Best Practices: Stress Management

Stress Management: An Overview

Stress is a stealthy and sometimes perplexing influence in our lives. It can motivate us to great accomplishments. Or it can nearly paralyze us.

The good news is that, while we often can't control the "in" box of external pressures that weigh on us, we can always control how we think about them and how we choose to deal with them.

The bad news is that, if we have not been taking care of ourselves physically and mentally, our ability to handle inevitable stressors may be severely limited -- and our health compromised.

Four TEC speakers, whose goal is to enlighten members about how they can manage their stress, adjust their thinking and conquer change, share their expertise in this module.

H. Martin Blacker, M.D., Mike McCaffrey, Mike Scott and Bowen F. White, M.D. contribute their individual knowledge about the phenomenon of stress, and their combined wisdom about how to keep it in perspective.

How Stress Affects You

When you don't manage stress, it manages you.

Chronic stress -- lasting four months or more -- can compromise your immune system and make it more likely that you will fall ill.

If you think stress is something you'll get around to addressing "someday" in your life, it's time to take stock.

Beyond the physical impact that stress can have, studies show that chronic stress interferes with our ability to think.

"It attacks those areas of the brain responsible for acquisition of new information -- our ability to learn something new and to access that which we already have learned," says TEC speaker H. Martin Blacker, M.D.

And here's the kicker: We need clear thinking to stay on top of our stress.

The demands of a CEO's job can be energizing, or exhausting. Which of these is the prevailing reaction for you?

Resisting Change: The Allure of the Status Quo

Many people know that the way they are handling stress is debilitating, yet they refuse to change. No wonder: undertaking change, in itself, creates stress.

So they may engage in denial, or avoid it by relying on their "proven" methods to reduce their stress, such as having several drinks of alcohol every night.

Our bodies and minds sometimes are in conflict; but the pain of change in fact may be less than the pain of the status quo.

TEC speaker Bowen F. White, M.D. says to go to the source: yourself. "Adopt the mindset that the other person in your relationships is not the problem, you are the problem. In fact, you are the central problem in your life," he says. "From that perspective, you also become the solution."

A "Stress-Busting'" Attitude

Developing a positive, stress-busting attitude is the first step to taking charge of stress. Remember: You can't control many things that happen to you, but you can control your attitude.

TEC speaker Mike McCaffrey points out that executives have chosen the lives they lead -- with their money issues, people issues and time commitment. "If you look at it as a series of have-tos, imprisonment, bondage, you'll enjoy it less well than if you recognize it's your choice," he says.

One technique to thwart stress, recommended by Dr. Hans Selye, an authority on stress in life, involves doing a "gross impact activity" -- pounding something -- to release tension in a productive way. Opportunities to fight stress range from hitting a punching bag to running or jogging (pounding the pavement), or hacking at weeds.

By working off steam, we can calm ourselves. By exercising choice in our attitudes, we can make changes and become master of our moods. By choosing our "self-talk" carefully, we can redirect our behavior and actions.

Accountability: A Key to Defusing Stress

As pressures build at the office, you may vent in frustration or anger -- which only raises the level of stress in your world. The pent-up stress that you release may be absorbed by, and accumulating in your employees.

Can some of your stress be traced to the fact that your organization is not operating from a position of accountability?

TEC Speaker Mike Scott recommends these steps to building accountability:

1. Adopt the right attitude.
   
   
2. Be accountable yourself.
   
   
3. Hold others accountable.
   
   
4. Write down your priorities.
   
   
5. Make and expect commitments.
   
   
6. Get and give support.

It's also important to be able to delegate effectively, and let go. Steps he recommends to do this are:

1. Be clear about the results you want.
   
   
2. Establish a date/time for completion.
   
   
3. Schedule a date for a progress report.

Managing Yourself for Stress Reduction

In order to manage yourself, Scott recommends creating two types of lists:

• A "Master To Do List"(see Appendix B), and
  
  
• A "Six Most Important Things to Do List" (see Appendix B).

These simple self-imposed activities can help you accomplish everything from remembering where the keys are to accomplishing a major project.

Rx: Relaxation

To manage tomorrow's stress, you must begin today.

TEC experts agree that techniques like learning the "Relaxation Response," meditating, and doing aerobic exercise will all benefit executives interested in managing their stress.

The catch is: you can't expect to begin these activities when you're stressed and expect results.

Dr. Blacker says that, for meditation or practicing the relaxation response, you need to devote 10 to 20 minutes daily. For aerobic exercise to offer optimum benefit, you need to do at least 20 to 30 minutes of exercise daily, and be sure to warm up at least five minutes before doing any exercise that will put stress on your heart.

Regularly following stress-immunization activities gives us the ability to bounce back and take charge of stressful circumstances as they arise.

Change Your Focus

Many stress management techniques focus inward -- on what you can do to relax and reduce tension. Another way to diminish stress, TEC experts agree, is by focusing on others, and pursuing balance.

"The best leader is the best servant, so executives ought to be serving everybody they lead," says Dr. White.

To attain balance, you may need to learn how to play non-competitively. Think about any fun you had as a child that didn't involve winning. What was it? How could you revive that interest today, or take up something similar?

Change Your Life

Stress management techniques can help you cope with stress in your life. Change can help you remove many of the stressors.

Meditating or working out may help you cope with trouble in your marriage, but it won't help you change the status quo, Dr. White says.

Tough but important questions are:

• How can I have a better marriage?
  
  
• What can I do to have a better relationship with my children?
  
  
• How can I work on my relationship with my business partner?

"Fundamentally, how can you put your highest values to work in your life? And that's one set of values -- whether your at home or at work," he says.

"Being healthy can be defined as 'the ability to love, work, play and think soundly,'" says Dr. White.

In order to be healthy and manage stress optimally, you may need to cope -- and change.

Contributing Experts:

H. Martin Blacker, M.D.

H. Martin Blacker, MD., MSc (biochemistry), is a neurosurgeon who trained for six years in a combined fellowship and residency in neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. After residency, he obtained a post-doctoral fellowship in neurophysiology at the University of Wisconsin. He then joined the faculty of Neurosurgery at the University of Kentucky Medical Center, where he won the Outstanding Teacher Award, eventually becoming the Chairman of Neurosurgery. He developed a special interest in chronic pain and started a pain clinic at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. He was then recruited to start a Pain Clinic at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where he has served for the past 20 years. He is now semi-retired and is currently on the clinical faculty of the Department of Neurosurgery at Baylor. Dr. Blacker's presentation to TEC audiences is entitled, "Stress-Proof Yourself."

Mike McCaffrey

Mike McCaffrey, a TEC speaker for the past 28 years, is a speaker/trainer specializing in personal and professional development, and sales and marketing professional services. He teaches at UCLA's Graduate School of Management's executive program and clients include General Dynamics, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Prudential Securities, and many small and medium firms. His TEC topics are "Easier Decisions, More Happiness and Less Stress" and "Effective Communications and Teamwork."

Mike Scott

Mike Scott founded his company, Mike Scott and Associates, more than 17 years ago. He provides training and keynote talks for companies and associations around the country. He has been a TEC speaker for more than nine years and has a B.S. in business and an M.S. in psychology. His TEC presentations are "Managing Stress Before It Manages You" and "Managing Priorities and Meeting Deadlines."

Bowen F. White, M.D.

Bowen F. White, M.D., combines the talents and expertise of a physician, speaker, consultant and author. He travels throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Asia conducting seminars, consulting to businesses, and speaking to public and private organizations. His latest book is "Why Normal Isn't Healthy." Dr. White speaks to TEC audiences on the topic, "Using Stress to Power Peak Performance."

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