Why “manage” stress? Why not “eliminate” stress? Because obstacles never go away, they will keep coming and coming, the only way is to manage it, and some are better at managing stress than others. If you take an honest look in the mirror, and come to the conclusion that you are not one of those people who manage stress well – please continue to read.
In our industry, managing goods from point A to point B, whether you are the supplier, buyer, or someone in between, it can be quite stressful because there are always deadlines to meet, people to answer, and not everything is in our control. Have you ever gotten so mad at your vendors that you just exploded and went on a verbal rampage on them?
These types of reactions are more destructive than constructive. Some of you probably already did, am I right? Do you ask yourself, how did you get to that point? Why did I react this way? From birth until now, your body and mind have been conditioned to react the way it already does. As negatively as your body and mind have been conditioned to react, you can also re-condition to react positively towards any given situation. The three steps in conditioning yourself to better manage stress can help you do exactly that. Those three steps are as follows:
Forecasting obstacles:
Currently, you probably have potential issues in mind which you can predict that you will be stressed out by, so think of things that might happen tomorrow, next week, next year, or even until your last breath. It may sound crazy to run scenarios/simulation in your head, but the more you do it, the better prepared you will be. The potency of stress is less when you see things coming, and have prepared for it.
Brainstorming positive and optimistic thoughts:
Our body and mind have a pre-conditioned reaction towards obstacles. Instead of going with your old habit, you want to re-wire your brain pattern by replacing it with positive and optimistic thoughts daily. For example, things may happen in your personal or work life, tell yourselves “does this problem have a solution? If so, why am I worrying so much about it, or if it doesn’t then why am I worrying about it again? First thing you wake up say to yourself “today, I may not know exactly what will happen, but I will try my best to stay positive by letting go of all my negative emotions when the time comes, I may fail, but I will keep trying and trying…..”
Voicing out your thoughts and embodying them:
Speaking these thoughts out loud will conditioning your phonetic memory, and the more you do it, the easier these positive thoughts will counter your stressful reactions. Embodying these positive words and thoughts, feeling in your body that you will do this, that you can overcome all obstacles big or small, put your body into a state where you feel like “YES!!! I CAN DO THIS!!!! YES!!! I CAN DO THIS!!!!”
This may not rid you of your suffering, but it will definitely make a positive impact on your outlook if you put your mind and body actively into this daily.
