Emotional Intelligence Offers a Powerful Approach to Managing Stress

After many years of observing how powerful the use of simple Emotional Intelligence (EI) techniques are in helping people reduce their stress, I find myself constantly amused at the well-intentioned stress-reduction techniques suggested by a multitude of publications. While some of these can be helpful, none hold a candle to those offered by enhancing EI.

There's no question that with today's economy and the resultant cuts in budget and staff, we're all working harder. We watch our projects pile up as we put in longer and longer work hours. Just imagine yourself in this stressful work environment and now you're in the middle of another bad-news meeting feeling stressed. Then you start to recall that you've read some suggestions that might help in a stressful situation. You scan your memory to see what you can do to start to minimize your stress right now. Should you...

-Take a nap (sure, nobody would notice your head on the table)
-Call a friend and chat (not likely unless you IM him)
-Dance (right - if only there were music)
-Count to ten (tried it, been there, then what?)
-Just say No! (not a great idea if you want to keep your job)
-Take off your shoes (then you just think about losing a shoe under the table)
-Do some yoga (people might notice)
-Take deep breaths (one, two, three - might help somewhat, but people start looking at you)

Right - OK if you don't care about your job you can try some of these.

Binge and Purge
Actually all of those tips and suggestions are good for you to one degree or another. The dilemma is that at work it's not practical to do them (and some are actually prohibited). In fact the vast majority of ideas and suggestions published about managing stress are not realistic to be used in the work environment - and at work is precisely where almost everyone experiences the most stress. What should we do? All day we "binge" on excess stress and then try to "purge" it when we leave work by following these stress tips. Or we wait for the weekend, or even more detrimental, we hold off until vacation to try to relieve our stress. If we know what really causes stress - not just the triggers of stress (deadlines, last minute requests, multitasking, conflict at work, children acting up, people at work not doing their part, etc.) we can look for solutions that will really work.

What is Stress?
There are two kinds of stress: bad stress and good stress, also known as eustress. The bad stress results from negative emotions and beliefs we experience when we are unable to cope with the demands of our environment. Eustress (good stress) is the result of positive emotions and beliefs that occur when people feel capable of coping with demands of their environment. So the real difference between bad stress and good stress is the difference between positive emotions (happy, appreciative, curious, etc.) and negative emotions (anxiety, frustration, fear, etc.).

And that is a huge difference because negative emotions have a significant detrimental effect on important work issues such as mental clarity, decision-making, personal productivity, accuracy, relationships, teamwork and motivation just to name a few. On the other hand, positive emotions have a positive effect on those issues.

What's Needed
If most all of the tips and suggestions can't be used at work for one reason or another, what would work? What's needed is a simple, easy technique that busy business people can use "in-the-moment" of stress, or better yet, right before a stressful situation such as a meeting, a phone call, a performance review, reading email, etc. Ideally it should transform negative, draining emotions into positive, productive emotions - not simply stuff them. And it would be great if it would actually create the motivation or guidance for more effective behavior at the same time. The technique would have to be something that is quick and it should keep the adrenaline and cortisol (the stress hormone) at normal healthy levels.

Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence offers a way to address this challenge with the foundational competencies of emotional self-awareness and emotional self-management. Developing an awareness of your emotions begins by noticing those things (people, situations, events) that trigger negative emotions. When you dwell on your negative emotions, you end up in a downward spiral, recalling and reliving the event or situation and elevating your stress levels. Once you are aware of those things that trigger negative emotions, you can transform those feelings by recalling and re-experiencing positive emotions.

It's easy and deceptively simple to recall fun, positive experiences. You can do it no matter where you are - at work or at home. And you'll discover that you can transform the anxiety and stress in a few seconds.

Tailoring the art and science of Emotional Intelligence to your needs, Byron Stock focuses on results, helping individuals and organizations enhance Emotional Intelligence skills, leadership competencies and core values. To learn about Byron's quick, simple, proven techniques to harness the power of your EI, visit www.ByronStock.com.