Stress and Stress Management Tips Rarely Help You Deal With Crappy Situations At Work

Until now …

You’ve likely seen the typical health related stress symptoms:

Physical Stress Headache Back pain Chest pain Heart disease Heart palpitations High blood pressure Decreased immunity Loss of sex drive Stomach upset Sleep problems Skin rashes Nail biting or picking

Emotional Stress Anxiety Restlessness Worrying Irritability Depression Sadness Anger Feeling insecure Lack of focus Burnout Forgetfulness Overwhelm

Behavioral Stress Overeating Under eating Drug or alcohol abuse Indecisiveness Social withdrawal Excessive use of prescription medication Relationship conflicts Procrastination Frequent illness Poor exercise and nutrition choices

The bottom line: the latest research shows that stress causes heart disease, unhealthy weight gain, kills brain cells, and impairs our ability to make good choices for ourselves and others.

There is a plethora of advice on ways to relieve stress and ways of dealing with stress that address health concerns. But what about dealing with stress at work that is often the root cause of these stress symptions? What about the causes of stress at work?

Assess the Causes of Stress at Work

Assess the stress you experience at work with our quick and easy stress test. Keep track of  the number of checks you make in the list below:

The IAM Learning Community Stress Test

How many stress test experiences did you check on the stress test above?

IAM Perspective on Stress and Stress Management

How to interpret the results of the IAM Learning Community Stress Test depends on your situation. Experiencing just one item in the stress test is likely an indication of extreme stress, especially if the experience persists over time.

Each item on the stress test above is potentially an indication of a serious stress concern. Each item on the stress test is an opportunity to do something about workplace stress and stress management.

If you checked 5 or more items from the stress test, you are likely experiencing serious stress symptoms related to work. The more stress you tolerate in your job, the more stress symptoms you will experience over time.  You will experience health issues as a result.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to determine the results of taking our stress test. What’s most important is to be aware of workplace stress and do something about it …

IAM Approach to Stress and Stress Management Parallels the Latest Stress Research

You may be thinking that the experiences listed in the stress test are simply an inevitable part of life in organizations, or the way people work. We are challenging this thinking!

We know that people tolerate the situations listed in the stress test for one simple reason: they don’t realize they have other options. The fact is, the potential of any individual, organization or business can never be fully realized when work situations are overly stressful .

Relief from stress and stress management is needed. It’s in everyone’s best interest to stop the stress!

The latest research on stress confirms what we have known for a long time: oppressive and/or dysfunctional work situations are stressful. Ongoing relief from stress and stress management at work is critical. Learning how to create empowering and healthy work environments is key.

The following video is a fun introduction to Robert Sapolsky, a professor of biological and neurological sciences and stress researcher at Stanford University:

The Latest Research On Stress

A synopsis of this short video: our social rank in a hierarchy is much less of an indicator of stress than our perspectives on our situations, our ability to fend off oppression (be empowered),  and the extent to which we come into real contact and connection with each other (care about each other, tend to each other).

We highly recommend watching the National Geographic movie on stress mentioned in the above video.  (We found it on Netflix.) This movie presents Sapolsky’s research on baboons and the Whitehall study on stress in Britain’s civil servant population. Both areas of study found that whether you are a baboon or a British civil servant, when you live lower in the hierarchy of an organization, your:

• ability to adapt decreases
• life span decreases
• risk of disease increases
  

  If Baboons Can Pass Our Stress Test, So Can You!

as a result of stress being ‘displaced’ onto subordinates within an organization by people with position power.

One of the troops of baboons that Sapolsky studies suffered a terrible loss about 10 years into his study- all of the alpha males in the troop were killed by tainted meat. Ironically, the troop re-established itself after the loss with a non-hierarchical culture. The troop maintained this culture over the next 20 years, and eliminated stress symptoms and their consequences in the process.

If baboons can do it, so can we!

Stress Test Experiences, In Reverse, Provide Relief from Stress and Stress Management That Makes Sense At Work

Did you check “you have begun to feel apathetic about your work” on the stress test? The reverse is to “rediscover your passion for work.” Any stress test experience, in reverse, offers relief from stress and stress management suggestions that makes sense . Stress test experiences, in reverse, are antidotes to stress!

Relief from Stress and Stress management Suggestions

The following are excellent ways to get started dealing with workplace stress, and experience relief:

• Take charge of your career
• Learn to set boundaries and say no
• Become more proactive and less reactive
• Rediscover your passion for your work
• Focus on your strengths, not weaknesses
• Insist on being involved in decision-making processes
• Listen to others; carve out time for others to listen to you
• Pay attention to how your work fits (or not) with business/society needs
• Love yourself and the people you work with

Stress Test Experiences: Going, Going, Gone

The IAM frameworks and concepts that we use in the IAM Learning Community provide additional approaches to creating conscious, equal, non-hierarchical ways of working together, whether as solo entrepreneurs or in large organizations. What’s needed is the desire to obliterate workplace stress, and a commitment to working at your best.

Any of the products and services offered at the IAM Learning Community provide ways of eliminating the causes of stress at work because of their focus on helping garner support to sustainably produce your best work over time, and deal with workplace situations that get in the way of your best work.

We welcome your comments and questions below about our stress test, about our suggestions for relief from stress and stress management, or about our IAM Learning Community products & services that guide you and your organization to break through stress that’s getting in the way of being your best and enjoying your life!