ANXIETY

Aug

2019

The Stress of Anxiety for Leaders

I had returned home from work and brought all my stuff inside the house. This particularly long day required two trips from the car so I took some of my stuff and put it down in my home office. This was what started it.

The next day I was getting ready to read and could not locate the book I had been reading. I remembered bringing it in the house, but found it nowhere!

I was frustrated, angry at my lack of organization and kind of worried because I really had been finding this book helpful and using it to try and encourage people. Needing to start my day, I grabbed a different book to read on the elliptical at the gym instead of this one. For about three days though in the back of my mind I was wondering “where is that book?”

As leaders we get anxious about little problems like this, but also much more complicated problems bring anxiety. Recently I learned a few tips on dealing with worry or anxiety:

A Question

First, I had to ask myself: what is the worst that could possibly happen? I have to buy a new book and am out a few dollars and don’t have the notes I made in the old book.

Acceptance

I had to accept that worst case scenario. If that is the worst that would happen I needed to accept it . . . but I wasn’t therefore it kept running around in the back of my mind.

Shift

I needed to improve on the worst. In other words I needed to move on and forget about the problem.

I decided to apply these steps and I was about to go to Half-Price Books to purchase another copy, but decided to look one more time on my desk.

I am a typical male when I look for things such as in the refrigerator if the item is not directly in front of me I assume it is not there. As I looked at my sloppy desk I looked from another angle and there it was tucked away behind another book and under some papers!

The entertaining part of this experience was the principles above were from the following book by Dale Carnegie . . . How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.

I know, I guess I need to work at applying the principles I am learning in this book a little better.

What about you? How can you apply Mr. Carnegie’s three steps to help you with whatever is creating anxiety in your life? Share with me and in the meantime, lead well.

Oct

2018

What is Your Stress Level Like?

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!