Don't Let Stress Get the Best of You

We all have felt like we are under situations where our to-do lists seem endless; our days and nights become one but the overwhelming task just doesn't end. Situations when deadlines are fast approaching and you catch yourself saying 'My goodness, I am under so much stress'. That is a good understanding of stress.

But what is stress?

It is a condition under which the body feels like it is under attack and it switches to a 'fight or flight' mode. There are a lot of chemicals released in your body like cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine that change the functions of your body. All the unnecessary bodily functions shut down to help you escape this attack.

Let's use an example to better understand the fight or flight response of the body. Imagine you are walking down a lonely street and you are carrying enough money to enjoy a dinner with your friends at a five-star restaurant. Suddenly, a man jumps at you from behind a tree and points a knife at you. You could do one of the two things- 

Fight: you will make an attack strategy to knock down the thief and your body will prepare you for it.

Flight: you will look for the easiest escape route and run for your life, maybe even screaming for help on your way.

Let's list some causes that could give you stress in your life.

• Fast approaching deadlines at work or studying in a crunch time during exams. 

• Facing financial difficulties or road blocks in relationships. 

• Thinking you are not good enough for any task and feeling guilty for being a burden on everyone. 

• Not being flexible enough therefore having difficulty in adjusting to new situations. 

• Not being able to adjust or compromise easily. 

• Getting easily affected by anything pessimistic that others say.

Now we should look at the symptoms of stress; the ways in which we can recognize ourselves under stress.

• Difficulty in concentrating on the task at hand. 

• Not being able to remember small things you wouldn't forget otherwise. 

• Seeing negativity in everything. It becomes very difficult to see the glass half full. 

• Constantly worrying or being anxious. 

• Isolating yourself from everyone. 

• Feeling irritable or moody.

Stress is manageable. Before it gets out of hand we must learn to control it. Here are ways to keep stress from getting out of hand.

Adopt efficiency- when you have too many things to finish, make a time table and follow 

it closely. That way you will get everything done little by little and it won't stress you out.

Meditate- when your body starts reacting under stress, meditating will help you stay calm and on top of things.

Learn to say no- when you already have too much work to finish and someone gives you more work, don't feel bad in saying no. It is important to not wear yourself out. 

Eat right- when you are under stress you could either lose your appetite or it could become bigger than usual. But you must learn to eat the right kind of things and in an appropriate proportion.

Get enough sleep- but trying to finish all your work and skipping sleep, you won't be helping yourself. Your body will get tired faster and you will lose energy more quickly. 

You may be thinking that stress is a bad thing to have and you will try to escape it all the time. But don't worry, stress is good. It is only when you're under stress that you can push yourself to do better and achieve the impossible. You only have to keep it under control.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Dont-Let-Stress-Get-the-Best-of-You&id=9436138

Self Affirm And Problem Solve Better Under Stress

How well do you solve problems under stress? We all went through having to prepare for exams sometimes at the last minute. Perhaps you've had to come up with a business proposal on short notice. In general, it is well known that the effects of acute and chronic stress interfere with problem solving requiring flexibility and adaptation. Acute stress can help rote memory, which is probably why so many "crammers" for exams actually did satisfactorily. However, if the task involves more complex problem solving increased stress interferes.

Yet, in the last several years there is new research indicating that self-affirmation can lessen the interfering effects of stress on problem solving. What exactly is an affirmation? According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, "self-affirmation is the process of identifying and focusing on your most important values". In my own work, I prefer the definition that an affirmation is a statement that describes your goal in its completed state. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, your self affirmation might be that "I am feeling lean and powerful at my perfect body weight of 170 pounds".

Using self-affirmation can improve your problem solving skills under pressure. The research team at Carnegie-Mellon University found that a brief self affirmation activity helped buffer the negative effects of chronic stress on task performance when stress levels were rated by questionnaire, heart rate, and blood pressure.

But you have to do it right. When working with clients, I start with the following guidelines:

1. Start with the words I am. 

2. Use the present tense. 

3. State it in the positive. Affirm what you want, not what you don't want. 

4. Keep it brief. 

5. Make it specific. 

6. Include an action word ending with -ing. 

7. Include at least one dynamic emotion or feeling word. 

8. Make affirmations for yourself, not others.

Then it is important to create the affirmation for yourself using the following guidelines:

1. Visualize what you would like to create. See things just as you would like them to be. 

2. Hear the sounds you would hear if you already had achieved your vision. 

3. Feel the feeling you want to feel when you created what you want. 

4. Describe what you are experiencing in a brief statement, including what you are feeling. Start the sentence with the words "I am so happy and grateful that I now... Make sure it is stated in the present. 

5. Edit it as needed.

Self affirmations work best for you when you combine the above guidelines with visualizations of how things will be when your goal is achieved, whether it is a personal or business goal.

When you are under high stress, you will initiate better problem solving by taking a little time to create and/or reflect on a self affirmative statement that is important to you. For example, if faced with a business deadline and you are inclined to feel high levels of stress, create a self affirmation such as "I am happy that I am working well at creating cohesion among my team to complete our sales project".

This strategy is reasonably easy and you can use it before you enter a high pressure situation or start a self improvement project. Give it a try. If you start to do it regularly, you will be surprised at your successes.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Self-Affirm-And-Problem-Solve-Better-Under-Stress&id=9237818

Self Affirm And Problem Solve Better Under Stress

How well do you solve problems under stress? We all went through having to prepare for exams sometimes at the last minute. Perhaps you've had to come up with a business proposal on short notice. In general, it is well known that the effects of acute and chronic stress interfere with problem solving requiring flexibility and adaptation. Acute stress can help rote memory, which is probably why so many "crammers" for exams actually did satisfactorily. However, if the task involves more complex problem solving increased stress interferes.

Yet, in the last several years there is new research indicating that self-affirmation can lessen the interfering effects of stress on problem solving. What exactly is an affirmation? According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, "self-affirmation is the process of identifying and focusing on your most important values". In my own work, I prefer the definition that an affirmation is a statement that describes your goal in its completed state. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, your self affirmation might be that "I am feeling lean and powerful at my perfect body weight of 170 pounds".

Using self-affirmation can improve your problem solving skills under pressure. The research team at Carnegie-Mellon University found that a brief self affirmation activity helped buffer the negative effects of chronic stress on task performance when stress levels were rated by questionnaire, heart rate, and blood pressure.

But you have to do it right. When working with clients, I start with the following guidelines:

1. Start with the words I am. 

2. Use the present tense. 

3. State it in the positive. Affirm what you want, not what you don't want. 

4. Keep it brief. 

5. Make it specific. 

6. Include an action word ending with -ing. 

7. Include at least one dynamic emotion or feeling word. 

8. Make affirmations for yourself, not others.

Then it is important to create the affirmation for yourself using the following guidelines:

1. Visualize what you would like to create. See things just as you would like them to be. 

2. Hear the sounds you would hear if you already had achieved your vision. 

3. Feel the feeling you want to feel when you created what you want. 

4. Describe what you are experiencing in a brief statement, including what you are feeling. Start the sentence with the words "I am so happy and grateful that I now... Make sure it is stated in the present. 

5. Edit it as needed.

Self affirmations work best for you when you combine the above guidelines with visualizations of how things will be when your goal is achieved, whether it is a personal or business goal.

When you are under high stress, you will initiate better problem solving by taking a little time to create and/or reflect on a self affirmative statement that is important to you. For example, if faced with a business deadline and you are inclined to feel high levels of stress, create a self affirmation such as "I am happy that I am working well at creating cohesion among my team to complete our sales project".

This strategy is reasonably easy and you can use it before you enter a high pressure situation or start a self improvement project. Give it a try. If you start to do it regularly, you will be surprised at your successes.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Self-Affirm-And-Problem-Solve-Better-Under-Stress&id=9237818