Managing Stress Levels To Enhance Patience

STOP LOSING YOUR SH*T & LEARN TO MASTER YOUR EMOTIONS.   Recently, I watched a president of a company lose his temper.   He screamed, swore, stomped around, threw things, & slammed the door. He was completely out of control. And his behavior was absolutely unacceptable.   As educated, capable leaders, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard.   You must master your emotions, because over reacting can cost you everything.    ❌ People go to prison for one reaction.   ❌ People lose their jobs for one reaction.   ❌ People lose their relationships for one reaction.   The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way.   You can learn to master your emotions & respond instead of react:   1. Increase Your Self-Awareness: Develop a deep understanding of your emotions. Regularly check in with yourself to identify how you're feeling and why.   2. Develop Emotional Intelligence: Study emotions in depth & understand how your emotions impact others.   3. Practice Mindfulness and Meditation: Use these techniques to observe your emotions without judgment, self soothe & avoid impulsive reactions.   4. Recognize Triggers: Identify your emotional triggers, such as situations, people, or specific thoughts. Knowing your triggers can prevent reactivity.   5. Engage in Breathwork: Deep, slow breathing calms your nervous system. When overwhelmed, pause & focus on your breath, inhale deeply through your nose & exhale slowly out your mouth.   6. Explore Progressive Muscle Relaxation: This technique involves tensing & then relaxing each muscle group in your body to reduce physical tension that accompanies strong emotions.   7. Learn Cognitive Restructuring: Once you develop deeper levels of self awareness, you can challenge irrational or distorted thoughts that cause intense emotions.   8. Practice Emotional Labeling: Use precise words to pinpoint your feelings & manage them effectively. 9. Amplify Your Empathy: Develop empathy for yourself & others by seeing the situation from their perspective.   10. Utilize Healthy Outlets: Find healthy ways to release your intense emotions, such as breathwork or physical exercise.   11. Incorporate Stress Reduction Techniques: Daily stress reduction practices such as exercise, a healthy diet, adequate sleep, & time management are critical for emotional regulation.   12. Check for Side Effects: Certain medications & supplements, especially those related to hormones, can adversely impact your mood. Talk to your physician if you think this may be an issue for you.   13. Seek Professional Help: If emotional regulation remains a significant challenge, consult a therapist, counselor, or qualified coach to provide you with personalized guidance & support.   Learning emotional regulation is a valuable skill that can greatly improve your life, both personally and professionally.   To be your best & achieve your highest levels of success, YOU MUST MASTER YOUR EMOTIONS.   👉 Do you agree?

Fighter pilot culture is unique. We spend our lives working in a high-stakes environment, where we have to make split-second decisions to survive, and where training missions can be just as dangerous as actual combat. Because of this demanding environment, we need to be able to reduce stress where possible in order to achieve a high-level of performance. For me, I didn’t always get it right, and many times, my personal health and wellness suffered. But over years of experience, I learned some effective techniques for handling stress and also for helping my team deal with high stress situations: 🎯 Focus on those things in your control: Don’t waste time or mental energy on the things you can’t control because this generally results in increased stress levels. If we focus first on those things we can control, then we can leave the rest for later (or not spend time on them at all). 📣 Communicate priorities: It can feel overwhelming with multiple competing priorities. Leaders at all levels need to know and be able to communicate priorities to team members so they know where to focus their time and efforts. ⛔ Get comfortable saying no: Say no to things that don’t align with your priorities. Assess where duties, tasks, or responsibilities can be subtracted, not added in a time of increased stress. 🧘♀️ Be calm under pressure: Sometimes in all the chaos, our best immediate reaction as a leader is to do nothing. Not every situation requires an immediate reaction. Most of the time we can stop, breathe, and take the time to think about how we will respond. 🏖 Take time to rest and recharge: Take time off. Leave work at work. If we don’t take care of ourselves then we won’t be able to take care of others. #LeadWithCourage

How you respond to stress is directly correlated to your level of success in your career and in life. After countless sleepless days, I found a 5-step formula to help me through it: How you respond to these critical moments will make or break you. I'm sharing the 5-part thought process I go through when my stress levels redline. Feel free to bookmark this if it's helpful: STEP 1) Accept the situation The first step is to accept the reality of the situation you're dealing with. Accepting the situation allows you to RESET YOUR EXPECTATIONS and move forward with a newly defined level of "success" that you can meet. *Breathe STEP 2) Remove the emotion Try to separate your emotions from it. By removing the emotional component, you can approach the problem more rationally and make clearer decisions. *Breathe STEP 3) Analyze objectively Why did this happen? Maybe it's because you failed to get back to them on time, or your competition is just better. Use this "failure" as input to improve! Process the reality of that, then go off and do what you need to do– believing that you will do what it takes. *Breathe STEP 4) Maintain an objective mindset   Your mindset determines how you relate to and deal with adversity. Approach challenges with a long-term optimistic mindset, rather than a negative one. An objective mindset allows you to see the situation clearly, assess the facts, and find an effective solution. *Breathe STEP 5) Avoid reacting from a place of fear I know, you want to respond quickly but you should probably rethink that so you don't make any impulsive decisions that can hurt you or your business. Instead, take a moment to breathe, process the situation, and think through your actions before responding. You'll notice there's one common thread that ties the steps together. You need to breathe. Breathing helps to calm the mind in that moment of fear, uncertainty, doubt, panic, or anxiety. When those things arise, you have to center yourself back to where your heart rate decreases and your mind isn't racing like crazy. ➝ Centering yourself physically allow you to make the best decisions mentally. Think about the last time you felt a visceral response to a nasty email from a customer. You want to retaliate with choice words of your own. But that helps nobody. When you're able to run through the above steps, you might be able to pull some helpful feedback out of that email. And you can move on with your day! You won't need this post until you do, but when you do - please re-read it. Derive confidence from this process. Know that you are capable. Control what you can control. Let go of what you can't. What's your best stress management technique?