Getting just enough stress can advance your career. Here’s how

Muslim businesswoman working in her office. Getty Images/SrdjanPav. Photo for illustrative purposes only.

She wakes up late, drags herself out of bed, gets her two daughters ready for school, gets ready herself and heads off to work daydreaming about the Netflix show she saw last night. She gets to the office, starts her laptop and, after a couple of hours of emails and phone calls, she’s staring out the window, daydreaming again.

Maria (not her real name) is a client I was asked to coach to prepare her for a leadership position at her company. But during our first coaching call, she exhibited all the signs of someone who was understressed.

The term ‘understressed’ might not be as familiar as overstressed, yet the impact is very similar. You’ve probably experienced being understressed before: you’re bored at work, the role doesn’t quite fit you, you’re not challenged enough and you end up performing poorly across your roles.

Here’s how being understressed works in the brain: When you’re bored or unmotivated, your brain releases small amounts of stress hormones that put the brain in a state of distraction, daydreaming, disorganization and forgetfulness. The same state occurs when you are overstressed. In other words, both too little stress and too much stress make us ineffective. Or in the words of Daniel Pink in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, “If you’re too comfortable, you’re not productive. And if you’re too uncomfortable, you’re not productive.”

For you to be at your best, your stress levels need to be ‘right’. What does this mean? Currently, there isn’t a scientific, universal, stress level number that we all need to achieve in life to be our best (but I can imagine a future smartwatch that beeps when we reach the perfect stress level). However, here are things that you can do to maintain just the right amount of stress:

1. RECOGNIZE PATTERNS OF ‘JUST RIGHT’ STRESS

When did you last experience having just the right amount of stress? The stress that kept you engaged, productive and on your feet but didn’t overwhelm? What were you working on? Who were you with? What is it about that situation that stood out for you? If you can’t think of situations like this, ask a friend, colleague or supervisor about a time they observed you at your best and try to recognize patterns there.

2. REPLICATE THOSE ‘JUST RIGHT’ STRESS SITUATIONS

Armed with this knowledge, replicate the type of work, situation and projects in your life that attract this right amount of stress, even on a small scale. If you find that being put in positions of leadership gives you just the right amount of stress and that you’re bored because you’re currently not in a leadership position in your company, then figure out a way to lead a team or committee or something outside work that will give you a good flow of positive stress hormones.

3. TAKE BREAKS BETWEEN STRESSFUL SITUATIONS

Stress is stress, so once you find yourself having just the right amount of it, don’t go too far. Give yourself a break once in a while, whether it is a weekend off, a well-deserved vacation, or even some quiet coffee time during the day. You don’t want good stress to turn into overstress.

When I worked with Maria, I advised her to ask colleagues to describe her when she’s at her best, and a couple of them said that she was at her best when she “had her teeth in something”, like delivering a product strategy or something tangible and concrete. This made Maria realize that the reason she was understressed at work was not because she’s not motivated but because she was given a new role recently as a project manager that didn’t allow her to get her teeth into something. Based on this insight, she spoke to her supervisor about changing her role into product development and strategy and possibly preparing herself for a leadership role in that position.

So the next time you feel like you are dragging your feet into work or you catch yourself daydreaming once too often, ask yourself: do I have enough stress in my life?

Mohammed Faris is an international coach, author, and speaker who helps executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs rebalance their lives spiritually, physically and socially to achieve peak performance and live meaningful lives. He’s the founder of ProductiveMuslim.com and author of The Productive Muslim: Where Faith Meets Productivity.

(Reporting by Mohammed Faris; Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@thomsonreuters.com)

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