8 Research-Backed Strategies
to Make Stress Work for You
By Sarah Greenberg
Lead Coach
© 2017 BetterUp, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Stress Versus Overwhelm
• Stress can motivate.
• It can help us muster up
strength and energy to take
on worthy challenges.
• It provides the activation we
need to conquer a project,
or rock that talk.

Stress Versus Overwhelm
• Overwhelm can freeze us in our
tracks.
• Overwhelm is the enemy of flow,
creativity, and productivity.
• It puts a strain on relationships
and can get in the way of your
capacity for effective leadership.

Success usually
encompasses
stretching ourselves
beyond our current
capacity, and
navigating unfamiliar,
challenging terrain.

Unfortunately,
that can cause
a lot of stress
and overwhelm.

“Preventing
overwhelm” and
“thriving in chaos”
are unfortunately
two skills we’re not
usually taught.

But stress is an inevitable
part of life.

While it’s not possible to
completely remove stress from
our lives, there are practical,
actionable,
and research-based tactics
for “getting good at stress,”
and preventing overwhelm.

Calm is a skill,
not a permanent state.

One reason we may feel
stress or overwhelm in
the workplace is that
our success can feel
tied to our overall sense
of survival and identity.

58%
of Americans identified work
as a significant source of
stress in their lives.
Source: The American Psychological Association

Studies show that about half
of all work absence is due to
work-related stress disorders.

“You can’t
stop the waves,
but you can
learn to surf.”
— Jon Kabat-Zinn

8 strategies for learning to
surf life’s inevitable waves

Take your temperature
According to author and psychologist Daniel Goleman,
all effective leaders have one trait in common:
emotional intelligence.

A good place to start is to ask yourself a
few times per day, “How am I doing?”
When teaching children to practice
“tuning in,” child psychologists often
give them the visual of a thermometer.
The lower part, level 1, is cool and
calm. The red part, level ten, is hot,
stressed, and probably overwhelmed.

Manage your energy
Energy management means working to balance
that which depletes you with that which enlivens you,
so that at the end of each day, week, or year,
you end up with a surplus, or a balance, not a deficit.

Conduct an energy audit
For the next three days, write down
all your tasks at work and beyond, and
note whether each one drains you or
fills your cup. Include both intentional
activities and unintentional diversions.

After three days, review your balance sheet
Are there any changes you can make
to do less of what drains or more of
what enlivens you? Any surplus you
build over time will be a critical asset
when encountering challenges.

Protect your time
Often, the most clear takeaway from an energy audit
is the need to protect your time in order to achieve
your goals.

Start with one or two hour blocks
where you commit to turning off
all notifications, and have a clear,
achievable, and important goal in mind
for what you wish to accomplish.
As a leader, encourage your team
to also carve out “focus blocks” in
their calendars, too.

Micro-change
The average US worker takes about half of their
paid vacation time, leaving the rest on the table.

In her recent book, Micro-Resilience,
Bonnie St. John shares how the
simplest of techniques, such as
smelling holiday spices, and drinking
water, can go a long way toward
managing stress and optimizing
your productivity, hour by hour.

Try the “reversi” technique
Write down a limitation or an obstacle
you’re currently facing on one side of
a note card. Now flip the card over
and write the opposite of what you
wrote on the front.

Cultivate Purpose
Purpose is the feeling that your work is meaningful and contributes
to a mission that goes beyond yourself.
It’s one of the four characteristics that researcher and professor,
Angela Duckworth, sees in individuals who are high in Grit.

To hone your sense of purpose,
consider what it is about your work that
drives you. When your sense of
purpose is high, capture it in writing.

Feeling low on purpose?
Focus on the people that are positively
impacted by your work in ways large
and small. Notice if there are any
small shifts you can make
to amplify your positive impact.

Stop making stress the enemy
The difference between those who thrive in the face
of stress and those who falter can be attributed to
whether or not you view stress as a harmful or an
inevitable part of life.

One way to reframe your relationship
with stress is to write down the two or
three most challenging experiences of
your life.
Choose ones that were tough, but that
you’ve successfully moved through.

Next, write down the gifts that came
from each challenge, such as new
skills, stronger personal connections,
or greater resilience.

What you’re left with is a meaningful
reminder that what doesn’t kill us, can
indeed make us stronger.

Stay connected
The neutral or positive impact of stress
only applies when you have strong social
connections.

Relationships literally protect us
from the ill effects of stress.

Do it for your team
Cultivating your capacity to stay centered amidst
chaos has positive ripple effects on your team,
and all those close to you.

That’s because of what researchers call
“emotional contagion.”

A great analogy is the experience of
turbulence on a plane. Imagine how it
feels when the pilot is visibly nervous
versus cool and calm, and how this
affects your mindset.

Being centered is not a permanent trait,
but rather an actively cultivated state.

A professional coach can work with
individuals to develop techniques to
lower stress and turn it into a strength,
not a weakness.
To learn more, reach out to BetterUp at
www.betterup.co

This presentation was based on a blog post written by
Sarah Greenberg, Lead Coach at BetterUp. Sarah is a
Harvard-educated coach and licensed psychotherapist
who has worked with leaders from top organizations,
first responders in crisis situations, and even teens
beating all odds to complete their education in rural
Africa. She has witnessed the most extraordinary
human resilience in the most extreme circumstances.