You may not be able to remove stressors from your life, but you can take controls of how they affect you. Stress doesn’t have to interfere with your productivity, your health, and your happiness.

1. HBR Guide to
Managing Stress At Work
HEIDI GRANT HALVORSON
8/14/2018
Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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2. HEIDIGRANT
HALVORSON
“TheMain Thing”
 When it comes to stress, you are far from powerless.
 You may not be able to remove stressors from your life,
but you can take controls of how they affect you.
 Stress doesn’t have to interfere with your productivity,
your health, and your happiness.
 You can even learn to harness its power for good by
viewing stress – inducing challenges as opportunities
to become more skilled and resilient.
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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3. Managing
StressatWork:
Overview
 Renew your energy
 Lighten the load
 Strike a better balance
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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4. Signsof work
relatedstress
 Chronic headaches
 Impatience with colleagues, friends and family
 Loss of focus
 Fluctuating body weight
 Nails bitten to the quick
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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5. What youare
supposed todoto
prevent them?
 Stick to promises
 Work more efficiently
 Get adequate sleep
 Exercise regularly
 Limit your caffeine
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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6. Acertainamountof
stressboostsyour
productivity.
Butthenyoupushittoo
far,anditsapsyour
energy&performance
 (1) Harness stress so it spurs, not hinders, productivity
 (2) Create realistic, sustainable and manageable
rituals & routines
 (3) Aim for progress, not perfection
 (4) Make the case for a flexible schedule
 (5) Decide when to set work / life boundaries & when to
blur them
 (6) Leave a bad day at office AT THE OFFICE.
 (7) Ease the physical tension of spending too much
time at your computer
 (8) Manage a dual career relationship
 (9) Renew yourself physically, mentally, and
emotionally.
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7. Nine ways successful
people defeat stress
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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8. 1.HAVESELF-
COMPASSION.
Cutyourself some
slack
 Giving yourself permission
to make mistakes and learn from them
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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9. 2.SEETHEBIG
PICTURE
 We are more certain of who we are and what we want.
 We are therefore less likely to feel that outside forces –
such as other people, luck or fate – control what
happens to us.
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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10. 3.RELYON
ROUTINES
 Once you have put less – important decisions on
autopilot, they’ll stop weighing on you – and you’ll free
up your energy for things that matter more and most.
 President Obama “You’ll see I wear only grey or blue
suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to
make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing.
Because I have too many other decisions to make. You
need to focus your decision-making energy. You need to
routinize yourself. You can’t be going through the day
distracted by trivia.”
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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11. 4.TAKEFIVE (OR
TEN)MINUTESTO
DOSOMETHING
YOUFIND
INTERESTING.
 Engagement restores energy – scientifically proved
 INTEREST resulted in better performance on a
subsequent (routine) task as well
 Interesting does not simply mean merely pleasant, fun
or relaxing – its something that fascinates, captivates
you and REQUIRES EFFORT.
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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12. 5.ADDWHEN&
WHERETOYOUR
TO-DOLIST
 Deciding in advance when and where you will complete
a task can double or triple your chances of actually
doing it – helps seize the CRITICAL MOMENT
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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13. 6.ARTICULATE
YOURDESIRED
RESPONSE
 Make an if-then plan that links your desired response
to the situations
 Whatever thoughts or actions work for you, make them
a part of your if-then plan.
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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14. 7.FOCUSON
IMPROVING, NOT
PERFECTING
 When you catch yourself comparing your performance
with others or being too self-critical, shift your
perspective by asking yourself “am I improving ?”
 And if-not, “what can I do to change that.”
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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15. 8.APPRECIATE
THEPROGRESS
YOUHAVE
ALREADYMADE
 It’s enormously helpful to reflect on what you’ve
accomplished so far
 Remember the difficulties you’ve already encountered
and how you dealt with them
 Gives you a sense of well earned confidence
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16. 9.KNOWWHAT
MOTIVATESYOU:
WHETHEROPTIMISM
ORDEFENSIVE
PESSIMISM
WORKSFORYOU.
 Figuring out what drives you will help you reign in
your stress
 If it’s OPTIMISM, you have PROMOTION FOCUS and
you are driven by the belief that everything will work
out if you apply yourself
 By contrast if you have PREVENTION FOCUS you are
motivated by security – and hanging on to what you’ve
worked so hard for.
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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17. 9a)
PROMOTION
FOCUS
 You probably also
 Work quickly
 Brainstorm lots of alternatives to consider
 Seek positive feedback ( and loose steam without it )
 Feel dejected when things go wrong
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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18. 9b)
PREVENTION
FOCUS
 You tend to
 Work deliberately with a high degree of accuracy
 Prepare yourself for the worst
 Get stressed over short deadlines
 Stick to tried-and-true ways of doing things
 Feel uncomfortable with praise or optimism
 Get anxious when things go wrong
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19. CONCLUSION
 Put some or all of these strategies for fighting stress,
and you will see real changes
 not only in the workplace,
 but in every area of your life.
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Compiled by Ramgopal CANCHERLA
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