imapMyTeam Blog

‘StressBuster’

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” 

                                                                                               ~~ William James

Stress behaviors will look different depending on who we’re talking about.  For some, they look like rigidity, others it’s anxiety, and there are those where it’s visible pushiness while some will suck it all in and feel the pain privately.  The common denominator of all stress behaviors, no matter what they look like, is that they are a reaction to not getting something that we need.

When you shift into your stress behavior, you lose your power to choose how you want to manage a situation and run the risk of creating damage.  Full blown stress behaviors are counter-productive and they limit our ability to succeed. The stress initially begins by impacting our own ability to cope and quickly spreads to those around us. These unchecked stress behaviors are costly and can have significant organizational consequences such as:

·         alienated employees

·         interpersonal conflict

·         shift in focus from team to personal wins

·         a cycle of poor decision making

·         wasted time and resources

Stop the free-fall!

The quickest way to halt this free fall into stress reactions and avoid their damaging consequences is a StressBuster; a simple technique to help you regain self-control.  It uses the strengths that are opposite of the stress to create balance and control.

We have attached a one page pdf to this email that gives you two charts.  The first one describes stress behaviors and the second gives ideas of what to do should they occur.  To find out which quadrant you should be paying attention to, go to imapMyTeam and see what color your circle and square are located in.  This indicates what your needs are and how you will react if they’re not met.

Open the PDF and look at that same color quadrant for a description of how you may react. 

Now here’s the tricky part…..Your StressBuster comes from the diagonally opposite quadrant to where your circle and square are located.  Choose these behaviors when the stress reaction occurs to make sure that you don’t cause damage to yourself, other people or the work you’re responsible to deliver.