Imagine that you are sitting at your desk, blissfully thinking about your plans for theweekend. Suddenly your intercom shatters the silence, it’s your boss on the other side and he wants you to come to his cabin. You panic, feel a tightness gripping your chest while finding it difficult to breath. Your mind races back and forth trying to find out what you did wrong.
Welcome to the world of stress.
A common accepted definition of stress is that it occurs when a person perceives that “demands exceeds the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.”
Perception is key to this, as situations are not usually stressful in their own right. Rather it is our interpretation of the situation that drives the level of stress that we feel. For instance, In the above example, the boss might have called you just to routinely check on something. The panic attack was perception induced.
So, we can overcome this by applying some Perception Based Strategies to eliminate the stress. Thought Awareness helps you to understand the negative thinking, unpleasant memories and misinterpretation of situations that may interfere with your performance and damage your self-confidence.
Rational Thinking is the technique that helps you to challenge these negative thoughts and either learn from them or refute them as incorrect. Positive Thinking is then used to create positive affirmations that you can use to counter negative thoughts. These affirmations neutralize negative thoughts and build your self-confidence. It is also used to find the opportunities that are almost always present to some degree in a difficult situation.
Then there are Action Based Strategies, which are practical and useful. The first strategy is called Job Analysis. We are all aware that Job overload is an important source of stress.
By understanding the priorities in your job, and what constitutes success within it, you can focus on these activities and minimize work on other tasks as much as possible. This helps you get the greatest return from the work you do, while keeping your workload under control.
Job Analysis a technique is useful to getting a firm grip on what really is important in your job, so that you can perform excellently. It helps you to cut through clutter and distraction to get to the bottom of what you need to do.
How do you do a job Analysis?
-Review formal job documentation
-Understand the organisation vision and culture
-Find out how toppers achieve & how they are successful
-Check that you have the people and resources to do the job
-Confirm priorities with your boss
