Successful people know how to deal with stress. Directors and founders of top companies know how to control emotions, maintain composure in tense situations. In this article, we’ll show you how they do it. The success of a business depends on the ability to remain calm in a tense situation, to control emotions. This conclusion was reached by employees of the TalentSmart Consulting Center. They interviewed more than a million people and found that 90% of those who have built a career in business know the rules for dealing with stress and apply them in their work. Stress is a universal reaction of the body to the action of a stimulus, an adaptation mechanism that helps a person cope with difficulties. During the anxiety response stage, adrenaline and cortisol are released. There is a surge of energy, the heart beats faster, blood pressure and blood sugar levels rise. During the confrontation stage, a balanced expenditure of adaptation resources occurs. The person is actively and productively looking for a solution to a problem. The body returns to normal when the stressful situation is over. With prolonged stress, the stage of exhaustion sets in – the body’s defenses melt, it becomes vulnerable to various diseases. Prolonged stress makes a person irritable and lethargic, distracted and tense. Sleep is disturbed, memory problems arise. These symptoms have a negative impact on business, which is why it is so important to know how to deal with stress.
THE FIRST RULE OF FIGHTING STRESS IS NOT TO BE ABUSED ON YOUR OWN It’s been a tough day at work.
You could not clearly convey your ideas to your colleagues during the meeting: you started chattering, getting excited, interrupting. Usually you behave more reservedly and speak convincingly, but today something went wrong. Now you are self-flagellation: “I performed the worst, now my colleagues will never reckon with my opinion, I always make a mistake at the most inopportune moment.” The ability to consciously stop negative thoughts about yourself is an essential skill in managing stress. Self-flagellation is subjective conclusions, not facts. Throw them out on paper so that you can rationally and clearly assess their plausibility. The categorical statements in the spirit of “never”, “the worst”, “always”, which you said in the internal dialogue, most likely do not correspond to reality. Problems in the team: how to build relationships with difficult employees? If negative thoughts still seem like facts, show your notes to someone you trust. He will look at the situation with an open mind, help to distinguish subjective conclusions from facts, reduce anxiety and negativity from gloomy thoughts.
VALUE WHAT YOU HAVE: PREVENTION OF ANXIETY AND BAD DREAMS
The gratitude technique is an effective psychological practice in dealing with stress. Melanie Greenberg, author of The Resilient Brain, recommends answering the question: what are you grateful for to yourself, fate, parents, boss. Answers can be formulated mentally or written down. Lyudmila Demeneva, a psychologist at the Zelinohrad Family Center, advises replacing negative thoughts with positive ones.
Concentrating on achievements, expressing gratitude for them relieves anxiety, reduces the production of the stress hormone cortisol. One cannot focus on the positive and the negative at the same time. The technique of gratitude directs thoughts in the right direction. The University of California at Davis conducted a study on the effect of gratitude on stress levels. It turned out that people who daily cultivate a sense of gratitude in themselves feel energetic and cheerful. At the same time, the production of the stress hormone cortisol in the body is reduced by 23%.