Have you ever chosen to create stress in your life? I do it on a daily basis.
I know, you are thinking I am crazy, but this stress is for my own good . . . to avoid the natural course of gravity as I age.
For years I have made it a daily routine to workout and that includes lifting weights. A brief course on the stress of lifting weights. We overload the muscle with a certain amount of weight in order to stress the muscle. This stress causes micro-tears in the muscles which if we allow time to recover appropriately will heal and the muscles will grow.
Have you ever over done this process? I did it to my father-in-law once. . . . I promise it was not on purpose.
He and I went to his local YMCA and I took him through a workout using all the strength training machines. He seemed fine during the workout, but a week later he was still sore! I didn’t hurt him, but I did work him a little too hard since it had been awhile since he had lifted any weights. The man could barely move his arms for days. . . . I felt bad.
How do we know if we are taking ourselves or our team outside the appropriate stress range?
- Observe. Just as there are ongoing physical signs of us overstressing our bodies there are signs of ourselves and those around us being overstressed. Some of those signs can be increased anxiety, a short temper, fatigue, and even depression just to name a few. If you are seeing these in yourself or those around you then pay attention. Does the workload need to be adjusted or the time working?
- Communicate. Spend time talking and listening to others on your team. Not only do we want to listen to their needs, but also their feedback. They may be seeing something in us that we are blind to. If we listen, we may get a step ahead of our own overstressed situation before it derails our performance the performance of those we lead.
- Pain. When we overstress our bodies we have nagging pain that doesn’t seem to go away. When we overstress ourselves in other ways it can be manifested physically by illness or the pain of strained relationships.
Stress is normal and appropriate stress stretches us and helps us grow, but when we get outside of the appropriate range we are becoming ineffective and will negatively impact our results.
What about you? How are you doing in this area as a leader? Do you have a good sense on how appropriately stressed or stretched your team is? Do you need to adjust personally or for those you lead? What is one way you can stay in the appropriate stress range today? If you found this helpful and have not joined the other people who receive these directly to their inbox then go here and click on “receive updates” and you will get a free e-book on leading better and other great tips and encouragement straight to your inbox. Lead well!
©2018 Wheeler Coaching Systems, All Rights Reserved
