Stress for Success by Dustin Jessip

Stress for Success

What is Stress?

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Stress is an everyday obstacle in life. Whether it be mild, moderate or severe, stress is present in virtually every aspect of any given situation imaginable. Nobody is immune to stress, and everybody experiences it one way or another. Staying on top of stress can help individuals build relationships, careers, and even themselves. Stress can be good or bad, no matter how intense or docile. There are three (3) different categories, or degrees of stress.

Starting with the most common, is acute stress. Anybody that might be running late for work or school, or maybe forgot to grab their coffee in the morning are likely to suffer from acute stress. These are the small, but manageable situations that cause us to derail from our presumed routines for just a few moments. It happens to everybody, and individuals typically move on without much reluctance. The next kinds of stress are considered to be more moderate to severe, respectively. Sometimes they are preventable, and sometimes they are not. Episodic acute stress is when several acute stress situations are strung together into a more habitual series. An example would be forgetting to grab a coffee, while running late to work, and the car has no gas to get all the way to the workplace. The difference between regular “acute stress” and “episodic acute stress” is the reoccurring scenarios, like the example, would be a daily routine. Individuals that suffer from episodic acute stress are those that are simply used to this way of life. To them, that is just how life is, and they often fail to see anything wrong with it. These individuals are one of two personality types: aggressive, and abrupt, or careless and low energy. Regardless of which type an individual may be, they can only change their lifestyles with a conscious effort inhibited by persistent reassurance that they are doing the right thing.  Lastly, the most severe cases of stress that is detrimental to not only the victim suffering, but people that are around them as well. Chronic stress is life changing. Violence, Suicide, and even cancer are common factors when dealing with chronic stress. This is the most serious kind of stress that a human can experience. If it can be deemed “treatable”, then it is highly recommended that treatment is accepted and embraced.

Conclusion

Stress management is important for those that want to achieve happiness, and be successful in life. No matter how simple or severe the stress may be, dealing with it in a positive manner will encourage others to do the same. You can be the benefactor for stressed people all around you. You can make a difference, and for your own benefit, you should always try.

References

Stress-Kinds.  Retrieved from:  http://apa.org/helpcenter/stress-kinds.aspx 

Expressing Yourself Informally- Blog Post by Jennifer Secoy

 

 

 

Expressing Yourself Informally- Blog Post

Jennifer Secoy

Kaplan University

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: “Do you have a handle on your employees?  Get with the Times, Become a Modernized Leader Today!”

Is my business up with the times? What can I do to make my business run smoother?  Do I have my employees under control? Are these some of the questions you ask yourself? It can often be frustrating running or managing a business. Hopefully this post will help put those frustrations to rest. I am an office manager for an entertainment company, and have been in a few difficult situations. Recently,  I have read an article titled; “Today’s Rapid Pace of Change Demands Modernized Leadership” by Bruce Tempkin,  (Link will be provided below),  that made me realize, we can now see different aspects of our business. This is due to the change in technology over the past few years. Right now, you may think that just hiring somebody and training them, should be enough for them to be able to do their job. Maybe you are even thinking that if you pay them well enough, they will do well enough. That does not seem to be the case anymore. The younger generations, like myself, seem to be interested in more than just wealth. Appreciation and acknowledgement can go a long way. Instead of telling your employees what to do all the time, give them a greater reason for doing this task. Example: You know every morning the employee stocks the kitchen, and they find themselves behind and stressed. Have a meeting, engage with the employees. Let them know you are all in this together. If the person who closed the kitchen at night would stock, then the morning person will not be so overwhelmed. In turn the kitchen will be ready for the night person when they come in, and the night crew will have time to prepare for the morning crew. This can also prevent customers from having a bad experience.  

Now, do not let the technology of being able to see more customer reviews scare you, or blind you from your future business plans. Use the reviews as insight. If multiple reviews say that a certain employee is unpleasant, you need to use that information. Observe that employee and point out their strengths, understand what they are going through. Show that you appreciate what they have done. Listen to your employees; if you have unhappy employees, then you are going to have unhappy customers. If you have a great environment, where the workers are happy, it is contagious.   I always thought of those employees as toxic, meaning they make everyone unhappy, and to remove them from the problem. This article states to not look at the problems, look at solutions. Customers are more likely to ignore the price of things if the environment is worth it. Now if you have Mr. or Mrs. Grouch as the first thing they experience when they walk into your establishment, your customer is immediately affected. Would you want to spend money in a place where you felt uncomfortable or unhappy? You will find that often pointing out what an employee is doing wrong, or not engaging yourself with the employees, you will have unhappy employees on your hands. Like I said earlier, customers are affected by your employees and environment. Learn and adjust to your business, do not spend your time strategizing on what to do. Go ahead, use technology, use those customer reviews. Make the customers a part of your business. They may not always be right, but they definitely have a point of view that you do not get. Are you still; commanding, tracking, pointing out the bad? Maybe it is time for you to try; engaging, observing, appreciating and empowering your employees. You may see a difference sooner that you know it! I hope this has put some ease to your frustrations.

 

 

References

 

Tempkin, B. (2017, January 7). “Today’s Rapid Pace of Change Demands Modernized Leadership” http://chiefexecutive.net/rapid-pace-change-demands-modernized-leadership/