You don’t shine when you are overly stressed. Stress generally creates negativity. It does not drive innovation nor inspire people to perform at their best. Focus does. Stress puts endless limits on how you think. It triggers fear which makes us small – and small does not serve you or the world.

Stress doesn’t really motivate us, though it can make us more productive or efficient at times. To truly shine at our work and in our lives though, we have to keep our stress levels in check. Frequently, others trigger our stress. Sometimes this is due to a lack of connection or ineffective communication and other times it is due to unrealistic expectations or performance. There is nothing we can do to change other people and yet we can manage their expectations through improving our communication and approach. To decrease stress, we must have a dialogue NOT a monologue.

Look around! Who are you stressing out? How is that serving you or them? Look for ways to help people succeed and you will decrease their stress and help them shine. Ask people to solve their problems and they will feel empowered through the process of correcting what is wrong vs. defending it.

The Lesson

Stress puts us in a busy-ness and busy-ness stimulates intensity, creating more stress. Stress sucks the joy out of our lives. Remember:

• No one gives you stress – you give it to yourself
• Over-scheduling always causes stress
• Stress is a view of the world coupled with your need to try and control it
• Cut back your never-ending to do list and focus on what really matters
• Laughter is a good cure for stress as it gives us perspective and allows us to have some fun

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