Babies are born “stressed.”
Actually babies are born to experience stress. You see the word stress, coined by Hans Selye back in the 1950’s, is neutral. Stress is simply something that challenges and produces growth. We all have different stress levels that are optimal for us. We have to learn our own, and learn how to “level up” if we want to keep growing. Funny, huh.
Too much challenge and too little capacity produce what is properly termed, distress. Too much of this, overtime, leads to hyper-stress. Hyper-stress leads to all kinda problems and usually excites some kinda explosion. This does not lead to high performance in the long run.
Too much capacity and too little challenge produce boredom. Boredom, overtime, leads to disillusion, de-energizing, and usually ends in some kinda depression. This aint the one you want either.
Eustress is just the right amount of challenge and just the right amount of capacity that produces the growth we’re all after. This is not a static state. This is mostly under your control. And, this will require you to know yourself, and know how to manage your mind. It just will.
Today, I reminded one of my clients that they have a clear OPUS and a clear problem too. They haven’t connected their team to theirs and are beginning to lose hope that they ever will. The reality is that they are building their capacity toward this end. Very good. The problem is that they’ve challenged themselves to accomplish this task in too short a window of time. The challenge is beyond their capacity.
I reminded my client to remember what it is like to watch our babies respond to the stress of not being mobile. They don’t come out of the womb sprinting. Slowly, every child learns to crawl, walk, and run. This is always the order. This is why, at BTL, we emphasize taking “baby steps” of productive action to move yourself forward. Today, my client chose a baby step.
Distress took a dive.
Want to build your performance?
Manage your stress. Do not wait for someone else to do it. Build your capacity alongside your challenge. Push yourself outside your comfort zone into your challenge zone and occassionally into the “panic zone.” You can’t find the edge without tripping up once in awhile.
And, when you land on your bump, just remember that it only hurts for awhile. Dust yourself off, hold onto the “coffee table” just a bit longer and then go for it again.
Go…
BUILT TO LEAD 