People often don’t mind challenges and obstacles, yet people say that change and problems cause them stress? We know that people need to be challenged and that learning itself is about stretching ourselves beyond what we currently believe we are capable of achieving, yet people are so stressed out that it is hard to know when to push and when to pull back.
What is the answer?
Here’s a good formula to remember to help see what might be causing stress and to create environments where people can be challenged without getting overly stressed out:
High Demands + Low Control = Stress
When we have the demands, but no way to control the outcome we get freaked out. For some managers it may mean that you need to make sure that those who work for you have the authority to make decisions that will affect the outcomes. For those affected in situations where you have no control, it may mean focusing on those things you can control.
The fact is that we can’t control everything, some circumstances are outside of our reach, but we can control many things and the systems which we create.
What are some ways we can alleviate stress so that we can be happier, healthier people?
David Curry
