Risk & Business Magazine Marcotte Magazine Fall 2017 | Page 17

FEATURE STORY
T
he ability to manage your
emotions and remain calm under
pressure has a direct link to your
performance. TalentSmart has
conducted research with more
than a million people, and we’ve found that
90 percent of top performers are skilled at
managing their emotions in times of stress in
order to remain calm and in control.
If you follow our newsletter, you’ve read
some startling research summaries that
explore the havoc stress can wreak on one’s
physical and mental health (such as the Yale
study, which found that prolonged stress
causes degeneration in the area of the brain
responsible for self-control). The tricky thing
about stress (and the anxiety that comes with
it) is that it’s an absolutely necessary emotion.
Our brains are wired such that it’s difficult
to take action until we feel at least some level
of this emotional state. In fact, performance
peaks under the heightened activation that
comes with moderate levels of stress. As long as
the stress isn’t prolonged, it’s harmless.
Research from the University of California,
Berkeley, reveals an upside to experiencing
moderate levels of stress. But it also reinforces
how important it is to keep stress under
control. The study, led by post-doctoral
fellow Elizabeth Kirby, found that the onset
of stress entices the brain into growing new
cells responsible for improved memory.
However, this effect is only seen when stress is
intermittent. As soon as the stress continues
beyond a few moments into a prolonged state,
it suppresses the brain’s ability to develop new
cells.
“I think intermittent stressful events are
probably what keeps the brain more alert,
and you perform better when you are alert,”
Kirby says. For animals, intermittent stress
is the bulk of what they experience, in the
form of physical threats in their immediate
environment. Long ago, this was also the
case for humans. As the human brain evolved
and increased in complexity, we’ve developed
the ability to worry and perseverate on
events, which creates frequent experiences of
prolonged stress.
Besides increasing your risk of heart disease,
depression and obesity, stress decreases your
cognitive performance. Fortunately, though,
unless a lion is chasing you, the bulk of your
stress is subjective and under your control.
Top performers have well-honed coping
strategies that they employ under stressful
circumstances. This lowers their stress
levels regardless of what’s happening in their
environment, ensuring that the stress they
experience is intermittent and not prolonge d.
While I’ve run across numerous effective
strategies that successful people employ
when faced with stress, what follows are 10
of the best. Some of these strategies may
seem obvious, but the real challenge lies in
recognizing when you need to use them and
having the wherewithal to actually do so in
spite of your stress.
THEY APPRECIATE WHAT THEY HAVE
Taking time to contemplate what you’re
grateful for isn’t merely the “right” thing to
do. It also improves your mood, because it
reduces the stress hormone cortisol by 23
percent. Research conducted at the University
of California - Davis found that people who
worked daily to cultivate an attitude of
gratitude experienced improved mood, energy
and physical well-being. It’s likely that lower
levels of cortisol played a major role in this.
THEY AVOID ASKING “WHAT IF?”
“What if?” statements throw fuel on the fire
of stress and worry. Things can go in a million
different directions, and the more time you
spend worrying about the possibilities, the less
time you’ll spend focusing on taking action
that will calm you down and keep your stress
under control. Calm people know that asking
“what if?” will only take them to a place they
don’t want—or need—to go.
THEY STAY POSITIVE
Positive thoughts help make stress intermittent
by focusing your brain’s attention onto
something that is completely stress-free. You
have to give your wandering brain a little help
by consciously selecting something positive to
think about. Any positive thought will do to
refocus your attention. When things are going
well, and your mood is good, this is relatively
easy. When things are going poorly, and your
mind is flooded with negative thoughts, this
can be a challenge. In these moments, think
about your day and identify one positive thing
that happened, no matter how small. If you
can’t think of something from the current day,
reflect on the previous day or even the previous
week. Or perhaps you’re looking forward to
an exciting event that you can focus your >
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