How To Keep Working Productively When You're
Under Extreme Stress
You've got a big
job with bigger responsibilities. Then disaster strikes. Here's how to keep it
together.
Say you’re a high performer who's risen
through the ranks. Now you have even bigger responsibilities. Or you're working
your way toward a promotion and need to show your skills and professionalism in
the best light. Then the phone call comes. The results of your medical tests
weren't good. Or you suddenly have to take care of a loved one in an emergency.
Or there's an unexpected financial hit that could spell catastrophe.
Whatever the
situation, your life just got much more complicated. While intuitively you know
that these things can happen to anyone, the anxiety of dealing with such
troubling events, coupled with the pressure to continue to perform in your job,
amps up the stress to DEFCON
1.
"A
curveball like that requires sharpening your coping skills and expanding them
so that you can deal with what’s being demanded of you," says clinical
psychologist Alicia H. Clark, adjunct professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
And there is a strategic approach you can take to help you cope and perform
better, even when you’re operating under extreme stress.
Part of the
anxiety that occurs during such urgent situations comes from feeling a loss of
control, says Matthew Digeronimo, a retired nuclear submarine lieutenant
commander and coauthor of Extreme
Operational Excellence: Applying the U.S. Submarine Culture to Your
Organization. He recommends identifying the things you
can adapt or adjust to regain some of that feeling of order. "If a family
member is ill, you might not be able to control the illness. But you can
control the manner in which you rally around that person. You can control your
working hours, or the way you react to it," he says.
Part of the
anxiety that occurs during such urgent situations comes from feeling a loss of
control.
If you can schedule meetings or calls during
your high-energy times, or work from home one day a week, take advantage of
those options. Use the power you do have to adapt your life to deal with your
new situation for the time being, he says.
We all have tasks that need to get done to
fulfill our responsibilities. However, high-performing individuals often go
beyond the basics and take on other to-dos—that’s often what makes them high
performers, Clark says. Now is the time to scale back to the most necessary and
immediate task. Ask yourself these key questions:
·
Where can I cut back?
·
Where can I save time?
·
What can I put off without much
consequence?
For example, do you need to take that trip to
China now? Or can you cut back to visiting two states instead of three on your
next trip? Can support staff handle some of the legwork on that upcoming
report? Once you have a sense of where your time needs to be spent, you can
create a list of priorities to ensure you’re getting the essentials done. Then
you can decide whether you have time or energy to take on more.
This is also a
good time to let
go of perfectionism and accept "good enough,"
Clark says. When you’re good at and take pride in what you do, it can be tough
to do the minimum acceptable job. Sometimes, that’s what’s necessary to free up
time and energy you need for other things to prevent
burnout, she says.
Extreme stress
can affect decision making as well. Recent
research from the University of Pittsburgh found
that anxiety affects the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which regulates problem
solving, impulse control, and emotion regulation.
If necessary,
take more time to make decisions or take action to be sure you get it right.
Unlike typical
periodic stress, where you may feel the pressure of events that happen from
time to time, unrelenting stress doesn’t give you time for recovery, says
Richard Citrin, PhD, founder of Citrin Consulting, a talent and leadership
development consultancy, and author of The Resilience Advantage: Stop Managing Stress and
Find Your Resilience. So your decision-making
abilitymay be taking a beating.
As a result, you need to be more intentional
about what you’re doing. Gather your facts methodically, and if necessary, take
more time to make decisions or take action to be sure you get it right, he
says.
Another
decision you’ll need to make is what—and how much—to tell those around you.
Should you tell your boss that your parent is ill? Should you tell
your boss or coworkers that you’re going through a divorce? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution here, Digeronimo says.
It’s important
to practice good self-care.
If the situation will require you to change
some of your work habits or be out of the office, then it’s probably a good
idea to tell your boss the basics and share your plan for managing the
situation. He thinks it’s not a good idea to share too much with coworkers, as
it can breed gossip and office politics. "For most of us, our coworkers
are not our source of support," he says. "I think it can only add to
your stress level if you share these types of details with them."
When Citrin’s
daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago, he and his wife
both had full-time careers. He says that one of the most important lessons he
learned throughout the experience was to accept help from other people so that
he could free up time to help his daughter. He says it can be hard for people
who are used to handling everything themselves to ask for or accept
help from others, but even allowing a neighbor to bring over
a meal can relieve one of your many demands. Clark adds that it’s important to
practice good self-care, including getting
enough sleep, exercising, and trying to manage your
stress.
Chances are that you’re going to have to
juggle a personal emergency with your work at some point. Understanding how to
keep your work life intact while managing extreme stress requires a combination
of cutting back, being mindful, and taking care of your own needs, so you can
address both work and personal demands.
GWEN
MORAN
https://www.fastcompany.com/3065300/work-smart/how-to-keep-working-productively-when-youre-under-extreme-stress?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fast-company-daily-newsletter-featured&position=2&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=11072016
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