Summary – Managing stress involves identifying our beliefs and making those smaller changes. In this article the author draws analogy from football to explain the simple concepts.
Several of my clients keep asking me as to how could they manage stress. They seem to think they are overwhelmed. In this article I intend to provide some simple techniques that could help you manage stress. I will be using the research done regarding Penalty shoot outs in football to explain the concepts. For more on this research pl read the article cited in the end. Before that, let us accept that stress free life is not possible and some amount of stress is indeed beneficial as it keeps us on our toes.
Self-limiting belief – England believe that Penalty shootout is just a lottery and is completely dependent on chance. This is in fact partially true. But what is also true is that penalty shoot requires skill, positive approach, your energy and motivation levels. No wonder England is below average in Penalty shootout conversions by good 10 percentage points. They dread shoot outs as the memories of crushing defeats linger in their mind.
Believe in your ability and focus on what you could do in the given situation. Look for such self-limiting beliefs. For instance, if you believe managers are task masters, even a simple instruction from your manager you may find it imposing.
Focus on the goal and not the obstacle.
Psychologists say, the player after placing the ball in the spot should not look at the goal keeper for long. Instead look for the top right or left corner of the goal post as historically the chances are scoring are very high if you hit there compared to shots closer to the ground.
The more you focus on the obstacles, you lose focus on what you intend to achieve and spend most of your time on the hurdles.
Take the issues head on and don’t run away
Players are trained not to show their back to the goal keeper as it will give the goal keeper subtle clues as to what the striker is going to do. So they place the ball at the spot and walk backwards facing the goal post. Learn to face issues with confidence and learn from these situations.
Avoiding them, procrastination or denying offer little help as the issue will ultimately haunt you sooner.
Don’t be impulsive. Take your time
Players who took less than 200 milliseconds for the shot after the whistle of referee have only succeeded 57% of time while those took about a second were successful 80% of the time.
Take a deep breath. Visualise the best possible outcome and give it your best. You are more prone to make mistakes when you are in a hurry.
Always focus on best possible outcome rather than setbacks.
Study suggests that when the player takes the kick which would result in a win, he/she is successful 90% of the time. While a player who takes the kick where missing would lead to defeat, he/she is successful only 57% of the time.
You need to fill your mind with things like how does the best outcome looks like and what could you do to get there. Too much focus on loss aversion might result in higher chances of failure and frustration.
Managing stress comes by practice and you working on your beliefs. It happens over a period of time. Keep focused and keep making improvements. You will emerge successful. There is a quote which goes like this “difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations”. Think about beautiful destinations, journey becomes less stressful. Choice is ours.
About the author:
Mr. Pattabiraman Nagarajan is a HR professional, Consultant, trainer and an ICF certified coach. Has managed organization change and aligned HR practices to ensure business growth. He holds master degree in Social work and a PG diploma in Business management from IIM Trichy. He could be reached at npattabiraman@relyonus.in
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