What is stress and self regulation

1. Management of self-regulation
and stress
Leadership Journey - MAN309

2. Self Regulation
 Self-regulation is the ability to control one's behavior, emotions,
and thoughts in the pursuit of long-term goals.
 More specifically, emotional self-regulation refers to the ability to
manage disruptive emotions and impulses—in other words, to
think before acting.
 Self-regulation also involves the ability to rebound from
disappointment and act in a way consistent with your values. It is
one of the five key components of emotional intelligence.

3. How Self-Regulation Develops
 Your ability to self-regulate as an adult has roots in your
childhood.
 Learning how to self-regulate is an important skill that children
learn both for emotional maturity and, later, for social
connections.
 In essence, maturity reflects the ability to face emotional, social,
and cognitive threats in the environment with patience and
thoughtfulness.

4. Why Self-Regulation Is Important
 Self-regulation involves taking a pause between a feeling and an
action—taking the time to think things through, make a plan, wait
patiently.
 It's easy to see how a lack of self-regulation will cause problems
in life. A child who yells or hits other children out of frustration will
not be popular among peers and may face discipline at school.
 An adult with poor self-regulation skills may lack self-confidence
and self-esteem and have trouble handling stress and frustration.
 Often, this might result in anger or anxiety. In more severe cases,
it can even lead to being diagnosed with a mental health
condition.

5. Qualities of Self-Regulators
 Act in accordance with their values
 Calm themselves when upset
 Cheer themselves when feeling down
 Maintain open communication
 Persistence through difficult times
 Put forth their best effort
 Remain flexible and adapt to situations
 See the good in others
 Stay clear about their intentions
 Take control of situations when necessary
 View challenges as opportunities

6. Significance
 Self-regulation allows you to act in accordance with your deeply
held values or social conscience and to express yourself
appropriately.
 If you value academic achievement, it will allow you to study
instead of slacking off before a test. If you value helping others, it
will allow you to help a coworker with a project, even if you are on
a tight deadline yourself.
 Self-regulation allows us to be more resilient and bounce back
from failure while also staying calm under pressure.
 Researchers have found that self-regulation skills are tied to a
range of positive health outcomes. This includes better resilience
to stress, increased happiness, and better overall well-being

7. How Do You Practice Self-Regulation?
 The first step to practicing self-regulation is to recognize that
everyone has a choice in how to react to situations. While you
may feel like life has dealt you a bad hand, it's not the hand you
are dealt but how you react to it that matters most.
 Recognize that in every situation, you have three options:
approach, avoidance, and attack.
 While it may feel as though your choice of behavior is out of your
control, it's not. Your feelings may sway you more toward one
path, but you are more than those feelings.

8. How Do You Practice Self-Regulation?
 Become aware of your emotions. Do you feel like running away
from a difficult situation? Do you feel like lashing out in anger at
someone who has hurt you?
 Monitor your body to get clues about how you are feeling if it is
not immediately obvious to you. For example, a rapidly increasing
heart rate may be a sign that you are entering a state of rage or
even experiencing a panic attack.

9. Stress Management
 Stress management involves using various techniques and
coping strategies to manage your overall stress levels, improve
how you react to stressful things in your life, and build resilience.
 Managing stress is all about taking charge: of your thoughts,
emotions, schedule, environment, and the way you deal with
problems.
 The ultimate goal is a balanced life with time for work,
relationships, relaxation, and fun, plus the ability to hold up under
pressure and meet challenges head on.
 But there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to stress management.
That’s why it’s important to experiment and find out what works
best for you.

10. Identify the causes
 Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in
your life. This isn’t as straightforward as it sounds.
 While it’s easy to identify major stressors such as changing jobs,
moving, or going through difficult times, pinpointing the sources of
chronic stress can be more complicated.
 It’s all too easy to overlook how your thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors contribute to your everyday stress levels.
 Sure, you may know that you’re constantly worried about work
deadlines, but maybe it’s your procrastination, rather than the
actual job demands, that is causing the stress.

11. 4 As of stress management

12. Avoid unnecessary stress
 Not all stress can be avoided, and it’s not healthy to avoid a
situation that needs to be addressed.
 But you may be surprised by the number of stressors in your life
that you can eliminate.
 Learn how to say “no.” Know your limits and stick to them
 Avoid people who stress you out
 Avoid hot-button topics
 Analyze your schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks. If you’ve
got too much on your plate, distinguish between the “shoulds”
and the “musts.

13. Alter the situation
 If you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Often, this
involves changing the way you communicate and operate in your
daily life
 Express your feelings instead of bottling them up
 Be willing to compromise
 Be more assertive
 Find balance

14. Adapt to the stressor
 If you can’t change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt
to stressful situations and regain your sense of control by
changing your expectations and attitude.
 Reframe problems.
 Look at the big picture
 Adjust your standards
 Practice gratitude

15. Accept the things you can’t change
 Some sources of stress are unavoidable.
 You can’t prevent or change stressors such as the death of a
loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession.
 In such cases, the best way to cope with stress is to accept things
as they are. Acceptance may be difficult, but in the long run, it’s
easier than railing against a situation you can’t change.

16. Accept the things you can’t change
 Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are
beyond our control, particularly the behavior of other people.
 Look for the upside. When facing major challenges, try to look at
them as opportunities for personal growth.
 Learn to forgive. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world
and that people make mistakes. Let go of anger and resentment.
 Share your feelings. Expressing what you’re going through can
be very cathartic, even if there’s nothing you can do to alter the
stressful situation.