Are you having a magnificent week selling your products and services building your business, and making new friends? I also sincerely wish you enjoy your job and the people you impact each day.
Today we are going explore stress what it is, how it affects you, and we will examine the flight or fight reaction to stress. We need to examine these issues s and get to the root causes of stress to enable you to break the chains that keep you from achieving top business goals.
The following is a definition from Dictionary.com “1. Stress is a specific response by the body to a stimulus, as fear or pain that disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological equilibrium of an organism. “ ”2. Stress is a physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension.” The following sentence illustrates the definition. “Worry over his job and his wife's health put him under a great stress.”
From definition #1, remember that “fear” initiates a flight or fight response in our bodies. This is where stress becomes real trouble. We have enough fear associated with the selling process and with human relationships. Why add the physiological realities of disturbing our equilibrium? In prehistoric times when the fight or flight response evolved in humans, fight was manifested in aggressive, combative behavior and flight was manifested by fleeing potentially threatening situations, such as being confronted by a dangerous animal. Now, these responses persist, but fight and flight responses have assumed a wider range of behaviors. For example, the fight response may be manifested in angry, argumentative behavior, and the flight response may be manifested through social withdrawal, overeating, obsessive/compulsive behavior, substance abuse, and even television viewing. Now I understand why so many people watch American Idol.
Facts about Stress:
Stress is down right nasty.
Stress in our modern world is totally unnecessary for people to endure.In medical terms, stress is a physical or psychological stimulus that can produce mental or physiological reactions that may lead to illness.
The body reacts to stress first by releasing the catecholamine hormones, epinephrine also known as adrenaline and norepinephrine also known as: noradrenaline, and the glucocorticoid hormones, cortisol and cortisone. One medical research group found that anywhere between 1000 and 1200 identifiable chemicals are dumped into your bloodstream every time the stress response is initiated.*
Sounds like fun? Read further.
Television shows can induce stress.
Recognition of some people can induce stress. Your Mother in Law and your boss can induce stress.
Stress is contagious. If you do not believe me with this statement conduct the following experiment. The next time you are extremely stressed out, go up to your boss and scream as loud as you can at him or her. You will quickly discover as a result of the experiment that stress is contagious.
Here are some additional facts about stress:
You cannot experience stress and deep relaxation at the same exact moment. It is a physical and psychological impossibility.
Stress is transferable…from one activity to the next. You can react to an angry driver who just cut you off the road, and then scream at your spouse who was innocently sitting next to you, when she asks you, “why are you getting angry?”
The effects of stress compound over time like proceeds from a tax-free retirement program.
Stress can be linked to activities, people and things.
Relaxation can be linked to the same activities, people and things, thus reversing the effects of stress.
Stress is parasitic…it associates and attaches itself to non stress behavior and situations. Soon those non stress behaviors become stressful.
Did you ever begin working at a company and really enjoyed the job? But soon disgruntled employees and changing conditions created stress in your body. After a while you begin to dislike your job and you initial a stress response on the way to work or as you are passing through the front door.
The following is a story that demonstrates how eating can induce physical stress.
I remember working at a company where I had an hour to each lunch. One of my fellow employees said; let’s go to a pizza restaurant on the other side of town. It will take us fifteen minutes to get there and fifteen minutes to get back, however, if we all order the special we will be served in about five minutes.
We left our building at 11:30AM to beat the noon crowd and arrived at 11:45 AM . All of us ordered the special in order to get out of there quickly and I know you have already guessed the end of this story. Even though the restaurant was empty when we arrived, our food did not arrive until 12:15 PM . That meant we had to take our order with us and eat pizza slices in the car while wearing our business suits on the way back to the office.
Noon traffic was horrible and we encountered every single stop light from Camelback Road to McDowell Road in Phoenix . We arrived at work exactly ten minutes late. I had pizza stains all over my tie, and business suit. J.C. Penny never smelled so good. If I said my boss was standing at the door waiting for us, tapping his toe by the glass door I know you would think I was making this story up. I cannot tell a lie. My boss was not by the glass door. I found him when I got to my desk located through the door and upstairs. He already had his speech well rehearsed about taking long lunches while he was standing beside my desk.
Boy, was I angry with myself! From that point on I never left the building regardless of where the potential lunch disaster was located. I began feeling the effects of stress any time someone said, “It is time for lunch.”
Story 2 Flight or Fight
In my story, lunch time became associated with fear. I felt the flight or fight reaction to stress. Today, I live in the mountains of Northern Arizona. Here archeologists have discovered many ancient ruins and burial grounds. These experts theorized that the people living in the ancient ruins were hunter gatherers. Ancient peoples grazed. People did not have set times during the day that they ate, they munched on anything found on the ground in bushes, and or in trees as they went along their daily business. You can imagine an ancient man walking though the tall pine forests of Northern Arizona, bending down on the ground to pick up a berries or nuts, testing them a little before putting them in his mouth.
Maybe, ancient man quietly observed squirrels, birds or other mammals eating the berries first so he had reason to believe he would not be harmed eating the same foods. Every day man would leave his cave or dwelling to gather these foods for his mate and his family hiding in the safety of the rocks.
The one day, ancient man, we will call him Bob, leaves his shelter, kisses his wife let us call her Molly, and his baby, we let’s call him Baby Bluto, goodbye and heads down his well worn path through the woods, winding up at an opening near the rapidly flowing creek below.
At the creek he will bring water back in a container he fashioned out of a hollow tree branch. Let’s call this hollow tree a “water stick.”
Now, Bob heads down the path, relaxed, calm and confident ready to accomplish his mission of bringing water back to his family. But this time just as he arrives at the creek a hungry bear spots Bob and thinks Bob would be great to wash down with this cool, and tasty, creek water. Bob spots and bear and instantly his “flight or fight” reaction takes place. Bob stops the blood involved in digesting his the juicy berries he found a few minutes ago on the path and redirects blood to his legs…for flight and his arms…for fight. His body produces adrenalin and his heart beats faster.
Bob chooses flight over fight and sprints like a race horse back to his cave.
The next morning Molly tries to awaken Bob to get more water at the creek. Bob opens his eyes a little, yawns, and then rolls over back asleep. Bob is procrastinating because he is thinking about the bear he may have to confront at the creek. Molly begins punching Bob to get up and he finally rubs his eyes and gets up. Molly tells Bob not to forget his water stick. Bob takes the stick and begins moving it from one side of the cave to the other. Finally, Molly tosses Bob out of the cave entrance where Bob now begins to walk slowly and cautiously toward the creek. Bob doe not feel like picking up any berries, today. He is not hungry. Bob’s heart is beating faster the closer he gets to the creek. His mouth is dry his arms and legs feel heavy. Gone is the calm and confident state of mind and body. In its place is fear. The flight or flight response is beginning to become hard wired to Bob’s brain.
Bob makes it to the creek, slowly and nervously but without incident.
I wonder how many days it will take Bob to get back to the calm and confident water collector he was prior to his bear encounter?
Stress Annihilation Exercise 1.2 Training Your Brain to Reframe
When you are working, do you find certain activities where you move your water stick from one side of the cave to the other?
You have to consciously train your brain to reframe an incident like Bob and the bear. Bob will have to take time to relax and remember all of the times he went down to the creek without incident. Otherwise he will soon build up a conditioned response to walking toward the creek. Soon stress will exhibit its parasitic nature and Bob will experience stress in any direction he travels.
In our lives, how many times do we focus on the bad experiences we have had and forget all of the great experiences we had?
Bob needs to focus on the outcome…keeping his family healthy with plenty of water. Rather then focus on activities. Thinking about the frightening bear he will meet up with on the way fulfilling his goal may prevent him from fulfilling his job of taking care of his family.
When we focus on positive outcomes, improving sales by 40 percent so we can take a relaxing vacation, and continue to support our needs and wants, we take a positive step in conquering procrastination and annihilating stress.
Write this down
1. What activities today do I find myself procrastinating about? What activities do I always put off until later?
2. If you are in sales or an executive in charge of business building, ask yourself, what activities that I am putting off, are valued most by my boss or my company? You may find that the most productive activities from your company’s point of view are the very ones you are trying to avoid. How many bears do I have to avoid today?
Taking Action:
3. Then write a reframing statement and focus on that statement. The statement will include the positive outcome you wish to receive based on overcoming procrastination. The statement will look something like this. “I will take action today.” Each time I find myself procrastinating over an activity, I will complete the task immediately. “I realize that by completing the task I am taking a calm and confident step forward in sustaining life for myself and my family.”
Now if you do not have a family, perhaps your reframing statement will include something you really desire such the prestige of becoming the top sale producer in your company, or winning a sales contest, or earning enough money for a vacation. Your favorable outcome may be more respect from your peers, superiors or the business community.
Summary:
Flight or fight stress reactions have negative effects on our lives. Dumping thousands of chemicals in our bloodstream, the physiological effects of stress can be paralyzing as “procrastination” takes over our minds and bodies.
Your goal is to focus on your positive outcomes by changing the way you think about stress. In this way, you will immediately lessen the effects of stress and annihilate the flight or fight response that is poisoning your mind and body. Like Bob, you will wake up refreshed and begin your productive day avoiding the bears that affect your business and your life.
"Annihilate Stress and Propagate Hope,"--Wayne F. Perkins Stress Expert
Do you want to learn how to Achieve All of Your Goals All of The Time? Click here for more information.
Do you want to invite me to your next sales meeting? I travel throughout the United States and Canada. Call today and book at: 602-647-4280
"My mission in life is to help you achieve your mission in life."--Wayne F. Perkins
No comments:
Post a Comment