access On-site Resources
Related Pages
References
The Mayo Clinic: Stress Management by Exercise. Exercise is one of the best methods to manage stress. Therefore, it is essential to do something daily to relax the muscles and prevent muscle spasms.
The Mayo Clinic Stress Management Resources. A plain page with some resources
Opping, Thomas (2019). Psychologists Explain How to Stop Over-Thinking Everything It is hard to stop thoughts sometimes. Here is one example, “I’m an overthinker. I do it without thinking about it, which often happens at night. Most nights, I can’t sleep right away because my thoughts are redoing everything I did during the day.”
Cohen, Ilene (2017). 10 Simple Tactics to Manage Anxiety and Panic Attacks, Psychology Today. You might find a couple worth trying in a list of ten suggestions. Not the best list, but worth a scan.
Harvard Medical School (N.D.). Exercising To Relax. The Med School publishes many good programs for those who understand that health is something you must work at since it typically can’t be found in the magic pill. Two excellent techniques are covered here.
Mental Help Net (N.D.). Methods of Stress Reduction. Good article here. Some robust techniques work well if practiced. It also talks about treatment and preventive actions.
Robinson, Lawrence, Smith, Melinda, MA, Segal, Robert, Stress Management: How to Reduce, Prevent and Cope With Stress, Helpguide
Rethink Mental Illness: (N.D.). Stress: How To Cope. Nice article here. It was jammed full of helpful advice. Well thought out—a keeper.
Star, Donna (2019): How to Stop Your Constant Worrying. VeryWellMind. Sometimes the worst stressors are those we create ourselves. Unfortunately, thoughts are sometimes our worst enemy when it comes to anxiety.