Stress for Success!
I want to rebrand stress.
Don’t tell me to avoid stress. Like paramedics and first responders, when I hear an explosion I run toward it, not away.
OK, I’m not really talking about combat or car crashes here. I’m talking about business. Those events that cause stress, like deadlines, board meetings, due dates, and making really big decisions with not enough information: these are, it turns out, a few of my favorite things.
For me, the most fun jobs I’ve ever had came with a large helping of stress: racing toward a deadline while producing live television; juggling competing demands as a CEO; launching a start-up. And I know that those stressful situations revved me up to do my best. The challenge was energizing, not destructive.
When I sense stress creeping up on me, I know something really interesting is about to happen.
Dozens of studies and hundreds of articles have addressed the ill effects of stress and offered stress management techniques. That’s fine, because you should manage stress and not let it overwhelm you. Tara Parker-Pope of The New York Times recently published a thorough roundup and summary of studies about stress, with suggestions for how to “be better at it” (take control; practice resilience; inoculate yourself; train for it; learn to knit).
But more should be said about the benefits of stress: how it wakes you up and focuses your attention; how it gives you an energy boost; how it drives you to achieve. The Times article mentioned the researcher Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk that expanded on the results of a national study: people who think stress will make them sick increased their risk of premature death by 43 percent!
Maybe the other mistake is in thinking you can minimize stress; I’ve seen successful colleagues with incredible coping skills who just let the stress roll off, like water off a duck’s back. Yes, they exercise and meditate, but you can’t do that all day. It seems to me they haven’t minimized stress; they’ve just repurposed it.
Some call it fear, anxiety, fatigue, and worry: I’d rather not. I want to rebrand stress. Let’s call it anticipation, preparation, challenge, and focus. Let’s think of it as fuel to accomplish those really hard tasks that need some turbo-charged effort on our part.
Go ahead and call me a stress puppy, but I’m not whining about it. When I see stress creeping up on me, I work to control its bad effects, but I also get excited. I know something really interesting is about to happen.
Monica Landers is CEO of StoryFit, based in Austin, Texas. Follow her here and on Twitter.
