The Stress Pill 10 Stress Pill Tips for Working and Winning from The Progress Agents' Progress Challenge
The Stress Pill 10 Stress Pill Tips for Working and Winning from The Progress Agents' Progress Challenge
Insights from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning
by Dean Lindsay - Progress Agent
“When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, 'compared to what'?” - Sydney Harris
In my work with sales and service organizations, the issue of stress is almost always front and center. I hear the horror stories from countless professionals in our workshops and in one-on-one coaching about how they feel overworked and overwhelmed (not to mention under appreciated and underpaid). How to deal with or relate to the stress of this high tech, low touch hyper-fast paced world is a vital, important and desperately needed topic to discuss. Is there a healthy Stress Pill?
I don’t mean to stress you out about stress but the crazy thing to consider is that WE are truly the ultimate cause of our own stress. It is our reaction to stressful stimuli that makes us ‘sick’, not the stimuli itself. We internalize to much of outside pressures which causes inside pressures.
This dear old world is full of ‘possible stressors’. Irate customers, indecisive prospects, spam, our slow computer, traffic, our kids, our co-workers, our co-workers’ kids, our families, our bosses and our employees all offer some of the nearly never ending stimuli to which we have the CHOICE of how to respond.
You control you.
You only control you.
Only you control you.
You control you only.
When we are stressed, we are choosing to respond to stimuli in a stressful way. I know this sounds simple. It is simple to understand (not always easy to act on but simple to understand). A major element in my company’s new success program, The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning, involves helping professionals take back control of their lives and careers by choosing to gain control of their thought processes and ultimately find ways to progress.
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
- Marcus Aurelius
One major key is to know in advance positive ways to respond to the possible stressful stimuli. We need to keep a few Stay Cool Tools in our Life Tool Kits. Relieving stress is not the only key skill to master. Another vital and powerful skill is to relate to each stressor appropriately, so you do not have stress that needs to be relieved. Implementing "Stay Cool Tools" can be tough because they require practice and a new way of relating to stimuli.
“A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.” - Aesop, Fables
Ask yourself these questions:
- What am I allowing to stress me out?
- How can I be prepared for the possible stressors?
- Where is the humor in the situation?
- Can I DO something about the situation?
Bet you CAN and if you can ... DO IT. If you can’t, you gotta find ways to accept it. (I know it’s not easy to accept stuff that bugs you or is just plain wrong but you know you should. Check this: Stress Can Kill You!)
Here are 10 Stress Pill Tips for Working and Winning from The Progress Agents’ Progress Challenge:
1. Invest Time in relaxing.
Read a book, listen to music, Breathe. Breathe again.
2. Work to become more flexible in how you view problems and challenges.
Rigid thinking can cause stress.
3. Get 7 to 8 hours of sleep and try to get to bed at the same time each night.
4. Eat healthy food (whatever that is this week – I hear some veggies may still be good for you) Give your body the 'Right Fuel' for life's challenges. You need energy (and not the quick sugar rush of a honey-glazed donut).
5. Be Assertive and Proactive to challenges.
Put Off putting off.
6. Keep lines of communication open.
7. Use the power of ‘No’.
You do not have to say 'yes' to every demand on YOUR time.
8. Cut yourself some slack. None of us are perfect.
Wouldn’t we feel weird and out of place if we were.
9. Have you heard about this new craze...They call it…
Please correct me if I am wrong… Regular exercise?
Of course you have and you know you feel better when you get a good workout in. I know it takes effort, time and some planning but even walking and light stretching feels good and can help you stay in control.
10. Practice Positive self talk.
Yes, I am talking about affirmations. When I realized that I was going to passionately encourage people to focus on affirmations, I admit I had nightmares of Stuart Smalley (Al Franken’s character from “Saturday Night Live”): “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.” Affirmations just seemed so wishy-washy, so flimsy. But I dug deeper and came to realize that we use affirmations all the time. It’s just that most of them are negative, stress causing and self-limiting:
“I can’t handle this.”
“I am stressed out.”
“I participate in road rage.”
Our brains are trippy and complicated and can do amazing things. But at their core our brains want one thing –To Be Right.
Whatever we continually say about ourselves and start to believe about ourselves, our brains are going to work to make it true. It is imperative that we be careful about the things we say to ourselves because…whatever you say to yourself, you’re right.
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you’re right.” - Henry Ford
Try using self-empowering affirmations and visualizations to create a more positive attitude about yourself and your relation to your surroundings.
Stuff like:
“I am in control and believe in myself.”
“Every day I make good decisions that positively affect my life.”
“This is a really good article.”
Ladies and germs, there is a healthy Stress Pill. The Stress Pill is YOU.
Be Progress.
Business Speaker and Author of Cracking the Networking CODE, Dean Lindsay is founder of ProgressAgents.com – a Collin County based workshop and seminar company dedicated to Empower Progress in Sales, Customer Service and Workplace Performance. Their newest program is The Progress Challenge helps professionals win at working. For more information, log onto: www.ProgressAgents.com or call 214-457-5656.
The Stress Pill 10 Stress Pill Tips for Working and Winning from The Progress Agents Progress Challenge - To learn more about this author, visit Dean Lindsay's Website.
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The Stress Pill
Insights from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning
by Dean Lindsay - Progress Agent
“When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, 'compared to what'?” - Sydney Harris
In my work with sales and service organizations, the issue of stress is almost always front and center. I hear the horror stories from countless professionals in our workshops and in one-on-one coaching about how they feel overworked and overwhelmed (not to mention under appreciated and underpaid). How to deal with or relate to the stress of this high tech, low touch hyper-fast paced world is a vital, important and desperately needed topic to discuss. Is there a healthy Stress Pill?
I don’t mean to stress you out about stress but the crazy thing to consider is that WE are truly the ultimate cause of our own stress. It is our reaction to stressful stimuli that makes us ‘sick’, not the stimuli itself. We internalize to much of outside pressures which causes inside pressures.
This dear old world is full of ‘possible stressors’. Irate customers, indecisive prospects, spam, our slow computer, traffic, our kids, our co-workers, our co-workers’ kids, our families, our bosses and our employees all offer some of the nearly never ending stimuli to which we have the CHOICE of how to respond.
You control you.
You only control you.
Only you control you.
You control you only.
When we are stressed, we are choosing to respond to stimuli in a stressful way. I know this sounds simple. It is simple to understand (not always easy to act on but simple to understand). A major element in my company’s new success program, The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning, involves helping professionals take back control of their lives and careers by choosing to gain control of their thought processes and ultimately find ways to progress.
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
- Marcus Aurelius
One major key is to know in advance positive ways to respond to the possible stressful stimuli. We need to keep a few Stay Cool Tools in our Life Tool Kits. Relieving stress is not the only key skill to master. Another vital and powerful skill is to relate to each stressor appropriately, so you do not have stress that needs to be relieved. Implementing "Stay Cool Tools" can be tough because they require practice and a new way of relating to stimuli.
“A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.” - Aesop, Fables
Ask yourself these questions:
- What am I allowing to stress me out?
- How can I be prepared for the possible stressors?
- Where is the humor in the situation?
- Can I DO something about the situation?
Bet you CAN and if you can ... DO IT. If you can’t, you gotta find ways to accept it. (I know it’s not easy to accept stuff that bugs you or is just plain wrong but you know you should. Check this: Stress Can Kill You!)
Here are 10 Stress Pill Tips for Working and Winning from The Progress Agents’ Progress Challenge:
1. Invest Time in relaxing.
Read a book, listen to music, Breathe. Breathe again.
2. Work to become more flexible in how you view problems and challenges.
Rigid thinking can cause stress.
3. Get 7 to 8 hours of sleep and try to get to bed at the same time each night.
4. Eat healthy food (whatever that is this week – I hear some veggies may still be good for you) Give your body the 'Right Fuel' for life's challenges. You need energy (and not the quick sugar rush of a honey-glazed donut).
5. Be Assertive and Proactive to challenges.
Put Off putting off.
6. Keep lines of communication open.
7. Use the power of ‘No’.
You do not have to say 'yes' to every demand on YOUR time.
8. Cut yourself some slack. None of us are perfect.
Wouldn’t we feel weird and out of place if we were.
9. Have you heard about this new craze...They call it…
Please correct me if I am wrong… Regular exercise?
Of course you have and you know you feel better when you get a good workout in. I know it takes effort, time and some planning but even walking and light stretching feels good and can help you stay in control.
10. Practice Positive self talk.
Yes, I am talking about affirmations. When I realized that I was going to passionately encourage people to focus on affirmations, I admit I had nightmares of Stuart Smalley (Al Franken’s character from “Saturday Night Live”): “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.” Affirmations just seemed so wishy-washy, so flimsy. But I dug deeper and came to realize that we use affirmations all the time. It’s just that most of them are negative, stress causing and self-limiting:
“I can’t handle this.”
“I am stressed out.”
“I participate in road rage.”
Our brains are trippy and complicated and can do amazing things. But at their core our brains want one thing –To Be Right.
Whatever we continually say about ourselves and start to believe about ourselves, our brains are going to work to make it true. It is imperative that we be careful about the things we say to ourselves because…whatever you say to yourself, you’re right.
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you’re right.” - Henry Ford
Try using self-empowering affirmations and visualizations to create a more positive attitude about yourself and your relation to your surroundings.
Stuff like:
“I am in control and believe in myself.”
“Every day I make good decisions that positively affect my life.”
“This is a really good article.”
Ladies and germs, there is a healthy Stress Pill. The Stress Pill is YOU.
Be Progress.
Business Speaker and Author of Cracking the Networking CODE, Dean Lindsay is founder of ProgressAgents.com – a Collin County based workshop and seminar company dedicated to Empower Progress in Sales, Customer Service and Workplace Performance. Their newest program is The Progress Challenge helps professionals win at working. For more information, log onto: www.ProgressAgents.com or call 214-457-5656.
The Stress Pill 10 Stress Pill Tips for Working and Winning from The Progress Agents Progress Challenge - To learn more about this author, visit Dean Lindsay's Website.
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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