Stress is inherent in our lives, much like the sea is to sailing. While there are times when we may feel adrift, it’s essential to set our sails and take control of our direction, especially when we aim to reach specific goals or weather stormy times.
The Problem
Far too often, individuals in our workforce are overwhelmed by stress because they feel helpless in the face of their circumstances. They may feel unable to escape their situation and unwittingly slide into burnout. Getting out of burnout is far from easy, as many who have experienced it can attest. Unfortunately, many struggle to fully return to their daily lives because they are no longer as resilient as before. This is the sad reality, emphasizing the importance of actively taking control.
Entrepreneurs and leaders should consider how they can help their employees build more stress competence. Mental pressures are expected to increase in the coming years, with too many demands and tasks in the job that seem insurmountable being a reality in many organizations.
The Strategy
The solution lies partly in improving this situation from the company’s perspective, as protecting mental health is an employer’s duty. However, it’s also about empowering individuals to withstand the onslaught of tasks and set sails to determine their direction even in turbulent times.
To prevent or mitigate stress, it’s crucial to recognize stress signals early and identify initial signs of exhaustion promptly. However, many opt for the strategy of “looking away instead of looking closer.” Confronting personal stress signals requires courage and abandoning denial. Knowing one’s personal warning signs is crucial for effecting change in the current life situation.
Since the early 2000s, persolog has been dedicated to stress competence. Using a holistic approach, we examine what stresses people, how they react to it, and how they can better handle it in the future. Stress potential should always be seen as a snapshot that can change rapidly—for better or worse. Breaking through deep-seated thought patterns and habits that block or drive us in such processes is essential. This enables us to once again become the architects of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.
In Three Steps to Increased Stress Competence
If you want to work on your stress competence, it’s first about asking:
What stresses you? What triggers you? What causes this alertness in you? Then, you examine more closely: What specific reactions do you observe? This is often clearer to others than to ourselves. So, in the second step, you try to sharpen your self-awareness. The third step involves how you can deal with stress, i.e., how you can increase your stress competence with short-term and long-term strategies. Short-term means: What can you do in acute stress situations? Long-term means: How can you sustainably increase your skills and change your life so that you don’t fall into the stress trap as often in the future?
Four Starting Points for Productive Stress Management
There is not just one way to increase your stress competence with these steps, but four different starting points to address the issue holistically. The starting points are developing personality, strengthening relationships, clarifying demands, and utilizing opportunities. If you want to know more about these four ways and the specific tips they contain to increase your stress competence, be sure to check out our new book “4 Wege zu mehr Stresskompetenz“.
Debora Karsch
Master Trainer and CEO of persolog GmbH
