www.fastcompany.com: We all know that person who is constantly stressed out where everything is an ordeal. And then there’s the person who seems to go with the flow, no matter how difficult the circumstances. Sometimes these two people experience the exact same event and react in completely different ways. Why?
15 comments:
I like the way they phrased the title, I feel like I’ve never heard stress management be presented in a way where the victim of stress (if you will) needs to cater to it. Them saying “in order to make stress work for you” really intrigues me. I feel like there are multiple situations where stress is unavoidable and especially in theatre stress is something that always circulates throughout the production. I think being able to work unpressure is a skill that is difficult to acquire. It’s not really something I believe could be taught, I feel like it’s innate. But I think this article definitely gives a lot of tips and tricks on how to manage stress and make yourself used to the feeling. Rather than approaching it from a management standpoint, they’re saying this is how you should go about dealing with stress and working with it rather than trying to eliminate it.
Last semester I took a stress management class and in that class we talked a lot about good stress and bad stress and how not all stress needs to be negative on one’s health. This article presents some really good strategies on how to handle your life to make the stress you encounter good stress and not bad stress. The relationship between commitment and control presented in this article was really interesting to me because commitment seems like it is an action that one can take and control seems like it is more a feeling that is present after one has decided to be committed or has chosen where to focus their commitment. I think the difference in the title on the news from the real world page and the actual title of the article is very interesting. The title here says “3 traits you need” whereas the article title says “3 traits you must develop” the word need vs develop really makes a difference in how I perceive the article, the word need makes me feel like if I have these traits, great, and if I don’t then that sucks. Develop makes me feel like these traits can grow.
One word I saw mentioned several times in this article is "believe." Stress is controlled by our minds, so the way we think about it changes the way in which we respond to it. I appreciate this change in perspective from fighting stress to possibly benefitting from them. As much as I complain about stress, I have to admit that it pushes me to act on it. My grandpa would always tell me that the only way to reduce stress is to start doing, even if it's something small. I do see how different personalities are just more adept at handling stress, but it's good to know that these attributes are not solely something you are born with. I hadn't previously considered commitment to be linked with reduced stress, but now I see how purpose can provide a motivation for powering through the stress, or knowing that it has an ultimate purpose.
It is interesting to think about how we deal with stress in terms of hardiness. To me that word seems better fit to my dying plant that hasn't died yet than to myself reacting to stress. However, after reading this article, I realize how hardy I am when it comes to dealing with stress. Hardiness is a word used to describe military leaders in stressful situations where they have to make hard decisions. But for ordinary civilians, such as myself, hardiness is not in our vocabulary and thus do not know how to cope with stress effectively. I like how there are three C's when it comes to hardiness: Commitment, Challenge, and Control. It is interesting to think that even though you weren't born to naturally cope with stress, that you can train yourself to develop the three C's to become more hardy to stress. I also like how all three elements are inter-related. Challenge and commitment are intimately connected to control of your own life. It is an interesting take on stress that I believe is an easier way to approach stress than most.
You’re always gonna have stress, why not make it work for you. When they started to introduce hardiness it made me think directly to grit (which a few sentences late they mention) it is interesting to see Psychologist come up with these terms or definitions. I think this article came at the right time for me, I think I can learn from a lot of this advice. Stress is a useful tool, and yes it can also be harmful if you don’t manage it. There are is stress in every aspect of life, and you are going to have to deal with every situation differently. Something that I’m working on now is a situation were I feel very out of control, and so I’m working on getting a little more control of it so that it isn’t overly stressful anymore. I do like the comment on how people are marketing off of others stress and how important it is to yes find things that help but know that you can’t buy your way out of stress, you have to learn how to manage it in a psychological way. No one is perfect at managing stress and some are naturally better at managing it than others but you have to constantly work on those skills.
A large and ever present aspect of going to school here is that there is a stress culture prevalent. I thought that this approach to developing hardiness to combat the stress that pervades our time here at Carnegie Mellon was very interesting. The title of the article is very intriguing because this stress is unavoidable, it is about the way we respond to it that will ultimately affect our mental health. It’s also important to consider what things are in place or within our control to mitigate stress preemptively before it happens. This reminds me of the third point of the article, the role our control plays. A lot of stress exists outside the realm of our control, but it is important to consider that there is a great deal of control that we have in terms of taking preventative measures to avoid stress or finding ways to cope with it.
I would like to preface this comment with a brief statement on how the necessity of this article is somewhat disappointing. There is an implication that no matter what, there will be stress, often debilitating stress, present in our working society, and that at this point, there is little to be done externally to change that, so what's left is to change ourselves. That being said, this article phrases its tactics in a way that empowers the "victim of stress" to "make stress work for [them]." Dealing with stress is a very internal process and the strengthening of our "hardiness" is definitely something worth investing time in and working on. I do appreciate the idea of re-bundling stress and distributing it/utilizing it in a different way. Seems to me it's kind of like redistributing a budget: Where you hit a wall, you move other things around to make it work for you.
Sometimes I hate that stress is so prevalent and unavoidable, both in this industry and in our school and society in general. But if we can harness the weighted-blanket of stress that lands on our shoulders constantly, why not use it to our advantage? In my experience, the people that are the most successful and most well balanced are the ones who respond positively to stress, who let it fuel them and push them (healthily) to be more effective and more efficient. The trends behind self care, mindfulness, and stress management can be fascinating to look at- who is profiting off of our constant societal stress? Is anything sustainable being done to reduce this culture of constant productivity? “Grit” was the buzzword about personal growth for a while, and I think that came from the military too. Hardiness sounds like an important skill or trait to acquire, but we only have the need for it because of the society we live in and the pressures the system puts on us.
This is a really great article. I have only seen articles with advice about how to not be stressed by not procrastinating, but I have never seen an article about how to make stress work for you. I have definitely noticed that some people thrive off of their stress while others fall apart completely under pressure, so it is an interesting concept. I’d like to think I have at least somewhat what Steven Stein calls “hardiness” when it comes to stress. I think as long as you use your stress to push yourself forward instead of focusing on the negative part of it then you’ll succeed. When I get stressed I just try to calm down and tell myself that I’ll get whatever it is done cause I always do. I really like his three categories of commitment, challenge, and control. I think Stein is really on to something here.
I really like the way this article talks about stress. Most of the time, magazines and websites tend to say that the “key to living a stress-free life” (as most headlines seem to scream) is to merely stop procrastinating or to do some yoga or to practice breathing. And, of course, there is always that one product that has helped everyone who buys it miraculously become one of the least anxious or stressed out people on earth (comparable even to Buddhist monks!). It is really unfortunate how deeply entrenched we are in stress culture; in life, but also in the entertainment industry and at Carnegie Mellon. I think that these tactics of learning to control and redirect stress in a productive environment are extremely helpful, especially if stress is only a sometimes thing for a person (as opposed to a clinical anxiety disorder, which often brings up other obstacles when dealing with brain processes).
I have very mixed feelings about reading articles like these. Yes, if you have these three traits, you'll be able to handle stress in a much more positive and effective way. Yes, when you put it like that, it sounds so easy to follow these directions and instantly be stress-free. This, however, is not always the case. There are all sorts of different kinds of people who all handle stress in all sorts of different kinds of ways. It may be extremely easy for someone to read this article and have it instantly make sense to them and inspire them to look at stress right in the eye and call it a challenge, but for others (including me) reading this article doesn't exactly make it any easier for me. For me, and I cannot speak for anybody else other than myself, stress gives me a rush of adrenaline that pushes me to work my hardest. While this isn't one of the traits mentioned to "make stress work for you," this works for me. Now, it does come with its downfalls. I often catch myself waiting until the last minute to complete projects while the stress builds up until finally, it pushes me to complete all my work as best as I can. this doesn't always mean that its the best work I could possibly do and in the long run, this method has gotten me in trouble many times. All in all, I think that these tips for dealing with stress, while helpful, could use some tweaking in order to broaden the advice to people who may process stress a little differently.
While I can agree with many about the idea that those who use stress as a fuel for their work and their drive are the ones that respond most positively towards it I also don't like the idea that we must learn to use stress as a fuel. Stress is just one of many ways you can fuel your passions and I suppose the culture we have surrounded ourselves with makes it an abundant resource. While a certain amount of stress does propel me to work harder and feel like I'm accomplishing and challenging myself, at some point the question of whether it's burning me out has to cross my mind. I commented on another article earlier about recovering from burnout and it's crazy how easy it is to slip into these cycles of feeling like we are underperforming just because we're overwhelmed or tired. Sometimes rather than forcing the stress to work for you, you need to let it go and gain perspective on whether you really need to be stressed. Using stress as fuel can be a great asset, but it shouldn't be the only thing fueling you.
The article is comparing the two extremes of handling stressful situations. I wonder if traits like that are nature or nurture. People who can handle stressful situations without seizing up are more effective and solving problems because they’re not tense. Having started to work in emergency situations, everything is done methodically and correctly once so as not to cause more problems. I think it’s interesting to watch the group dynamic in the freshman studio with respect to large projects because some people say “we’ll get to it when we get to it” and some people take care of the project right away. Even within those two groups, some people are more stressed out than others, and then a subset of that group complains about being stressed versus keeping it to themselves. Presumably, there is some sort of happy medium between the two extremes and the game is figuring that out. I think that having some stress is good at motivating you, but letting it stress you out is counterproductive.
I was intrigued by the title of this article because the phrasing of “make stress work for you” implies this idea of turning something negative into a positive by changing your behavior. I’m not sure that’s exactly what the article was saying. It kept talking about how stress doesn’t have to be an enemy, that you should use these three Cs to make it work for you, but really all they meant was that when things get stressful in life you should brush it off and use it as a learning experience to figure out what you don’t want in life and move forward to what you do. Which is a nice thought, but it’s not necessarily making stress a positive thing. Rather, it’s saying that stress is still negative but the people who deal with it best are people who brush it off and are still able to get through it. I think that can be true but it also depends on the type and amount of stress you’re facing - sometimes the situation is such that viewing it clinically as a problem to be solved isn’t possible, and that doesn’t mean the person experiencing it isn’t handling it ‘correctly’.
I am a strong believer in that stress is what makes the world go 'round. For example, if the stress of living costs were no longer, then no one would work. I mean, come on. Let's be honest here. Stress is important and necessary. It drives us forward. It keeps us moving. I think American culture has definitely made stress more negative than positive, though. The hustle and bustle and "time is money" of the business world is crazy stressful and a lot more than what other countries and cultures identify with, but it's possible to make this stress positive and manageable. Like other people have said, not all stress is bad stress, and being equipped with the mindset to handle it is so important, especially in a deadline-oriented industry like ours. I think the three Cs are a really great breakdown of how to manage stress, and I do think that though it may be hard to develop these traits, it's very rewarding to. I also believe that finding something you are passionate about (which falls in line with commitment) and good at (which falls in line with control, maybe) is key to seeing your stress as positive.
Post a Comment