Tips on coaching and stress
Do you feel under constant stress? Is your work life full of
ceaseless emails, endless meetings, ridiculous hours and maddening
colleagues?
Let's start with the bad news, as medical professionals will
tell you, nothing, absolutely nothing, in the human body or mind is
capable of adapting to chronic stress.
Instead a major chemical imbalance is created that interferes
with the normal functioning of every system in the body, including
the immune system, digestion, breathing, blood pressure and much
more. This imbalance causes lots of symptoms and does not feel
good. When I get stressed, I get stomach and head aches, I feel
exhausted and I can't sleep properly. How do you experience
stress?
Because it does not feel good, we tend to self medicate with
alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, prescription drugs, fast food and
sugar, which only make matters worse. We also tend to neglect our
healthy habits like exercise and good food, which exacerbate our
symptoms. I tend to take very poor care of myself when stressed and
certainly put too many calories in compared to what I'm burning
up.
What can we do? How can we cope with the chronic stress that
seems to be an inevitable part of modern working life?
This is where coaching techniques based on Inner Game principles
come in. In fact the originator of the Inner Game, Tim Gallwey has
written extensively on this topic for his latest book The Inner
Game of Stress. I‟ve read it and thoroughly recommend it to anyone
struggling with stress or anyone coaching someone struggling to
cope with stress.
Meanwhile here are some quick hints and tips. Of course, none of
these will conquer the cause of your stress - that may require a
longer term approach - but they will get you away from them at that
moment in time. Developing new habits which regularly remove you
and distract you from stressors and stressful situations and
pressures is essentially how to manage stress on a more permanent
basis.
Use humour
Laughing releases helpful chemicals in the brain. Go on line and
Google and look up things you find amusing or visit YouTube for old
Fawlty Towers clips or whatever works for you. Make fun of the
thing that's making you stressed and share the joke with a
colleague. We like to include a "funnies" section at the end of all
our newsletters so that the working day can include a bit of
fun.
Take a walk
It may feel like you‟ll be making matters worse if you tear
yourself away from your computer and leave the building but the
gentle exercise of walking allows the stress to exit from your
body. I also find I can organise my thoughts better and return
to a stressful situation with a productive solution if I‟ve taken a
little time out.
Rehydrate
Go and get a big bottle of water.
Most of us fail to drink enough water - that's water - not tea,
coffee, coke, 'sports' drinks, Red Bull or fruit juice. All of your
organs, including your brain, are strongly dependent on water to
function properly. It's how we are built.
If you starve your body of water you will function below your
best - and you will get stressed. Physically and mentally.Offices
and workplaces commonly have a very dry atmosphere due to air
conditioning, etc., which increases people's susceptibility to
de-hydration.
This is why you must keep your body properly hydrated by
regularly drinking water (most people need 4-8 glasses of water a
day). You will drink more water if you keep some on your desk at
all times - it's human nature to drink it if it's there.
Also, when you drink water you‟ll need to wee. This gives you a
bit of a break and a bit of exercise now and then, which also
reduces stress. Don‟t buy expensive mineral water - the price will
make you stressed - water from a tap or cooler is fine.
Have a kip
It is nature's way of recharging and re-energising.
A quick 10-30 minutes' sleep is very helpful in reducing
stress.
It's obviously essential if you are driving while tired - and
all you field sales managers would be better off pulling in to the
services for a snooze than trying to beat your record for getting
home in the quickest time, but a quick sleep is a powerful
de-stressor at other times too.
A lunchtime snooze is very practical when working from home - it
just requires the realisation that doing so is acceptable and
beneficial (when we are conditioned unfortunately to think that
sleeping during the day is lazy, rather than healthy).
At some stage conventional Western industry will 'wake up' to
the realisation that many people derive enormous benefit from a
midday nap. If you think that sounds ridiculous, say so to the many
millions in the Mediterranean countries who thrive on a mid-day
siesta.
People in the Mediterranean and Central Americas take a siesta
every working day, and this is almost certainly related to the
longer life expectancy and lower levels of heart disease they
enjoy.
Cry
Not much is known about the physiology of crying and tears,
although many find that crying - weeping proper tears - has a
powerfully helpful effect on stress levels. Whatever the science
behind crying, a good bout of sobbing and weeping does seem to
release tension and stress for many people.
Of course how and where you choose to submit to this most basic
of emotional impulses is up to you. The middle of the boardroom
during an important presentation to a top client is probably not a
great idea, but there are more private situations and you should
feel free to try it from time to time if the urge takes you.
It is a shame that attitudes towards crying and tears prevent
many people from crying, and it's a sad reflection on our
unforgiving society that some people who might benefit from a good
cry feel that they shouldn't do it ever - even in complete privacy.
Unfortunately most of us - especially boys - are told as children
that crying is bad or shameful or childish, which of course is
utter nonsense. Arguably only the bravest cry unashamedly - the
rest of us would rather suffer than appear weak, which is daft, but
nevertheless real.
Whatever, shedding a few tears can be a very good thing now and
then, and if you've yet to discover its benefits then give it a
try. You might be surprised.
The recurring theme of these and many other stress reduction
techniques is to take time out and get away. Traditionally this has
been very difficult to do at work, but if "going for a coaching
session" provides a legitimate way of finding the time and space to
think and de-stress then that is yet another powerful reason for
providing coaching in my view.
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East England
where his firm is based and throughout the UK and Europe. Matt
understands that people are working with their true potential
locked away. He shows how coaching provides a simple yet elegant
key to this lock. To get your FREE guide "How to Build a Coaching
Culture" visit www.mattsomers.com