Stress.
It’s a word to that most people associate with negatively. And there’s good reason why. Here are a few statistics from a 2017 study done by the American Institute of Stress.
- 77% of people regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress
- 73% regularly experience psychological symptoms caused by stress
- 33% feel they are living with extreme stress
- 48% say stress has a negative impact on their personal and professional life
- Annual cost to employers in stress related health care and missed work: $300 billion dollars
Just…wow. Three-quarters of us regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress. Almost three –quarters of us regularly experience psychological symptoms. And one-third of us feel like they are living with extreme stress. I don’t know about you, but I find those numbers distressing, no pun intended. (Well, maybe a little.)
Suffice to say, we’re stressed out. Like, really, really stressed out. And being so stressed out doesn’t allow us to perform our best, or to be our best selves. Then there’s the effects of being stressed out for a really long period of time. I have a friend who has been faced with enormous amounts of stress for the last two years. They recently shared that they had been diagnosed with a tumor. It was heartbreaking to hear. The word ‘disease’ doesn’t break down into ‘dis-ease’ for nothing.
So what do we do?
Fortunately, we don’t have to be destined to be stressed out for the rest of our lives. There are many things we can do to combat stress. Eat right, for one. Get enough sleep, for another. But one of the most powerful tools is to change how you relate to stress through your mindset.
Many of the stressful situations we encounter cannot immediately be changed. We simply don’t have control over them in the way that we would like. At the end of the day, we only have full control over three things; our mindsets, responses, and effort. So how we approach and interpret stress is crucial to how it affects us physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Dreading a big presentation coming up? Worried that you’ll botch it and the ensuing consequences? Here’s an interesting fact. The physiological states of nervousness and excitement are the same. The difference is in how you interpret ‘nervous’ and ‘excited’.
Instead of interpreting the worry as debilitating (nervous), you can choose to think of it as facilitating (exciting). The anxious feelings you are experiencing are related to you wanting to deliver a killer presentation. Wanting to deliver a killer presentation is a good thing. Base your response to these feelings in excitement rather than fear. Interpret the presentation from what I call a Superhero Mindset based off the work on Growth Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck. The Superhero Mindset breaks down into four dimensions.
1) See the situation or event as challenge to be overcome rather than problem to be dealt with.
2) Persist in the face of setbacks.
3) Put in the proper amount of effort, both energy and strategy.
4) Get honest feedback so that you can increase your skill and make yourself better.
Research has shown that this mindset can reduce physical symptoms of stress and increase performance. (Crum, Salovey, and Achor (2013))
Also, realize that it isn’t the end of the world if your presentation is not well-received. Yes, there can be consequences to a poor presentation, but in the end it’s just a presentation. You get to control how you respond to setbacks. Remind yourself that there is no failure, there is only feedback and that it’s all a growth process. Learn from the experience, adjust accordingly, and your next presentation will be better.
Stress doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing. We need stress. It’s what makes us grow and get better. It pushes us forward. What we don’t need is the chronic levels of stress that lead to physical and mental burnout. But you can choose how you interpret it. If you can habitually look at stress as facilitative through your mindset, you’ll have a powerful tool to build resilience.
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James
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Dr. Scott McComas is a lifelong nerd and geek based in Orlando who creates powerful transformation through performance coaching and superhero training. He offers workshops and coaching based on helping people step into the best version of themselves, their superhero selves. You can visit www.heroyou2.com for more information, or you can contact Dr. Scott directly at scott@mccomascg.com.
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