Experiencing high pressure isn’t only for the workplace. It can happen in any area of our lives.

The undeniable fact is that we are living in a world filled with both stress and pressure.

There are so many things we feel we need to accomplish in a day. This leads to the feeling like there aren’t enough hours in that day to do what needs to get done.

We have responsibilities at work and responsibilities to our loved ones.

We also have responsibilities to ourselves.

Then there are times when we get an added responsibility. Caring for a loved one or pet who’s fallen ill becomes a priority also adds to stress and pressure.

All these various responsibilities can carry a heavy emotional and physical weight. If we don’t finish everything that is making a demand on our attention, we feel that we have somehow failed. We’ve let ourselves, or someone we care about, down.

Even though we know that others are also experiencing their own version of stress or pressure, we still compare ourselves with them. We forget that we all have our own situation to deal with.

Yet when we don’t accomplish as much as they do in the time allotted then, again, we feel that we’ve failed.

Technology is a key component that drives all this pressure and stress

When I talk about technology, it isn’t just social media that is also available on apps to feed our FOMO habit.

Phones, tablets and computers keep all of us virtually tethered together, in a lockstep towards achieving goals.

We are instantaneously informed about how much so and so got done today, or how someone else finished a big project ahead of schedule or, worse yet, how another person missed a deadline and suffered the consequences.

This constant stream of other people’s personal and professional information acts as a goad. It makes us feel that any down time is the equivalent of wasted time. Unable to relax and unable to stop worrying, we become overwhelmed by ever growing levels of pressure and stress.

Yet, it doesn’t have to be this way.

While we can’t change the society we live in, we can change our own behaviors and how we look at and deal with the world.

We can be proactive, instead of reactive. We can be positive, instead of negative.

It’s in our power to develop an outlook and lifestyle that allows us to achieve our goals while minimizing or ameliorating the toxic effects that are the byproducts of modern life.

That’s why even though I’ve written about stress and pressure in the past, there’s still much to be discussed.

I will explain the difference between stress and pressure. (Yes, they are different.)

We’ll look at 2 easy techniques to effectively reduce and eliminate stress and pressure, allowing you to live a healthier and happier life.

So, let’s get started!

The Difference between Stress and Pressure

Many people use the words pressure and stress interchangeably. They might say that they are totally stressed out by a presentation they have to make the next day.

Or that the pressures of all the responsibilities they have at work are really getting to them.

In reality, stress and pressure are two very different things.

Stress is what occurs when too many demands are made on our time or attention. When this occurs, we feel hurried and spread too thin.

This is because in a stressful situation we don’t have enough resources, be it time, money, energy, etc., to deal with all the demands. So, you could say that stress is task intensive, resource deficient situation.

Pressure, on the other hand, occurs when a personal or professional result or outcome depends on individual performance. Typically, a pressure situation arises out of a single situation.

You have to make the shot to win the game. You’re only going to get one chance to impress the client. In a pressure situation, it all comes down to one person and one moment.

The twofold reason pressure and stress typically get confused

First, pressure can be a subset of greater stress. In other words, you can be pressured by one single situation that calls for your best performance.

However, that single situation can be a part of a group of demands on your time and attention that, altogether, is causing you stress.

Second, although they are different, stress and pressure tend to produce similar physical and psychological effects in people.

We’re all familiar with the effects – fear, shallow breathing, a sense of dread, upset stomach, and an elevated heart rate are common.

The effects are the same because both pressure and stress trigger the flight or fight response.

We are programmed to either fight things that we sense are dangerous or run away from them. The physical and mental effects we feel when stressed or pressured are the manifestations of this reflex.

The good news is that we can learn how to control and minimize these negative feelings so that they no longer interfere with our lives, health and performance.

We are now going to turn our attention to two of the easiest and most important ways to manage stress and pressure in your own life.

Together, these practices become powerful tools that can be used anywhere, anytime to reduce the negative effects of pressure and stress.

Breathe to manage your stress or pressure response

I’ve covered this before with techniques in my post on breath work to manage stress but it warrants more attention.

Breathing is a part of our autonomic nervous system. In simple terms, this means that we breathe without having to think about it. Our brains adjust our respiration to fit our level of activity.

Our brains automate our breathing so that we’re free to do other things. However, sometimes this situation doesn’t work out as planned.

When we’re stressed or pressured and the flight or fight reaction is triggered, our brains response is to act as if we are in mortal danger. This means that our breathing automatically becomes shallower and more rapid.

This breathing pattern, in turn, reinforces the idea that we’re about to engage in a fight for our lives. The more we breathe this way, the more stressed and pressured we feel.

A way to break this cycle is to intentionally take the controls of our respiration from the unconscious to the conscious.

We can do this by intentionally breathing slower and more deeply. When we breathe slow and deep, we send a signal to the brain that we are not actually in danger. This interrupts the fight or flight reaction and reduces the physical and mental effects of stress and pressure that we are experiencing.

One of the best ways to perform this pattern interrupt is with what’s known as a cleansing breath.

To perform a cleansing breath, simply exhale completely while counting slowly to four. Next inhale slowly and completely while counting to seven. Hold your breath for a moment and then exhale again while performing another slow four count.

This is one breath cycle. Repeat as necessary, until you begin to feel more relaxed, calmer, less stressed or pressured and more in control.

Tap into the power of Meditation – Say Om

One of the best ways to manage pressure and stress, or more specifically the effects of pressure and stress, is to meditate.

The practice of meditation is ancient, going back thousands of years. Modern medicine has documented the physical advantages of this ancient practice when it comes to stress and pressure relief.

I personally practice Transcendental Meditation as well as other forms depending on the situation.

One of the first things to understand about meditation is that it is easy to do.

You don’t need to assume a certain position to make it work or chant.

You don’t need years of practice to see positive effects.

What you do need is a quiet room and a comfortable position in order to begin to clear your mind. Simply sit (or stand or lay) and concentrate on removing all stray thoughts from your mind.

Your goal is to still that little voice inside your head. When a stray thought pops up, banish it by refusing to follow the thought.

Keep this up and, over time, you’ll find that when your mind becomes quiet, you emerge from meditating feeling calmer, more focused, happier and more in control.

Meditation works by altering your brain wave frequency

Normally, when we are awake, our brains are operating in a high frequency mode, known as beta wave. In this state, we are focused outward, looking at the world. We are receiving information, processing this information and behaving accordingly.

What we are doing, biologically, in a beta state is surviving. We view the world looking for dangers and opportunities. It is a highly reactive brain state and it is the brain state that we experience when under pressure or stress.

When we meditate, we intentionally slow our thought processes down. We slow down the brain, making it less reactive and more reflective.

When the brain slows down, the brainwave state changes from beta waves to alpha waves and then to theta waves.

Each subsequent state is calmer and more relaxed than the previous state, so that by the time a theta state is achieved nearly all of the negative effects of stress and pressure have been minimized or eliminated entirely.

When you emerge from a session of meditation, the theta state is maintained for some time. Because you have actually rewired your brain, you are able to look at the world in a completely different way.

You begin to see solutions where before you saw problems. You begin to see opportunities where before you saw obstacles.

In short, you begin to live a stress and pressure free life.

Take your efforts to deal with high pressure and stress further with 2 of my popular resources.

If you need to manage your workplace situation, then I recommend Working Under Pressure.

For a more holistic approach, get my Stress Management with Chakra Balancing Exercises pack.

Working under pressure isn’t really a bad thing. Many of us perform better when we have to work towards a deadline.

Once the deadline is met, we return to a normal state and get a chance to rest. The real issue is when the pressure doesn’t stop or becomes excessive.

The idea that increasing pressure stimulates people to perform better and better, until an optimum point is reached, dates back to 1908.

Psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson found that, when pressure exceeds this optimum point, it has the opposite effect and performance starts to suffer.

Reference: Yerkes, R. and Dodson, J. (1908). ‘The Relation of Strength of Stimulus to Rapidity of Habit-Formation,’ Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, Volume 18, Issue 5.

This conclusion still holds today.

Case Study: Too much pressure that led an entire department’s resignation

The best example I can offer comes from my own experience in an insurance company where the pressure got to the point where the entire department resigned.

When you’re working in the finance department of a stock exchange listed company, there is always pressure to have the financial statements ready for both the quarterly reporting and the annual reports.

Add to that a situation where the country of business follows one financial year and the parent company follows another. So, there are 2 sets of reporting being done with just 1 month break in between to recover.

That is tough but can be managed.

The scenario changed when a new accounting package was introduced along with an insurance package that caused the systems to collapse.

It was meant to help the insurance and finance departments work better. Instead, there were times when an input by the underwriting or claims department would crash the system and all data was lost.

The worst part was the entire finance department input got lost too. Time was wasted re-entering data and we were under constant pressure.

Doing backups twice a day didn’t help. Nobody wanted to sit late into the evening re-doing their work.

That’s when the junior staff started to leave and new joinees wouldn’t stay for more than a month, even though we were paying high salaries at that level.

The negative impact of pressure started to show up as mild dissatisfaction and then deterioration in the quality of the team’s work.

In the later stages, it showed up as stress, anxiety and incidents of meltdowns.

The management back in the parent company country stood up and took notice when all the Finance Directors across the region resigned. None of us had spoken to each other about it but we had the same situation.

All of us had developed health issues and were exhausted with system crashes. The feeling of not having any control on the situation led to high levels of stress and related issues.

We were all heading for burnout and decided life was more precious than a six-figure salary.

The company lost some great talent and ultimately had to hire teams at extra cost to fix things.

What’s Pressure and What You Can Do About it

Everyone knows what it feels like to be stressed out, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to nail down what it means. We say things like, oh wow, this is stressful! Or, oh gosh, I feel stressed out.

It could be a situation or event that’s putting us under pressure (like when there is a lot to do or when you don’t have much control in a situation).

It might be the emotions you experience as a result of pressure that make you feel unable to cope (it’s so overwhelming it feels as though you’re walking through a thick fog).

Stress and pressure are often mistaken as being the same but this is not true.

As I mentioned earlier, pressure can be a positive and motivating factor that is often essential to get a task or job done quickly and helps you to perform better while achieving your goals.

Pressure is just a normal part of human life. On a good day, it can energize you, push you to act, and seek results.

However, if the pressure continues and becomes excessive, stress or our fight or flight response gets activated.

Overwhelming stress can cause serious issues. It isn’t a mental illness, you can’t receive it as a psychiatric diagnosis, however, that doesn’t mean it isn’t closely related to your mental health.

Stress can result in mental health issues (or make existing issues worse). For example, if you struggle with stress and you can’t cope or manage it, then you can develop anxiety and/or depression.

It’s a vicious cycle with both pressure and stress working together to overwhelm you.

Lookout for Signs of Pressure

Some of these signs will be noticeable by you and some might be brought to your attention by the observations of others. You might even be showing symptoms that need to be remedied.

• Wound up, irritable, impatient, aggressive
• Anxious, afraid, nervous
• Racing thoughts
• Unable to enjoy activities that normally fill you with joy
• A general disinterest in life
• An overwhelming sense of dread
• Loneliness or feeling neglected

What you can do to cope With Pressure

If any of the symptoms look familiar, then there are ways for you to cope with pressure and reduce your stress.

• Identify your triggers for stress and either remove them altogether or learn how best to manage them. Look for issues that continue to crop up, one-off moments, or on-going stress.

• Organize your time more effectively to manage your tasks and pressure more efficiently. Identify when you have the most energy and take care of the most difficult tasks in that block of time, keep a list to ensure you stay on track, break things down into smaller tasks, and ask if you need help.

• Try to address the cause of your pressure, whether it’s mental health, financial, relationships, addiction, abuse, discrimination, general stress, or otherwise.

• If you can’t change it, then you must accept it and move on.

5 Key Reasons You want to stay Calm under Pressure

Whether you call it Pressure, Stress or even the Hot seat, we’ve all been there.

Many times in life depending on our occupation or circumstances we are met with the challenge of staying cool under pressure.  The last thing we want to be is an anxious mess when it matters most to demonstrate composure, gravitas and leadership qualities.

We all want to be calm and collected when it counts.  No one wants to crumble under pressure.  It’s not as hard as you might think to learn to be calm under pressure. The benefits of developing the ability to keep calm are many. The main thing is that the calmer that you are the easier it is to make sound decisions and act effectively.

Some of the benefits of staying calm under pressure are:

Now that we understand the benefits, here are the 5 reasons you want to stay calm under pressure.

You will feel more in control of the moment

Keeping calm under pressure reduces your body’s adrenalin fight or flight style response.  Feeling in control contributes to feeling calm. Being able to handle yourself reduces anxiety, gives you more self-confidence, and gives you a sense of being able to control a pressure-filled situation.

As you get accustomed to thriving in pressure filed situations, your stress response becomes less pronounced. This basically means although you are still aware of a pressure filled situation, your ability to handle it is greater.

You will be able to make better decisions

Staying calm makes it easier to make good decisions. Tunnel vision is often a consequence of panic and fear.  Calmness helps you see the big picture. Try taking a deep breath and focusing on the task at hand.  The quality of the choices that you make will improve by keeping calm.

Mental Clarity

Mental clarity can be paired with decision making.  Being able to think clearly, objectively, and analytically are key to handling yourself in a situation where calmness is critical. Consider this an advantage you have over the situation.  Strive to stay calm and keep your head in the game in stressful situations.

Creativity

When you are calm you are able to come up with creative solutions for problems more effectively.  When you are anxious, or uptight creativity does not come as easily.  Strive to channel creativity through calm collected thinking.

Objectivity while problem-solving

Similar to creativity it is easier to objectively solve problems if you are not stressed out or anxious from pressure.  Seeing the big picture is a part of problem-solving that definitely works best when calm.

Learning how to problem solve in the heat of battle is a skill that will set you apart.  This is a great tool for your career, academia, or personal life.

These are just some of the reasons to develop skills that allow you to stay calm under pressure.  Learning to use these skills can keep you sane, help you level up in life, and benefit you all other areas of life.

The more you practice staying calm in stressful situations the better you will be able to handle high-pressure situations.

Don’t strive for perfection or set unrealistic expectations.  If you are not naturally calm under pressure know that it will take practice.  Once you start to focus on being calm under pressure and building these skills it gets easier.  Practice brings calmness.

In part 2 of this series on Pressure, we’ll look at 6 ways to stay calm under pressure and explore effective methods to deal with pressures in life.

Resource: Overcome Trying Situations by Changing your Mind Worksheet 

Prefer to read? Here’s the transcript.

The subject of this video is Political Depression. I’m Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching and today I want to talk to you more about it and why you need to monitor this stress trigger.

Now, ‘Political Depression’ is a term which is increasingly being used to define the phenomena of the uncharted and intense feelings of helplessness, grief and anxiety in people which occurs due to distressing social and political events around them.

And to be honest, I didn’t know there was a term called Political Depression until late 2019 and early 2020 when there was a lot of social political unrest and turmoil, especially in New Delhi.

I started watching the news like a hawk because the route to the vet’s clinic for my pet Miss Coco crossed an area which was near to one of the universities where there was violence.

I didn’t have a chance to consider the actual issue or form my own view because I had a pet with a tumor to take care of which was already stressful.

And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit us and now I had all the time in the world to watch the news and scroll through social media seeing even more bad news.

These platforms constantly reported on politically sensitive matters, which then triggered an emotional response amongst those who consume content. Many of us discovered how divided we were in opinion.

I finally stopped engaging on social media because it was creating more stress than required. My mental health during times of uncertainty too became a top priority.

I’ve written more about this sudden lock-down and how to cope and maintain good mental health in this post.

In hindsight, it was timely action because the first half of 2021 saw the arrival of the second wave of COVID in India.

There was more devastation to deal with as the news became more personal with losing friends and people who made up our social circle.

Politics affects our Mental Health

Now politics does affect our mental health as you can see in this quote. And I’m sure you’ve noticed that modern politics tend to be divisive. TV commentators and family members argue about impeachment, health care, and climate change.

However, you may not realize how much impact this stress can have on your personal health and relationships.

In this particular study, which is done by the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, they discovered that almost 40% of adults agreed that politics is causing them stress.

And accordingly, between 10% and 30% said that politics had damaged their friendships, made their home lives more unpleasant, and caused them to lose sleep or feel depressed.

This was also highlighted in another study by the American Psychological Association.

That study showed that the stress of following daily political news could negatively affect people’s mental health and well-being. One way to cope was to disengage but that had ramifications too.

To quote the study, “Protecting oneself from the stress of politics might help promote well-being but it also comes at a cost to staying engaged and active in democracy.”

Overall, the results suggested that politics has a significant daily effect on many Americans’ health and well-being. And even though the study population was American, I believe that the results hold for everyone.

And especially the implications, particularly for activists who wish to get people involved in advocating for political causes without harming their mental health, according to the researchers.

This trade-off between individual wellness and collective wellness can impact democracy as we know it.

While engaged citizens may be necessary for a democracy, it’s important to keep the affairs of state from interfering with your personal well-being.

So, with that in mind, I want to talk to you about some stress reducing suggestions for you to consider while consuming or discussing politics.

Some stress reducing suggestions to consider for consuming and discussing politics

Following the News with Less Stress

Now the first one is to take time off from actually listening to the news whether you’re in a car and the car’s radio is on while you’re driving you’re exposed to news even when you’re not searching for it. So, put a time limit on your own consumption and carry your headphones with you if you need a distraction, especially if you’re in a taxi.

Secondly set a curfew which means soothing bedtime rituals that will enhance your sleep. Turn off your computer and TV so you can read a novel or work on your hobby. In other words, don’t let your brain work too much.

Monitor the dinner talk. Food tastes so much more delicious when it’s accompanied by pleasant conversation. Discuss daily activities, happy memories, and vacation plans. Happy stuff.

Change the channel. Some news sources are grouchier than others. Pick a site with a calmer presentation. Watch programs that focus on facts rather than political positions or and scandals.

And the last one is to know your risks. Now you may be more vulnerable to political stress if you’re younger, or unemployed, and more politically active.

Research is still underway about what happens to voters when their party is out of office. You’ve seen how people behave when their football club’s lose matches. It’s something similar even with politics.

Discussing Politics with Less Stress

Also, when you do have to discuss politics try to make it less stressful.

One way is to be very civil. Listen to other points of view and respect someone’s opinions even when they differ from your own. Stick to the facts instead of taking issues personally.

Also, assume positive intentions. It’s so easy to stereotype someone on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Give them the benefit of the doubt and look for common ground. You may actually have similar goals even if you support different policies.

Clarify your purpose. Ask yourself why you’re having a particular conversation. If someone has strong beliefs, you’re unlikely to change their mind with anything you have to say.

And lastly, back off. You can decide to avoid debates that you find unproductive or disturbing. Tactfully change the subject or just walk away.

Here are some other Stress Reduction Tips

The first one which is important is to practice self-care. You’ll have more resilience to deal with any form of tension if you adopt habits that keep you strong and healthy. Eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and get at least 7 hours of sleep each night.

Then, build support. And that is nurturing relationships. That’s another effective tool for maintaining your peace of mind. Spend time with family and friends. Ask for help when you need it.

What about acting locally? You may feel more optimistic and empowered if you try to help your community. Campaign for local candidates or run for office yourself. Volunteer on your own or with your family for a cause you believe in.

And then, consider counseling. If political stress is interfering with your well-being and relationships, you may want to talk with a therapist. They can help you to gain insights into your situation and suggest coping strategies to provide relief.

To help you with controlling how you think, I’ve got a little gift for you

It’s my worksheet on controlling how you think, and your thoughts and you can download it for free at the link below this video. It will help you to cope with trying situations by changing your mind.

Final Words

So, my final words on this subject are, staying up to date with current events may help you to understand and influence public policy, as long as you keep your civic life in balance. I’d also suggest that you be selective and courteous about consuming news and discussing politics.

While it’s good to be socially aware it’s also good to be self-aware of what political discussions can do to trigger stress in you. And that’s from me; I’m Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching signing off. Bye for now.

Professionals aspiring to be leaders really need to learn to manage and pace their energy. Time is important but without stamina, enthusiasm and drive to do your work, it’s simply not going to amount to much.

Rubina’s time management story sounded so familiar. The 80 plus hour weeks, logging onto the laptop on a Sunday evening hoping to organize things because Monday would be manic is one that many a dedicated professional has done.

Until one fine morning they realize they’re experiencing burnout or showing the symptoms that they are heading in that direction.

It can worsen – like experiencing palpitations, cold sweat, getting irritated with co-workers and being on a short fuse.

If you want to be perceived as having Gravitas, then your ability to maintain composure is important. Transforming into the angry Hulk will definitely raise your visibility in the workplace but not Executive Presence.

I patiently listened to Rubina and then asked her about her energy management.

As expected, her answer was a zero, perpetually exhausted and not getting enough sleep or rest.

I’ve done it too and so have my team members. In trying to perfectly manage my time, I ended up doing too much during a workday and taking work home.

We all worked overtime chasing unrealistic deadlines to please an important audit client. Then boom, my team and I all collapsed.

We got the job done but it came at a very high cost – our health.

If only we had managed our energy instead!

In this 2-part blog topic, we’re going to explore both Energy Management and Time Management and see how to be productive without experiencing burnout.

In the first part, we’ll explore energy management and 3 methods to manage your energy for better mental, physical and emotional health.

Forget About Time Management – Manage Your Energy!

Time management is a popular subject in the corporate world as well as for sole proprietors and gig professionals.

But have you noticed that the more we try to manage our time to get everything done that’s expected of us, the less we enjoy our lives?

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve done Time Management workshops for professionals and have a full course on the same for optimal utilization of this precious resource.

Coaching clients also spend time improving their time management which is an important leadership skill.

But there’s another factor to consider.

It’s easy to manage your time for success and forget that we have to re-energize our minds and bodies, or we’ll become disconnected and dissatisfied with our lives.

Businesses are realizing that while time management is great to set productivity goals, energy management must be addressed too. Otherwise, the business will experience high turnover rates, distraction and medical conditions among their employees.

This isn’t a recent development that has come to light thanks to the pandemic. It’s been known for some time now.

Back in 2007, the Harvard Business Review shared their view that effective energy management offered far more benefits than time management training as a leadership skill.

“The core problem with working longer hours is that time is a finite resource. Energy is a different story. [And] energy can be systematically expanded and regularly renewed by establishing specific rituals – behaviors that are intentionally practiced and precisely scheduled, with the goal of making them unconscious and automatic as quickly as possible.”

Impact of running on low Energy Levels

While time goes on forever, energy doesn’t. It has to be replenished or it runs out and you lose your capacity to work at your top capacity. Distraction sets in when energies run low and costly mistakes are made.

Putting in longer hours sometimes to meet a deadline is one thing. However, when it becomes a routine, it will inevitably take a toll on you physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Depending on your constitution and support system, you might be able to delay your breaking point but not for long.

For the organization, it means declining levels of engagement, increasing levels of distraction, high turnover rates, and soaring medical costs among employees.

Giving up those habits and behavior patterns that zap your energy can reenergize you and shift the focus from time management to energy management.

For example, leaving work earlier and setting an earlier bedtime may be just the trick that helps you reestablish your energy and be much more productive during your working hours.

Role of our energy and vibrations in how we present ourselves

Rubina’s job involved making presentations for various stakeholders in her organization. She noticed she had started rushing through the presentations and her voice often went high pitched. Her audience too seemed to be disinterested.

That’s because our energy is visible to our audience through the tone of our voice, body language and our enthusiasm. How on earth are you going to be enthusiastic if you’re running on empty?

It’s a fact, your energy levels impact your vibrations and the non-language messages we send out.

When we’re feeling low, our thoughts tend to be of a low quality as well. Instead of thinking positively about a task, we try to find evidence to support any negative thought we’re having.

This in turn perpetuates our feeling low and sending out low vibrations which are picked up by others and they respond in kind. The cycle gains momentum and burnout is guaranteed.

Let’s now look at 3 different methods to manage our energy and increase it when required.

Let Passion increase your Energy Levels

Have you ever noticed that being passionate about something fills you with an energy that seems to be non-stop?

I have. I loved my work in the finance world and especially when we had special assignments. Like the industrial secondment to a prestigious London stockbroker’s firm to help settle accounts with clients before the 1986 Big Bang.

To put in context, the phrase Big Bang is used in reference to the sudden deregulation of financial markets.

It was coined to describe measures, including abolition of fixed commission charges and of the distinction between stockjobbers and stockbrokers on the London Stock Exchange and change from open outcry to screen-based electronic trading, effected by UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1986.

The kind of crazy hours our team put in will make you gasp but we loved our work.

The energy just came out of nowhere. We knew we were part of history, and it was fun. I also earned enough overtime to cash in as leave for studies.

In those days, trainee Chartered Accountants didn’t get paid overtime, we got precious time off for studies.

Entrepreneur and powerful businesswoman, Oprah Winfrey, once said, “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”

Oprah created a billion-dollar-plus business from her passion. We can’t all do that, but we can use passion to increase our energy levels to the point that we’re doing what excites us and that makes us healthier in the process.

The more passionate you are about what you do the more positive energy you exude. Passion inspires us and makes your life more abundant.

Whether you’re passionate about your personal life, your work or anything else, passion is what will fuel your inner fire to happiness and sometimes, greatness.

No one who is successful today has gotten to where he or she is without an outpouring of passion for what they’re doing. Being creative is one of your most basic needs. If you’re creative and feel passion for what you’re doing, you’re going to experience prosperity and health.

Perhaps you don’t really know what you’re passionate about?

Here are a few ways to determine what your passion is.

If you try it and find you aren’t as passionate as you thought you were, go back to square one and try again. It’s important for you to find your passion.

• What excites you? If you have a hobby or job that excites you, you’re well on your way to finding your passion. Spend some time thinking about the answers to this question.
• What are you good at? You may have been told that you have real talent as a writer but have ignored it until now. Spend some time thinking about what you’re really good at. Think about how you could turn that into a passion that could take you far.
• Do you enjoy reading about certain subjects? You might be passionate about reading about history and various cultures. Spend some time thinking and researching what you could do with those subjects.

Passionate energy invites success for that passion into your life. It’s within all of us and we just have to dig a little bit to make it come out.

Don’t waste the rest of your life in a job or a pursuit that just isn’t meant for you and that you feel no passion for.

Oprah Winfrey also said about passion, “If you don’t know what your passion is, realize that one reason for your existence on earth is to find it.”

Once you do, happiness and success will follow.

Increase your Energy by managing your Solar Plexus Chakra

I recommend balancing our chakras for good health as well as stress management.

For the purposes of managing energy, let us focus on our third chakra, the Solar Plexus Chakra, also known as the power or naval chakra.

This chakra is related to fire, ego, identity, transforming knowledge, solar/cosmic force, will, self-definition, autonomy, metabolism, and masculine principle. It brings us energy, effectiveness, spontaneity, and non-dominating power.

When this chakra is overactive, you become prone to overwork and exhaustion. A sign this is happening is the desire to control everything and anxiety if you can’t.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, it is most likely due to your over-extending ourselves.

Rather than energy moving through your chakra system, it is being siphoned off to other projects, people, and situations. Too much of yourself is being given away to external matters.

In such a situation you have to assert energetic boundaries, so you do not become depleted. You need to bring your energy back to you and resist the urge to control everything imagining catastrophic consequences if you don’t.

This requires balancing your solar plexus chakra. Try this simple exercise.

Begin by taking a seated position and rocking back and forth a few times. Intentionally shake off any excess energy lingering in your auric field.

Close your eyes. Drop into your solar plexus chakra just above your navel and notice how it feels.

Breathe into this yellow ball of energy for a minute. Then imagine all the energy slowly being drawn inward. Feel this chakra become the same size as your other chakras and come back into alignment.

When you feel it becomes balanced, breathe three more times.

Open your eyes and continue to remember to keep your energy inward.

There may be times when you have too much energy that’s making you hyper. If that is the case, use the exercises in this post to store the energy for when you really need it.

Increase Your Energy by Working with Your Natural Rhythms

The entire world seems obsessed with productivity.

In fact, working harder and spending more hours and work may actually reduce your productivity.

It’s much better to find out what your natural rhythms are and work with those.

Working with your natural rhythms to increase your productivity makes sense because it gives you breaks so that you don’t burn out. It also helps prevent energy blockages that arise during the course of the day.

Here are some ways that business management is finding works to increase the energy levels and productivity of the workplace:

• Break up the work session into blocks of time. For example, you’ll work hard to focus on the task at hand if you know there’s going to be a mandatory break at the end of the session.
• Take naps. This may sound contrary to everything you know about the workplace. But experts are finding that short naps (30 minutes or so) during your low-energy times can actually spike your energy level and make you more productive for the rest of the day.
• Learn how to be in sync to your natural rhythm. Working with your natural rhythms mean that you’re concentrating when your energy is high and resting when the energy level is low.

Realize that pushing yourself to continue working during low energy times can cause low performance and dissatisfaction with yourself and your work.

Unless you take steps to rejuvenate yourself during the day, you’ll be holding yourself back from all you can accomplish.

Multi-tasking is an essential skill in the current corporate world and cannot be ignored as I had pointed out in an earlier post.

Your challenge then is how to do it without adversely impacting your Executive Presence or productivity.

But Multitasking does have its drawbacks.

According to The Harvard Business Review, this behavior can lead to as much as a 40 percent decrease in productivity. It takes workers time to switch mindset from one task to another, and doing so may not be in the best interest of your work group. In addition, it can negatively impact your company’s bottom line.

An article I read about the impact of multi-tasking in the workplace, points out how this can raise stress and anxiety in a worker and even possible burnout.

I’m not surprised. Clients who engage me as their coach for building their Executive Presence always have time management issues.

The side-effects of multi-tasking also have to be addressed.

That’s because multi-tasking over stimulates your brain function and you lose your ability to differentiate between the important and not so important tasks. It also blurs the line between tasks that are urgent and not so urgent.

Priority tasks get mingled with activities that aren’t really urgent and sadly, the Covey Quadrant or Blanchard Quadrant approach to prioritization of tasks doesn’t work for these professionals because they aren’t able to think with a clear mind.

Having said that, there’ll always be jobs where this skill is essential for completing tasks, like customer service representatives, nurses, bank tellers, bartenders, receptionists, and other front-end roles for examples.

To serve customers better, they must attend to several tasks at once.

But this same skill can become a hindrance for professionals who need a high level of concentration at work such as accountants or data entry specialists, to name a few.

I mean, have you ever heard of a surgeon multi-tasking on patients in the operation theater?

Focusing on one task at a time is necessary for these roles to produce quality and accurate outputs.

The era of multi-tasking has generated a disturbing phenomenon – our inability to focus on just one thing at a time and experiencing scattered brain syndrome.

Even if we aren’t willing to admit it openly, most of us feel scattered a good portion of the day. That’s because we’re always juggling many things at once and never have our brains entirely concentrated on one task at a time.

5 Tips to stop feeling Scattered & start feeling in Control

While I have an entire course on effective time management for professionals, here are 5 tips to help you learn to focus.

#1. Remove Distractions

Before you embark on becoming more focused, identify the things that are most likely to distract you.

Do you find yourself always looking at the notifications on your phone? Turn them off.

Do you constantly browse social media when you should be working? Install a plugin on your browser that limits how much time you spend on specific sites.

Turn off anything and everything you can that can be a distraction, including ringers, pop-ups, and other noises or visuals that pull you out of your zone.

If you focus better while listening to music, put your headphones on and select your best tunes before you start working.

Whatever it is you need to do, get your environment set to be as distraction-free as possible.

#2. Prioritize Your To-Dos

This one is often on the top of lists related to productivity for a good reason. The act of writing down what needs to be done helps to declutter your mind and get a handle on everything rattling around up there.

After it is all down on paper (or your phone) prioritize what needs to be done first. These are your tasks that MUST be done today (or by lunch, etc).

Prioritizing also tells your brain to stop worrying about those pesky things way down on the list and to focus on what is essential.

#3. Pick One and Break it Down

Start with your most pressing goal. Simplify it into its most basic steps or actions, which should take no more than 20 minutes for each.

If a step will take longer, break it down even further. Once you have a clear outline of how to accomplish the goal, you are ready to begin.

#4. Start Working. Focus on One Step at a Time

Since you know exactly what needs to be done and how long it will take, you do not need to rush, and you can focus on one thing at a time. Focus on getting that first step done.

It will take less than 20 minutes, which means your brain can concentrate for that long without interruption. Do each step deliberately and do not try to do anything else while you’re at it.

Once you are done with that step, evaluate how you feel. Do you need a break? Are you ready for the next step?

#5. Break up the Day

If you start to feel agitated or anxious, it is okay to break up your time by getting up to move or doing another very small task.

But do one little thing and then come back to your priority.

The more you neglect the important stuff on your list, the more scattered your brain will feel. After you have completed four steps or tasks, you should take a real break.

During this time, you can check your social media, read blog articles, or indulge in your guilty pleasure that you have been avoiding while you were working.

Bonus Tip: Focus on Tasks, Not the Clock

It doesn’t matter what time it is or how long you have been working. Focus on checking off the steps in your list or the tasks you have prioritized.

If you need some boundaries, set a timer for 20 minutes and work consistently until you hear it go off. Take a short break, and then return and start again. The more you practice this, the easier it will become as you build your stamina for focus.

Retraining a scattered brain takes time and diligence, but it can happen.

Be assured that you will slowly but surely start feeling like your mind can focus and you do not feel so scattered all the time.

Time Management skill is the one area where many professionals do not pay enough attention to. In fact poor time management skills lead to stress and overwhelm.

Whenever I ask any professional who is complaining of feeling stressed out, or burnout or even overwhelmed, I usually ask them, “How are you managing your time? Do you have any tools? Do you have any To Do Lists? Do you prioritize?”

Most of the time the answer is No. They’re just so filled up with their mind on the work that they have to do that they don’t actually sit down and try to work it out.

Okay, forget all the time management tools in the world but what about routines?

And then I have them saying to me ‘we don’t have any time for routines’.

But wouldn’t that help? It will.

Transcript:

Hi, I’m Vatsala Shukla Chief Encouragement Officer at Karmic Ally Coaching and today I want to do a short video to explain to you how routines actually help to clear your mind and reduce stress levels.

And I’m going to take a page out of my own book and share with you the story of my late dog Miss Coco and what she taught me about the Power of Routine.

Now when Miss Coco was around, we had a set fixed routine. We had a morning walk during which time she would walk and play a little and I would of course plan the rest of my day.

Then in the afternoons we went for long walks at which time we would do nature walking meditation.

We’d sit in the garden and again it gave me a chance to de-stress from the work that I would have been doing in between her morning walk and eating breakfast and the afternoon walk.

I learned the power of having a fixed routine and times to do those pieces of work. I could chunk time when I would actually do other work and fill up my timetable for the day and I used to be quite productive.

Now when I lost her a year ago, at that time I had not quite understood what she had taught me about routine.

It’s only when she wasn’t there that I realized that my time table was going haywire because I had forgotten how to fix specific times for different tasks and instead everything was on the To Do List.  I’d just keep working on it through my priority, but the routine tasks started to falter. And that did create a lot of stress.

So, what I’d like to tell you is that routines are actually highly underrated.

In my case, the little dog taught me about it but even in the professional world, what happens is most people don’t understand the value of a routine.

In fact, most people who are portrayed in the media as having a good work ethic and who have high standards for their lives and environments are often being teased as being neurotic or obsessive over details that don’t seem to matter.

But, if you pay attention to the people around you, you’d find that the more organized you are, the more you are able to get accomplished in the least amount of time with the least amount of stress. In other words, organization matters.

But, I’ve also noticed that those people who are obsessively organized, they end up making a mistake which is they start sweating over the small details.

They go into the minutest of things thinking that a particular project or task is going to according to plan AND they forget to leave room for error and because of which they may become even more stressed out if things don’t go exactly according to plan.

In fact, they never have a Plan B.

They do not put in any mitigating factors that could prevent the task or work from going according to the way it should.

So, the act of getting organized and following the routine that you set for yourself is actually to reduce the stress in your life and not to cause it!

In other words, you need to always have a plan. You also need to think a little bit outside of that plan to see what can go wrong and what cannot.

Because, you know, when we talk about being organized, it’s actually very simple.  It’s when you are doing the right things or habits within your day that ensure that things get done to the level that you need to do them.

It doesn’t mean that you’re cramming stuff for the sake of it. But you work systematically and you achieve things. And when you cannot do that, you’re going into stress and overwhelm.

But the good news is that there is a middle ground that we can utilize.

For one we have to be realistic in our goals. Secondly as I have been saying a lot in the last few minutes is to leave ourselves enough margin to easily overcome unforeseen bumps in the road. In other words, the roadblock.

If something goes wrong, can you mitigate the impact or can you pivot that?

Now always remember that while it’s important to stay flexible, it is also important to keep up on the habits and routines that you are creating.

In other words, once you create a routine, stick to it until it becomes a habit. Because the more times you do it, it’s going to become a natural part of you. When we build a habit, it is a way actually for our brains to get used to the new activity.

Of course it can be stressful at first, but ultimately it will become autopilot. I mean, do you need to practice the habit of breathing? It’s done on autopilot, isn’t it? Likewise here.

And this would take so much of the stress away from the activity itself because our minds already know what is coming and our bodies are used to the challenge, making it a comfortable part of daily life, even if the activity itself is not a particularly enjoyable one.

Like say, taking out the garbage, or answering emails, making client calls. Once you know you have a routine that you’re going to do things in a specific time and a specific way, it becomes much easier to manage.

And yes, good habits don’t have to be enjoyable for us to begin finding comfort in them.

Even doing unenjoyable things in a routine way can begin to feel satisfying.

And you can always feel a sense of accomplishment in doing them. In other words, when we remove them from the To Do List to the Done List, we are rewarded in our brains for the upkeep of a good habit, and once we get it over with then we don’t have to worry about it anymore.

Or at least not until the next time.

Because the truth is, it causes incredible stress to the body to dread activities that are a constant part of daily life.

And you know, bad habits like procrastination only assist in avoiding our doing things which we know we need to do and do not get rid of the task to be done. And for a bad habit to procrastinate, you can always figure out and justify in your mind why you shouldn’t be doing something but it is not going to really help.

In fact most times it is far healthier to accept that they are inevitabilities and to train ourselves to deal with them promptly and efficiently so that we can move on to doing the things we really, really enjoy.

Now I have a little resource for you.

This is a short report with time management tips that work even if you’re not a Working Mom.

In fact, I was inspired to write it for working moms for Mother’s Day this year and then I realized that this report works for others too.

I’m going to share a link below and I invite you to download it and to use the tips that are given in it.

It’s going to help you settle into good routines that will actually help beat overwhelm.

And my final words are, that you have to accept the things that you have to do and forming habits and routines around them will take the pressure off dread and anticipation.

It will free up your mind for things that really do matter. For example, spending time with your friends and family and getting your personal goals accomplished without having to take away time from other activities because you have to get your work done.

So I suggest that you embrace the power of routines today and download the Working Moms Calm the Chaos report pronto.

This is Vatsala Shukla for Karmic Ally Coaching. Have a great day. We’ll talk again soon.

If your career ambitions include reaching the top rung of the corporate ladder, then you need to develop your emotional coping skills.

You may be or think you’re the smartest person in the room at work.

You might be better at delivering quality work than your co-workers or even hold more qualifications and certifications than your colleagues but you might not be getting the kind of raises and promotions you feel you deserve.

If any of this resonates with you, then you want to look at your emotional coping skills.

Your boss and HR might not tell you in clear words what’s missing during performance appraisals or counselling although you will find yourself labelled as ‘difficult’ or ‘too emotional’.

You might also be put on a performance improvement plan with the real issue masked by an easier topic.

You need to understand that a high IQ and other hard core skills aren’t enough to get you promoted or considered for a leadership position in the modern corporate world.

Of course you’ll get the pay rise and a bonus but after a point, that’s not enough on the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs and you’ll want more.

I’m not speaking from the top of my head – I’ve seen it happen.

Many years ago when I was a Finance Manager for a global energy sector company, I used to interact with a highly knowledgeable and competent Senior Manager from a Big 4 firm for the personal taxes of our expat employees.

This lady professional knew her area of expertise in comparison with one of her team members who I personally felt was over-confident and cocky at times.

Besides he’d make mistakes which included misspelling the Country Manager’s name on documents that needed to be signed before submitting to the authorities.

Imagine my surprise when I learned he had been promoted and then 2 years later made Partnership.

By chance there was another firm dealing with our corporate tax and company returns who had worked before with this lady in another company and he revealed her prospects were limited because of her outbursts and alleged lack of people skills when working under pressure.

She must have undertaken training to express her emotions in a manner that was not perceived negatively or maybe she became aware of her self-sabotaging behaviour because years later, she made partnership which honestly should have come earlier.

If you’ve worked even a day in the corporate world, you’d know it’s not unusual for people who are obviously less intellectually-gifted than you to get promoted not just once, twice, but all the way to the top.

What’s going on?

Part of it will be intelligence scores. In fact, in study after study, IQs have been correlated to life success. IQ tests are almost universally accepted as a good indicator of overall life success.

But this begs the question, “how come people with high IQs don’t always become successful?”

In fact, if we’re talking about really spectacular levels of success, I’m talking about corner office CEO type of success, when factoring an IQ, is not always the case.

There can be a number of factors including being the favourite of the boss, being part of the right group or even being at the right place at the right time.

But if we were to account for all of that, there is one other factor that shines forth. It cannot be ignored.

This is called emotional intelligence.

One key part of your emotional intelligence is your skill in coping emotionally with certain social situations. This might be holding you back.

If you have tough time dealing with task completion and you tend to say the wrong things to the wrong people at the wrong time, don’t be surprised if this all blows up in your face when promotion time comes around.

If you find yourself always locked into some sort of negative emotional feedback loop with certain types of personalities in your office, don’t be surprised if this has a negative effect on your career trajectory.

These situations are impacted by your emotional coping skills or lack of it.

How do you deal with difficult people?

How do you interact with people who seem to oppose you at every turn?

How do you manage people who have negative attitudes or a corrosive personality?

These problems are not going away nor can they be explained away.

Your high IQ might help you engage in battle with these difficult types of people but you can’t wish them away.

This is where emotional intelligence comes into the picture and you need to develop this skill.

Besides, a deficiency in your emotional coping skills maybe preventing you from going up the corporate ladder as fast as you wish.

Before developing Emotional Intelligence, consider your Emotional Coping Skills

The pandemic years have brought focus back on our emotional coping skills and our mental health during times of an uncertain future.

Coping has been defined in Wikipedia as the conscious or unconscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions.

The article goes on to explain that coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social and shares the different outcomes of research.

While the classification of these strategies into a broader architecture has not been agreed upon, highly regarded researchers have tried to group coping responses rationally, empirically by factor analysis, or through a blend of both techniques.

For example, Susan Folkman and Richard S Lazarus identified 4 groups of coping strategies – problem-focused, emotion-focused, support-seeking, and meaning-making coping.

Weiten has identified four types of coping strategies – appraisal-focused (adaptive cognitive), problem-focused (adaptive behavioral), emotion-focused, and occupation-focused coping.

Billings and Moos added avoidance coping as one of the emotion-focused coping.

Despite the various groupings, one thing is certain, people can used multiple coping strategies or even apply different strategies to deal with the situation at hand.

When we use emotion-focused coping strategies, we try to manage the emotions that accompany the perception of stress.

The five emotion-focused coping strategies identified by Folkman and Richard Lazarus are:

• disclaiming
• escape-avoidance
• accepting responsibility or blame
• exercising self-control
• & positive reappraisal.

There are a number of ways we can try to minimize or even reduce the emotional components of the stress creating trigger, namely, seeking social support, reappraising the stressor in a positive light, accepting responsibility, using avoidance, exercising self-control and even distancing ourselves from the stress creating situation.

When choosing an emotional coping mechanism, one has to consider whether we need it for a specific incident or if the need is a long term one.

For example distancing ourselves when the boss is in a crabby mood is a short term strategy but if you’ve had a job loss or bereavement, having a robust social support system to see you through the life altering event is better.

While some mechanisms require using sources or actions external to us, longer term strategies require us to introduce changes within ourselves.

That’s where activities such as breath work, meditation, yoga, chakra balancing, aromatherapy, exercise or acquiring a hobby like art and pottery help us refocus from the stressor by using physical or mental distractions.

Emotional Coping Skills and Emotional Intelligence –Concluding Thoughts

Accepting we need to develop coping skills of any kind takes a lot of courage and honesty because most people don’t want to accept that there might be something wrong with them or that they are part of the problem.

But if you want to make progress, you need to look at your emotional coping skills with clear eyes.

Be honest with yourself and when you find yourself handling a situation in less than the best manner possible, ask yourself

Am I handling this situations in the best way I am capable of?

Do I really need to react?

Do I have to always pull rank?

Can I come up with a sort of win-win situation?

Asking yourself these questions will lead to your mastering the first component of Emotional Intelligence – Self-Awareness and if you get that right, then you will make progress in understanding and applying Social Awareness.

Unfortunately, most people are ill-equipped to handle these questions and that’s why we achieve success on a fairly random basis. Sometimes we do well, sometimes we don’t.

As with every behaviour modification and change, this takes time.

The question then is, are you willing to do it?

If you want a little bit more predictability in managing your day to day success by honing your emotional coping skills check the resources below by clicking on the images (the recommended reading are affiliate links).

Karmic Ally Coaching’s How to Develop Emotional Intelligence with Ease

Among the many important lessons, I learned during my career in corporate finance was staying calm during chaos if one wanted to stay productive and meet deadlines without going into a flat line.

One of the worst memories I have is of the time when the insurance company I was working in introduced both a new accounting system and an insurance module system. It was supposed to make our life easier, but the insurance modules would crash without notice.

It’s another thing that we learned later that the vendor had over-promised. Our company which was to run the initial model which would then be transferred across the regional offices was their guinea pig!

Of course, they had to fix it which they did but the crashes always happened around monthly reporting. The quarterly reports were a nightmare.

If you want to know what chaos means, that was what my team and I were living.

It wasn’t just bookkeeping.

We had to make sure all premiums were accounted for; all claims were settled and avoid the embarrassing situation of not paying our vendors on time. Worse yet, the banking module doing a double payment.

When the crash happened, we would go back to a previous backup and then manually redo all the work we had done. Our head of Information Technology started making backups every 3 hours to help us – normally 2 backups a day should have sufficed.

As the Finance Director of that company, I had to work with the vendor and somehow keeping the morale of my department up. Even when I would have preferred hiding my head in the sand like an ostrich.

It was a battle between us and Chaos and who would win it.

Memory is a strange thing.

It takes 1 little incident to remind us of what had happened earlier and to draw from our experience in order to cope with the new crisis.

In my case it was waking up one fine Monday morning to find the apartment had been flooded with water. The carpets were drenched, there was water in the living room and the bulk of it had collected in the kitchen.

The plumber came to see it and it turned out the leakage wasn’t in our pipes but those of our neighbor’s and their apartment was in a worse situation.

My poor neighbors were profusely apologetic and offered to get the carpet cleaned and all sorts of things. They didn’t need to do anything other than get the burst pipe fixed and call us if they had a repeat so I could be better prepared.

I’ve always believed that if I can get my Monday off to a good start then the rest of the week will go well.

My Monday wasn’t off to such a good start, but I could still get a handle of it if I wanted to.

So, after I finished getting the home back to a semblance of normalcy, I decided to take control of my day and get some calm back into it.

I stayed off social media, didn’t watch the news and reduced interactions with difficult people as much as possible.

Instead I focused on my energy and what I wanted to achieve during the week.

It’s my normal way of reclaiming my power over myself and balancing my energies using my favourite chakra balancing exercises.

My Blanchard Quadrants too came into play – if it wasn’t urgent or important or I didn’t have to do it or want to do it, the task was shifted to the next day or later for the week.

You see, no matter what is happening in your life and around you, the only thing you can control is yourself.

When others are stressed out, when chaos abounds all around you, you can manage your response and how you allow this out-of-control environment to affect you.

You can learn to be calm in the storm and remain productive despite chaotic conditions.

Not sure how?

Follow these 5 simple steps to learn to stay calm and be productive during the most challenging of times.

I learned it during my computer system crash days and can say with conviction that it works.

Step 1. Get your Stress under Control

You can’t remain productive and calm if you, too, are stressed out and feeling full of chaos. Learning to manage your personal stress and find ways to lower it when it is high are essential.

Deep breathing exercises are quite useful. Many people like to meditate to reduce stress. Going for a short walk can also help.

One of my favorite ways to do this is to gently tap my heart with my left hand fingers, breathe deeply and affirm ‘All is well’.

Find techniques that you can practice wherever you may be and use them often when things start to feel chaotic.

Getting your own stress under control means you are more likely to handle whatever comes your way productively.

Step 2. Focus on what you can control

In many situations, things feel crazy and chaotic because there is much that is outside of your personal control. To stay productive, you must focus only on that which is firmly within your influence.

Everything else is going to happen no matter what you do. But the things you can control are where you can make a difference.

So when we started having the system crashes, I discussed the matter with our Country Manager and the Head of IT and we decided to increase the number of backups and also set up a protocol system to discover where and when the crashes were taking place so we could reduce business disruption.

When you recognize that something is outside your power, let it go and move on.

Learning to focus on what you can change and ignoring the rest is a helpful strategy when things seem to be a little chaotic.

Step 3. Use your Resilience

The best trait you can cultivate for learning to stay calm amid turmoil is resilience. Resilience is your ability to adapt to stressful situations and bounce back from obstacles, setbacks, and unexpected outcomes.

Resilience is made from many traits and skills that you can practice and hone.

Here are just a few ways to develop your resilience.

• Learn to rely on your strengths.
• Connect with positive people around you to help you through challenging situations. Support is vital in all difficulties.
• Focus on solving the problem. The energy you spend on complaining, bemoaning your circumstances, and blaming others are not energy well spent. What can you do right now to solve the problem? Do that?
• Get perspective. Place the problem in the context of reality, focusing on its real significance in the grand scheme. This gives you the ability to focus on what is essential right now.
• Remain positive in your ability to make a difference and solve the problem. A positive mindset is crucial during challenging times.

For more tips, check out my presentation.

Step 4. Look for the Lessons in Every Situation

There is always something you can learn, even from the most chaotic of times. You can find many opportunities for growth if you have the right mindset.

I saw that in play when we used to have the crashes. My boss, the Country Manager would reframe the incident as a learning lesson. It was also a hands on lesson on Emotional Intelligence.

It’s a tool I value even today because difficulties give us an opportunity to exercise our focus and determination. During trying times we need to concentrate on maintaining a calm soul and conquer the challenges that face us.

Avoid being reactive to difficult situations that catch you off guard. You can choose to take the higher road.

Even if keeping calm is the least natural approach for you, develop the will to overcome the tough situation and learn from it.

What I realized back then and which serves me even now is that giving in to negativity only serves to worsen any situation – system crashes, floods from next door or anything awful that you can imagine to throw your work and life into a tizzy.

Instead, focus on overcoming the challenge at hand by counteracting negativity with positivity and peace.

Handle trying times by acting from a place of calm reasoning. When the soul is calm, we are able to think things through. By rejecting unease at our core, we make smart choices that produce finer results.

See the value in all your life experiences. Even obstacles become worthwhile and meaningful when seen in this light.

Step 5. Be Grateful for What is Good in Your Life

Remaining calm and productive when everything seems out of control can be hard. To keep an optimistic outlook and remain composed, think of those things that are really working in your life.

Studies have shown that the practice of gratitude is linked to our levels of happiness and contentment.

Gratitude is like magic! The more grateful you are the happier and the more content you become.

The book, “The Magic,” by Rhonda Byrne, author of “The Secret,” takes you through a step-by-step and 28-day formula for bringing more gratitude into your life.

Gratitude can truly transform your life, from one of misery and discontent to one of deep satisfaction and joy.

Ancient yogis knew about the secret power of gratitude: The yoga sutras speak of how being aware of and being grateful for the abundance of life and the flow of life that is all around us, opens the way for more streams of abundance to come to us.

When we focus on what we are grateful for, we get more of it. “That which you focus on grows,” according to mindfulness practitioners.

Therefore, when you focus on what you lack, you block the flow of unlimited potential, which exists in the universe.

When you focus on what you are grateful for, you open your heart to the infinite abundance, which is available to each one of us.

So, the days when the system didn’t crash at work, I was grateful for it and the gaps between the crashes started to increase.

As for the water made Monday disaster, the funny thing is, the minute I started to be grateful for all the things that didn’t get damaged and added to my gratitude list, the day went better and funnily enough, it was a productive Monday too!

Here are 2 simple daily practices I recommend building gratitude into your life:

• Keep a gratitude journal. At the end of each day, write down in your journal five things that happened in your day that you are grateful for.
• Carry a gratitude stone in your pocket. Find a rock or gemstone which appeals to you and put it in your pocket. Each time you touch the stone, remember the feeling of gratitude and something you are truly grateful for.

Make gratitude part of your daily practice for one month and notice the benefits. You will feel happier, more joyful, centered, and content. Being grateful truly works like a miracle and can transform the way you view the world.

The secret to an abundant life is all in how you view it. Even when something happens that hurts, there is a gift and a blessing to be found in the experience. If only you are open to seeing what it is!

Count your blessings and acknowledge your gratitude. This will help you place the chaos into perspective, as well.

Where will you focus your energy this week?

Additional Resource for staying calm and building your resilience to stress

If you’re looking for stress busting exercises that also build your resilience and sense of calm, then check out my Stress Management Bundle.

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Update: 13 July 2024 – Overcoming Corporate Burnout

Too much of anything is bad for your mental, physical and emotional well-being.

That holds for stress and even chaotic workplaces.

The World Health Organization classifies burnout as a “syndrome” that is caused by “chronic workplace stress.”

Burnout is described as an “occupational phenomenon,” that can lead to serious physical and mental health concerns.

Corporate burnout is a growing issue that affects professionals across industries, leading to decreased productivity, compromised health, and diminished job satisfaction.

In “Overcoming Corporate Burnout,” you’ll discover practical strategies and actionable steps to reclaim your vitality and reignite your passion for your work. This concise, insightful guide is designed specifically for busy professionals who need quick yet effective solutions to manage stress and prevent burnout.

It’s been written by a professional who’s had to face burnout and survived.

Now it’s your turn to learn the basics to prevent burnout and start your road to recovery if you’re already experiencing burnout. Learn more here or by clicking on the book cover below.

The best way to learn about leadership and other management concepts and practices is through case studies and seeing it being done hands on.

Who would have thought this COVID-19 pandemic would provide a living global case study and the leaders would be those who are leading their citizens on a peacetime war effort against an invisible enemy, a virus with no known cure?

As an Indian citizen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an incredible example of leadership and statesmanship who is leading from the front as well as supporting the efforts of other countries.

I’m still working out his leadership power base that compels a country of 1.3 billion people to go into complete lock down with only 4 hours’ notice for 21 days.

It’s definitely not just charisma. He has his finger on the pulse of the nation.

Why else would his second talk to the nation in the first week of the lock down get a record TRP on national television- not to mention how he’s keeping the morale of a nation going?

The ultimate compliment was the British Prime Minister using the same opening lines with addressing his nation!

One thing that I do know is he had a world class mentor in the form of former prime minister, freedom fighter and poet, late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

We can all benefit from the right mentor in our careers and I’ve got the perfect resource to help you find the Right One.

One thing Mr Modi said struck a chord in many hearts – Social Distancing should not mean Emotional Distancing.

An infection outbreak is a stressful time that often requires the adoption of stringent but necessary measures.

During a pandemic, people are forced to self-isolate to curb the spread of the disease and prevent new infections. It is a critical aspect of mitigating the disease, and as such, everyone should play their role adequately.

Self-isolation has two objectives: To protect yourself and to protect others.

Knowing how to behave and act when one is alone or when they are among other people is essential. Therefore, you need to develop the right attitude and reflexes when self-isolating.

While maintaining limited contact with others, washing hands every 20 minutes, maintaining hygiene and self-monitoring is important, we must not forget that we are human and that quality cannot be lost.

We are social animals not accustomed to isolation and this affects our mental health.

There is another very important reason why I’m concerned about the impact of social distancing even though right now that seems to be the only way to control the spread of COVID-19 – the increase in suicides linked to the COVID-19 crisis.

Just in the last 24 hours, we’ve had reports of 2 suicides on national television. One was a COVID-19 patient who chose to end his life rather than face the fear of possible death from this virus.

Another person who was under quarantine wanted to go home despite doctors and nurses assuring him he would once the quarantine period was over. Imagine the state of mind of this young man in his 30’s that he choose to jump to his death from the 7^th floor of the hospital.

If this is the psycho-social repercussion in otherwise healthy people who could not face isolation and fear of an uncertain future, then imagine an already vulnerable section of society that have prior mental health issues and the elderly?

It’s not just India, in an article that I read last night on the Scientific American website, my concerns are validated – COVID-19 is likely to lead to an increase in Suicides.

Hence for all intents and purposes, we must avoid Emotional Distancing.

Here’s what I suggest.

5 ways to avoid Emotional Distancing when you need to keep Social Distance

Keeping in Touch

I’m keeping in touch with friends either on the phone or via social media. If I find a good joke on Facebook, I acknowledge the source and share it forward. Making people smile when most of us are worried is a good deed.

When you’re getting in touch with people, make it your intention to truly connect with them and how they’re feeling. Ask questions, do active listening and listen more than you talk.

Let them know you have their undivided attention. If you’re on zoom or skype, make eye contact and share from the heart. Use your emotional intelligence skill to connect at a deeper level.

It’s a time when strong friendships and bonds can be forged.

I’ve personally seen a professional contact on LinkedIn turn into a supportive long distance friend all because our chat turned to managing senior citizen pets during lock down which led to lots of communications and sharing photos of our pets and generally giving each other a morale boost.

Thinking of vulnerable individuals

Whatever you do during self-isolation, always think of vulnerable individuals around you. Susceptible groups include people at the extreme ends of age and people suffering from chronic and pre-existing conditions like diabetes, asthma, etc.

Think of these people and try to put them first in everything you do during self-isolation, whether diagnosed with the infection or not.

I’m starting to learn about how many of my friends are in the high risk category now than I did earlier. It means we can be there for each other when required.

Seek help when needed

You should not hesitate to ask your healthcare provider for help if you have any problem or you are not sure about something. Self-isolation does not mean you should figure things out on your own.

If you develop a symptom, before you decide to self-medicate, ask someone else with authority and knowledge for advice and confirmation.

If you start to experience anxiety or start having fearful thoughts, reach out to a friend and chat or an online mental health service where you can talk to someone.

Maintaining a journal is also a good self-help tool to help you assess your state of mind and even discover more about yourself.

Stay informed

Make it a habit to always stay informed. Follow news updates on the outbreak and go beyond by reading scientific articles related to the outbreak. The more you know about the disease, the better you will be equipped to help fight it.

One thing though, always ensure that your sources are reliable and not hysteria creating fake news on social media.

Think Positive

While it is essential to stay informed about the progress of the pandemic, you should not let the news of growing number of cases or even deaths impact you negatively.

Remember that bad news always sells very well.

Do not get in their game. Be informed but do not be influenced by what you hear. Always keep a positive outlook on things and find ways to distract yourself.

All of these actions will help you maintain good mental health.

And if you want more guidance for self-management for good mental health, I’ve got you covered in my blog post How to keep good mental health in lock down.

Prime Minister Modi also possesses a skill that is useful for a national leader – Emotional Intelligence. Why not take a page from his book and check if you possess this leadership skill too?

What steps are you taking to stay grounded in these uncertain times?

Update April 2024: When I wrote this post, we were in the middle of a pandemic lockdown. Things have eased in the years that followed but the guidance on maintaining good mental health is still relevant. 

We all knew on Sunday March 22^nd that the lock down called for by Prime Minister Modi was a dress rehearsal for something bigger.

1.3 billion Indians answered Prime Minister Modi’s call for a self-imposed People’s Curfew called Janata Curfew. We also did a 5-minute activity at 5 pm to honor the health workers who are trying to contain the spread of Corona Virus in India.

I loved the 5 pm activity because we were supposed to go into our balconies and clang utensils or clap to make noise! I chose the former and enjoyed beating my spoon against a flat pot cover. Haven’t done that since I was a child and it felt good!

It was the beginning of a lock down that was supposed to last till the end of March but then got extended to April 14th. In a way it is a nationwide curfew and states have sealed their borders.

The fight to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in India had begun in full force.

India started taking precautionary measures earlier than other nations. This week and the next are critical if we are to break the chain and prevent Stage 3.

It’s crucial to avoid what we’re seeing in Italy or New York which will honestly leave a devastation in India that I don’t want to even think about.

The World Health Organization has already praised India for leading the way in the global eradication of smallpox, polio and the measures we have taken so far.

It’s going to be a challenge for us sociable Indians. It’s the acid test to see if we can maintain social distance and exercise self-restraint and self-discipline.

Being socially responsible also means not spreading fake news or creating panic.

Watch television news coverage and resist the temptation to spread social media posts unless you can verify the source and truth.

Admittedly, these are stressful times but we can do our bit not to let the situation get out of hand by maintaining good mental health even as we need to maintain social distance.

Please note, mental health is not to be confused with mental illness.

The famous Mayo clinic has stated that stress can be greatly reduced by positive thinking.

The first step is to end negative self-talk.

There are any number of clichés, such as “you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill,” in terms of blowing things out of proportion. When a person takes a situation and talks themselves into a frenzy, it increases stress.

This in turn, makes the blood pressure go up and in many cases, causes depression. The negative self-talk in their head, becomes an endless loop of, “I’m no good, I hate myself, the world is against me, what chance do I have?”

When a person thinks like this, they find it hard to cope with anything life directs towards them. A positive thinker is able to deflect negativity and find ways to ease or eliminate stressful situations.

Positive thinking also helps build our immune system and a good anti-aging device.

So while I am worried about the days to come, I’m not allowing it to get to me. Instead I’m focusing on my professional development skills and on what I want in the coming months.

I’m using tools from my own toolbox for this and invite you to do the same.

One favorite tool is Pranayam or alternate nostril breathing.

This simple yoga exercise not only strengthens the lungs but also helps us build immunity and calm the mind.

I share the method in my blog post Breathe and meditate to manage stress.

The post also has another resource to keep stress at bay and strengthen your immune system.

Practical ways to stay positive when you feel the world is going crazy

At a time when the life we knew has changed and we are dealing with a new normal of a lock down scenario, it can be challenging to cope and keep ourselves mentally healthy.

You need a strong mindset that gives you the self-discipline and restraint not to break the rules and find excuses to venture out. This isn’t a situation where you can be complacent that this happens to others and not you.

You need to be able to handle change in your stride.

If you are struggling to bring yourself to remain positive in times of calamity, here are some ways I’m using and I know these tips will help you too.

Plan ahead

Planning ahead helps control our stress levels and anxiety and prevents hoarding or panic buying from setting in. While it would be wonderful if one has everything in place before a pandemic strikes, it can still be handled if you take the necessary steps.

Keep a list of numbers of shops where essential goods are being supplied and monitor which online shops are functional as well as the delivery time.

There will be time lags so one step is to store at least a week’s supply of essential food items and medicines.

If you are permitted to venture out of your home for essential needs shopping, make a list before you venture out and comply with the police regulations. That is one way of knowing you can face anything.

Filter information

Avoid bad news whenever you can. Do not focus on the kind of information that will not help rectify the situation.

Pay attention to material that gives advice on how you can overcome or guard against being affected by the worsening of the pandemic. Filtering information can also mean changing the subject when it is brought up countless times.

As I mentioned earlier, stick to reliable sources of information and verify anything you see on social media or rumors that you hear.

Keep exercising in some form

As you know, exercising is a great way of staying positive, staying healthy, and improving your overall physical and mental well-being. Exercising can also help keep your mind in check.

Concentrating on improving your health is another method of staying positive when everyone else is going into panic mode. One mistake you can make when faced with difficulties is changing or cancelling your workout routine. Therefore, keep exercising and enjoy the process.

You don’t need to go to the gym or long walks for this. Simple stretch exercises, yoga and even doing housework will give your body the movement it requires to stay healthy.

Make sure you are allowed to do certain exercises with your medical adviser first.

Focus on happy thoughts

Thinking happy thoughts does not come easy when it seems as if your world is falling apart. That is why you have to try and force your mind to focus on happy thoughts or what is happening internally and not externally.

If you cannot think of anything that shifts your mind from the bad news that is being broadcast everywhere, create happy thoughts.

You can achieve this by envisioning where you will be when all the madness is over and we are back on track. Think about the number of people who have overcome or who are overcoming the same situation you are in, look at your photo album and rekindle the happy memories.

If you need support in developing a forward looking approach, check out Life Focus in 7 Days which includes precious tools including an entire module on creating Vision Boards for the professional who prefers self-study formats.

Manage your finances

Now is a good time to look at your finances and budget. Do you need to curtail your expenses? Are there any monthly payments due that need to be serviced? Like a house or car loan? Insurance premium?

Start allocating funds to cover a period of 3 months and if necessary, renegotiate terms. You need to start managing your finances wisely to avoid having regrets when the problem has passed. Stay calm and avoid compulsive spends and keeping accurate records and information.

Try caring for someone else

Sometimes caring for someone else is all it takes to maintain your sanity. Shift your focus to doing something worthwhile for someone else or putting a smile on someone else’s face.

Achieve this by helping the person you choose to help or care for stay safe or recover from what they are going through.

There are lots of animals who suffer during pandemics. Consider providing food for them or if that is not possible, leave water and grains outside for birds.

Meditate to boost your resilience

Meditation is an excellent way of relaxing your mind and having a much clearer perspective on things. Meditation is a relaxation method that you can begin practicing right away. If it is something that you are practicing already, continuing with it is worthwhile.

Try clearing your mind from negative thoughts and focus on one thing that is positive. Do this every single day for at least 30 minutes without any interruptions.

Continue with your work or studies

You may start panicking if you think that your professional life is on hold during a pandemic. However, realize that not being able to go to the office does not necessarily mean the end of progress- this will help you remain calm. Continue with your work or study even if you cannot go to the office or on campus.

Remember that working or studying from home has its fair share of benefits as well. You are able to work peacefully without the worries of dressing up, with zero or a few distractions. You are able to control your environment and work at your own pace.

If you haven’t visited Karmic Ally Coaching Success Solutions, now is a good time to see what professional development courses are available.

So how am I coping? By remembering what really matters in my life – my family and friends and staying healthy.

Staying positive is important because if we allow fear to set in, half the battle is lost. This is a time of self-discipline, constraint and social distance.

It is also a time to be supportive of others who might not be handling the situation well.

What 1 thing can you do today to assist another person keep good mental health during the pandemic?