Stress? Yes please, but in the right way! - How can we use stress as a performance booster?

Do you have stress? Great! Do you have above-average stress? Congratulations! According to a recent study, you have the chance for a long life! Scientists at Stanford University have found in a long-term study that people with above-average stress, under certain conditions, have a lower mortality rate than those with little or no stress. However, this only applied to individuals with above-average stress who were convinced that this stress did not harm them. On the other hand, if they believed that stress was harmful to them, it actually had a negative impact on their mortality rate. What causes stress to energize, drive, and make some people successful, while leaving others exhausted, overwhelmed, and potentially compromised in terms of health? The equation of "lots of work equals lots of stress and little work equals little stress" does not hold true. It would also be too simplistic to say, "Just change your attitude towards stress and the rest will fall into place on its own." That is like telling a squeezed lemon, "Are you feeling dry? Don't be so sensitive!" The question of when professional and personal demands have a negative impact on us, in other words, when they "stress" us, cannot be answered universally. Personal stress perception is a highly subjective feeling and depends on many different factors. The quantity and duration of work are not necessarily the most important criteria. In my work as an occupational physician over the past 20 years, I have gained insights into companies ranging from small businesses to large corporations. My experiences reflect what current scientific knowledge also shows: The problem areas related to work-related stress, scientifically referred to as "psychomental stressors," are almost independent of the industry in which people work. This is also good news: There are cross-industry solutions for a healthy approach to stress. This healthy approach to stress is indeed learnable and achievable. Essentially, eight factors influence whether we feel stressed and overwhelmed or energized and fulfilled by our work. These are: - Work tasks - Work organization - Leadership behavior - Gratification/appreciation - Social relationships - Work environment - Individual prerequisites - Situation This means we have eight levers that we can adjust to better cope with our daily demands and significantly improve our personal stress perception. Slowing down alone cannot be the panacea. Stress itself is a physiological state that helps us overcome the initial hurdle of hesitation to tackle tasks. In a state of stress, the body temporarily releases high energy reserves for performance. We humans need a certain amount of stress to remain efficient and healthy. Stress can therefore be understood as a performance booster. I am often asked, "How much stress is too much stress? At what point does this eu-stress turn into dis-stress and start to harm me?" This question cannot be answered universally, as it is related to the individual stress perception described above. This also explains why, for example, in a department, three employees may feel completely differently burdened despite having the same qualifications for the same task. While one may be completely bored, another may be in the flow, and the third may feel overwhelmed and exhausted. It is important to recognize when our own stress perception turns negative and this beneficial short-term stress turns into a negative feeling of chronic overload. The first physical symptoms are usually sleep disturbances and tension, often accompanied by social withdrawal. One stops attending coffee breaks, misses family events, birthday invitations, and withdraws. One of the prerequisites for a healthy approach to stress is a certain time limit, even during peak periods of stress. We need breaks and recovery periods to reduce our stress and hormone levels to a health-promoting state. This does not only mean switching off during days off or vacations but also incorporating breaks into the workday. Especially in courses with managers, the argument often arises: "I don't have time for breaks!" From a performance and occupational health perspective, this is nonsense. Throughout a workday without breaks, our efficiency significantly decreases. You can only stop or minimize this decline in performance by scheduling breaks and learning to work in a brain-friendly way. Effective breaks not only increase your overall daily performance but also boost your creativity. Ideally, you should take at least a 5-minute short break every two hours. You know that decisions do not automatically get better with the length of a meeting. Try interrupting the meeting after 2 hours for five minutes, get some fresh air, let the participants go to the coffee machine, and then preferably seat them in a different place. You will see that the results will be significantly better. At the latest after 6 hours, you should schedule a break of half an hour, with at least 15 minutes undisturbed. You can demonstrably increase the effectiveness of your break by moving during it, ideally in nature. Scientific findings have shown that this significantly boosts creativity. You can also significantly increase your performance by working in a brain-friendly way. If you start your day by turning on your computer and checking your emails, you have already used up a large part of your effectiveness and decision-making capacity after 2 hours of email processing. This is related to the structure of our brain. Decisions and prioritizations are made in the so-called prefrontal cortex, a very small area of our brain. Unfortunately, this evolutionarily new area is quickly fatigued. Routine tasks are taken over by other areas of the brain, the so-called basal ganglia. These are not as quickly fatigued. Therefore, a simple measure to increase effectiveness is the conscious switching between activities involving prioritization or decisions and routine tasks. This engages different brain areas and slows down fatigue. There are many other techniques and tricks to optimize your brain performance with the same workload. In my seminars and lectures, I provide attendees with practical guidance on this. A central point for subjective stress perception is also the leadership style. Closely related to this is the topic of gratification/appreciation. Many studies have shown that leadership style directly affects the health and work effectiveness of employees. The new findings in the Stress Report Germany clearly show the close relationship between leadership style and physical symptoms in employees. Employees who feel they are rarely or never supported by their superiors have significantly more physical complaints. This is also explained by the issue of gratification crises. Gratification means appreciation, which is everything people work for. This conveyed appreciation consists of several factors: - Financial compensation - Opportunities for qualification - Recognition - Meaning, fulfillment - Influence options When employees feel that they are contributing more than they are receiving, a gratification crisis arises. Employees then feel that their commitment, qualifications, and performance are not adequately recognized, leading to a significantly increased risk of physical and/or mental illnesses. Studies unquestionably demonstrate the links between gratification crises and depression, cardiovascular diseases, and even diabetes mellitus and the so-called metabolic syndrome. The key function here is the leadership behavior. An individualized leadership style characterized by appreciation, recognition, and transparency significantly contributes to a healthy working atmosphere. In our age, characterized by digitization and the blurring of boundaries - both spatially and temporally - leaders themselves are subject to constant change. They often find themselves in a balancing act between operational requirements, time pressure, customer orientation, and employee management. To maintain the health and performance of both executives and employees, a healthy approach to stress and an understanding of the sense and nonsense of gratification models are essential. Due to the ubiquitous work intensification and information overload, knowledge of brain-friendly work design is of central importance. The solutions to escape the stress trap are learnable with little effort and immediately applicable across industries. I wish you a lot of fun and success, enjoy your stress!