This is the kind of stress we need to perform at our best. In her famous Ted Talk, Stanford professor Kelly McGonigal credits stress with boosting our creativity, fitness, immune systems, and problem-solving skills, as long as we handle it properly.
Unfortunately, when most people experience leadership stress, it's not because a challenge is coming; it's usually a sense of dread associated with constantly striving to do more with less resources.
In many cases, the feeling of dread is heightened by the rumination process, that is, thinking about past experiences or imagining future scenarios and linking negative emotions to them. However, this does not mean that thinking about past events is necessarily bad, but focusing on them leads to harmful health outcomes. Rumination is the number one cause of stress.
To reduce leadership stress and burnout and become more resilient, leaders must first recognize how much time they spend ruminating on ideas that don't yield meaningful results.
The next step is to turn that negative energy into meditation, which is the positive side of rumination, and leaders who practice meditation are better able to succeed in the present and prepare for the future, away from past regrets and worrying about the future.
Three Ways Leadership Stress Affects You
A long list of workplace requirements associated with tasks and dealing with employees and people contributes to the rumination of ideas and leadership pressures, from conflict management to decision-making and people development.
When the physiological responses in your body are exposed to these stressful demands, you may think you understand what it means for stress to have a “negative impact on your health." Some of the most damaging side effects of leadership stress go unnoticed in the short term and only appear in the long term.
If you're constantly feeling stressed, you probably ruminate a lot, which affects your body in three ways:
1. Rumination affects your health by releasing two types of hormones into your system
The first hormone is adrenaline, which causes your heart to beat faster. When your heart pumps blood faster, blood reaches the walls of the arteries, and plaques accumulate inside them. Over time, this may lead to an increased risk of heart attack. The second is cortisol. Your body stops the production of white blood cells to produce cortisol, and without sufficient production, your immune system weakens and your risk of developing the disease increases.
2. Stress affects your attitudes
People who ruminate a lot often think out loud as a result of stress. Talking about their experiences out loud affects the resilience and attitudes of those around them while also assisting them in holding onto the negative emotions associated with them. Negative self-talk is especially harmful during trying times.
3. Rumination affects your productivity
It's hard to concentrate if you spend most of your time ruminating. As a result, they are often less productive at work.
Seven Strategies to Eliminate Leadership Stress
According to studies, leaders often resort to sensory activities as a form of stress management, ranging from activities that provide healthy physical stimulation, such as running, to risky behaviors, such as punching a wall in case of frustration or overeating.
Finding acceptable hobbies, like playing sports or listening to music, that reduce stress and improve general health is crucial for leaders who mainly rely on sensory activities.
Leaders can take the following actions to counter the harmful effects of stress, in addition to relying on positive sensory activities:
1. Recognize signs of stress
Learn to pay attention to your body's responses to leadership stress. What triggers your stress, and what are your physiological responses to it? Do you feel your heart beating faster? Do you feel like it’s hot? Do you tighten your jaw? The sooner you realize that your body goes into stress mode, the sooner you'll be able to take action to control it.
2. Make some space for a healthy diet in your daily routine
Healthy kinethsetic activity (such as exercising) helps leaders reduce their anxiety, improve their sleep, and boost their immunity to avoid colds and flu. Exercise and dietary changes may support brain health, but they are more sustainable when you integrate them into your daily routine gradually. Start adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet while reducing sugars, fats, and sodium, and then commit to exercising for at least 30 minutes twice a week.
3. Maintain the boundaries between personal life and work
To live with a purpose at work and at home, you must first define expectations, communicate with your team about your preferred channels of communication and hours, and take full control of the scheme.
4. Hire a coach to help you stay on track
The coach can support you and help you discover ways to boost your energy and leverage your time. Together, you can define your core responsibilities and which patterns of behavior you have created that are unnecessary.
5. Establish a personal board of directors
Ensure you have a support group that helps you deal positively with stress and leadership. That diverse group can offer different types of support, and it should include your peers, your manager, a family member, and a trusted friend. Be clear about your goals in stress management, and ask your advisors to help you stay on track.
6. Practice the art of healing
Athletes have long recognized that intense pressure all the time leads to little or no performance gains in the long run, so make sure to give yourself frequent breaks throughout the day, get up from your desk and walk around, or go out for some fresh air. After working on a project or task for a long time, take a vacation, or at least relax while you're at home, and learn about other practices to recover from work stress.
7. Focus on the present
When you find yourself ruminating, connect with your five senses, return to the present, and refocus your attention by asking yourself: What can I control now?
Increasing focus and introspection to cope with the stresses of leadership
One way to reduce leadership stress is to practice mindfulness and reflect.
The inability to focus on a specific request often leads to leadership stress. It's easy for leaders to feel completely overwhelmed and confused about where to start because tasks seem to come from every direction.
John Ryan, a CEO, starts each day with a routine he has established many years ago instead of starting with checking his email account, having coffee, reading from one of his favorite books on leadership, and reviewing a short list of strategic initiatives that need his attention.
“After meditating,” Ryan says, “I will take into account the actions required for each item on the list; either I take these actions immediately or I set aside time in the schedule later that day. Today's meetings start, and emails inevitably increase, but that is good because I already enjoyed the white space needed to feel focused and in control.”
In addition to using “white space,” which is free time that helps you control your program, Ryan also recommends the following actions, which may help you focus on priorities:
- Setting and clarifying expectations for your tasks.
- Maintain the project schedule.
- Complete tasks before the deadline.
Each of these behaviors may help put a stressful task in perspective of your organization's overall goals, as it not only relieves leadership stress at the moment but also helps you de-stress in the future, even before you start the task.
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