From the President
The new school year that starts in September also signals that it's time to refocus for that big year-end push in business. It's the beginning of "high stress" season.
This month, we offer the simple secret to managing bad stress, so that you are well positioned to approach year-end challenges with ease and grace.
We're launching a unique personal branding forum designed exclusively for accountants and lawyers who want to stand out from the crowd both in marketing their practice and in marketing themselves within their firms. Check below for more information on how to apply.
Sincerely,
Pam Pound
In this issue
No matter what your vision of life may be, the most critical component of your ultimate success or failure is the breadth and depth of your relationships. David McNally and Karl Speak
the simple secret to managing stressStress is a lot like cholesterol--there is both "good" stress and "bad" stress, just like there is "good" and "bad" cholesterol. "Good" stress replenishes energy, and bad stress depletes it. In "managing stress," our objective is to maximize the good stuff and minimize the bad.
Although stress manifests itself physically, it's rooted it the mind. Consciously or not, we each choose how much positive and negative stress to allow and how we will handle it. The challenge is that no single set of choices is right for all of us. What works well for me could be disastrous for you.
With that in mind, there are three key areas to address in working to reduce bad stress:
(1) Personal
(2) Interpersonal
(3) Organization
PERSONAL: CHECK YOUR ALIGNMENT
When the wheels on your car are out of alignment, you notice the car is pulling one way or another. It seems to fight you when you turn or try to maintain a straight course. The stress of wheel misalignment wears out your tires and reduces fuel efficiency. It can also cause accidents.
Personal misalignment involves a disconnect between what we do and what we value. When we make choices that don't reflect our core values, we "stress" our system and accelerate wear and tear.
How do we allow this to occur? For many of us, it's an error of omission--we haven't taken the time to identify for ourselves what really is most important and what "standard operating principles" we want to apply to our lives.
Lacking this clarity, we are more susceptible to making spur of the moment choices that not only don't serve us but often work contrary to what we really want to happen.
The solution is to raise our level of consciousness around our own unique values and principles. The operative word here is "unique." Each of us gets to have his own spin on what counts in life.
Hopefully, we'll find a partner, employer, or friend who shares at least some of those values. But that comes AFTER we have independently found our own.
Do it now. Write down what is most important to you about your work, your family, your life. Decide which are the top three values, and share them with someone who is important in your life. As you make choices and decisions, check to see that they align appropriately with your values.
INTERPERSONAL: EMBRACE YOUR STYLE
Psychologists differ on how many unique communication styles exist, but they all agree that the two basic distinctions are "introvert" and "extrovert." While an extrovert thrives on social interaction, the introvert needs quiet to recharge.
Job-related stress flows, in large part, from putting ourselves in situations that don't meet our social needs.
The chatty accounts payable clerk who frequently distracts the rest of the staff is an extrovert struggling to be connected. She could thrive in a position that allows her to regularly interact with vendors and customers.
The introverted IT genius promoted to manager may hate his new job and not fully realize that new meetings and employee interaction are draining his energy. By recognizing a need for "alone" time, he can structure his day to provide the energy boost needed to make him more effective.
The business owner who says that he "dreads networking events" may be an introvert who thinks he must behave like an extrovert in order to be a successful networker. Since he doesn't know how to behave like an extrovert, he sets himself up for frustration and failure.
Trying to be like someone else is stressful and ineffective. It implies that we are not "OK," feeds a negative self-image, and saps our personal power.
The solution is to get comfortable with--to embrace--our unique interpersonal style. When there's no struggle, there's no stress. With that mindset, we can make powerful personal choices to adjust our behavior if and when we judge that it will serve us well.
ORGANIZATIONAL: TIME AND TASKS
"Organizational" stress involves managing time and tasks. There are no silver bullets here, because we each bring unique needs, perspective, and habits to the process.
Multi-tasking, uncertainty, and tight deadlines may fuel "good" stress for one person and "bad" stress for another.
The common thread for most of us is that we have more on our platters than we can handle in a day, a week, or even a year. And, in order to manage negative stress, we want to feel confident that we've got it all under control.
According to David Allen, author of the best-selling "How to Get Things Done," the greatest "organizational" stressors are angst about pending projects and uncertainty about what important tasks we might be forgetting to do.
With that in mind, we offer four areas of focus for reducing bad organizational stress:
(1) Unclutter your mind. Create a system for knowing what's on your desk, what projects are pending, and what are your top priorities for the current day and week. The point is to feel confident that you know what needs to be done and where it stands relative to other priorities.
(2) "Chunk down" large projects by focusing only on the next task that needs to be completed in order to move the project forward. This makes large projects more manageable and maintains forward momentum when you're multi-tasking.
(3) Follow Allen's 2-minute rule for processing any new communication or task: If you can handle it within two minutes, do it right away. Otherwise, pend it.
(4) Leverage your interpersonal style in dealing with organizational challenges. If you love working with others, find a way to involve other people in your organizational execution. If you need quiet time, make that part of the plan.
the simple secret is. . .
The simple secret to managing bad stress is conscious control. First, become conscious of what works and what doesn't. Then take responsibility for making appropriate choices.
Pinnacle Success Partners, Inc. offers tools to support managers in identifying and addressing sources of "bad" stress within their team or organization. Email info@pinnaclesuccesspartners.com or call 708-651-2483 to request a complimentary consultation or sample communication style assessment.
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Professional services forum
WHO YOU ARE rather than WHAT YOU KNOW determines the level of success and fulfillment you will find in career--and in life.
The purpose of the professional forum is to bring together smart, talented business professionals who want to begin to create a compelling personal brand that
--attracts clients,
--strengthens existing relationships,
--aligns with the values and vision of their employer, and
--builds life balance in the world of billable hours.
David McNally and Karl Speak define the concept of "who you are" as "personal branding"--the perception or emotion, maintained by somebody other than you, that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you.
The forum will comprise approximately 6 hours of confidential group discussion and training over a 4 week period. Sessions will be held in downtown Chicago. Participation is by invitation only.
To request more information and an application, contact info@pinnaclesuccesspartners.com
Pinnacle Success Partners, Inc. helps professionals achieve extraordinary business results. Call 708-651-2483 to request a complimentary consultation or send us a message.
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