Stress is something we often encounter. Yet, stress in itself is often not the problem; the balance between stress and relaxation is. Your body and mind need time to recover. In top-level sports, this is generally accepted, but at work, we often feel the need to keep pushing ourselves. Balance and relaxation are hardly, if ever, seen as a must for better performance.
One practical way to relax or improve your energy balance is to focus on positively recharging your battery. When your battery is full, you can tap into all your strengths and manage stress more effectively.
Psychological Needs and Your Energy Levels
But how do you keep such a full battery charged? You do this by fulfilling your psychological needs. These are different for everyone, but they boil down to:
- Recognition for Work – hearing from others or yourself that you have delivered good work.
- Time Structure – planning your day, bringing structure to situations.
- Recognition for Conviction – receiving or creating space for your conviction and vision.
- Personal Recognition – hearing and feeling that you matter as a person, that you are important.
- Sensory Stimulation – literally stimulating your senses, enjoying the outdoors, beautiful music, seeking pleasant surroundings, and good food.
- Contact (playful) – variety, humor, and people are the key words here.
- Being alone – space entirely for yourself to reflect, to just be.
- Challenge – feeling sufficient adrenaline, positive challenges, even with a bit of risk. Preferably so.
Increase your resilience
Meeting these needs is a powerful tool to increase your resilience, maintain clear thinking, and manage your own stress. It's therefore useful to know what works for you, so you can incorporate it more into your life.
Signs that my battery is running low
A draining battery is reflected in your behavior and what you say. For instance, last week I dropped things about eight times and forgot my keys twice. I could tell myself I'm stupid or clumsy, but that doesn't help me at all. I know these are signs that my battery is running low. So instead of reprimanding myself, I make sure to take good care of myself. That means taking a bath, getting a long night's sleep, and lighting candles with a good film.
Other signals
The signs that your energy is draining depend on your personality. Do you find yourself being critical of everything and everyone? Do you get annoyed by the way people say or do things? Are you focusing on what's going wrong instead of what's going right, or repeatedly trying to convince others that your perspective is the correct one? These are also clear signs that you have less energy. The result? Less clear communication, and often stress responses from the people around you.
And then?
Two questions you can ask yourself when experiencing stress:
1. Does my behavior help me achieve my goals?
2. What do I need right now?
This helps you adjust, create calm, and move forward positively. Curious how recognizable your stress is? Then take the Recognize-Your-Stress Test.
I'd be happy to tell you more about stress and how the Process Communication Model can help, so feel free to contact me.
Photo credit: Markus Winkler via Unsplash.com
