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Stress helps people when they need
to grow, to attain
difficult goals, and to perform at their best. However, Dr. Koop also points out that each person's tolerance for stress is different, and that each individual handles various types of stress differently. _Sandy Karn |
| STABILIZE STRESS
By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore |
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Stress is a killer. There are some who would say, “there’s
good stress and then
Maybe there is some positive benefit to the stresses that will enhance our performance, but, for the most part, stress is a negative, keeping us from performing at peak levels, damaging our daily productivity, and decreasing the chances of our longevity. Many blame stress on external forces. “We
are living in stressful times.” “This is a stressful job.” “My boss
(husband, wife, co-worker, customer, client, kid, etc.) is really stressing
me out.”
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| The world is not really a stressful place
and these are not really stressful times. There really are no stressful
jobs. If any of these were true, then everyone in that community, job,
relationship, etc. would be stressed. Some are. Maybe most are. But some
are not.
There are many “stress reduction” programs, seminars, and courses out there. Most are effective. But, rather than treat the symptoms, what if we treated the disease and rid ourselves of the causes of the stress? Most stress is internal, caused by the ways in which we relate to the world and events and people around ourselves. Stress is caused when there is a disconnect between our expectation and our reality. When reality falls short of an expectation, it creates a disappointment and that causes stress. For example, let us say you drove your
car to work today, your car was parked in the nearby parking lot, and you
will leave work today at 5:00 p.m. You probably have an expectation that
your car will be right where you left it when you got to the parking lot
this afternoon. Well, what if you were to discover at 5:00 p.m. that your
car has been stolen? I would
But, what if you return to the parking lot this afternoon and there is your car exactly where you left it this morning? You insert the key and drive away. Do you experience stress over finding your car where you left it? No, because expectation and reality match up. While most of us will experience those
larger disappointments in life, they are typically few and far between
so that our bodies have a chance to cope and recover. Rather, it is all
the little disappointments, which seem inconsequential individually, but
when added together throughout a day, will really build up the stress.
(Dealing with the morning rush
The solution? Bring your reality up to your expectations. Through effective daily planning make sure that you plan to do the little things you expect should be done in addition to all the things you “have to” do during the day. We will never eliminate stress completely but, with more effective planning, we can stabilize stress. Take your Stress Test now! It’s free and
informative. Go to our website:
Don Wetmore is a full-time Professional
Speaker who specializes exclusively in the topics of Time Management and
Personal Productivity. He conducts his nationally acclaimed Time Management
Seminars throughout the world for people who want more out of life, in
less time, with less stress, with more time and balance for their personal
lives. His in-house seminars are always entertaining, fast-paced, and filled
with practical, common sense ideas and tools. One of the country’s leading
experts on the topic, he is the author of “Beat the Clock”.
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