Is stress a status symbol?
Outline: Are you a stressed-out leader juggling chaos? Learn how to break the stress cycle and embrace empowered leadership with these 5 stress-status truths and how you can transform your leadership style and ditch that stress-cycle for good!
Make it stand out
I’m Lucy ‘So Busy’ Allen and I’m a recovering Stress-aholic.
God that feels good.
For as long as I can remember, being busy and being stressed has been my natural state-of-play.
Right back to my school days I’d race from choir practice to netball, debating to theatre sports, piano lesson to Japanese drumming (errr did I really just share that aloud?!)
Never mind… the point is, I was stretched.
And it was a rush.
This pattern of jam-packing my days with people, appointments and deadlines has followed me into adulthood and proven a hard cycle to break.
You see, keeping yourself busy, and in a constant state of stress, affirms many personal ideals we wish to be true:
I’m so busy = I’m in demand.
I’m so busy = I’m needed.
I’m so busy = I’m a part of something.
I’m so busy = I’m irreplaceable.
I’m so busy = I’m worthy.
I’m so busy = I’m successful.
Not only does it help affirm these for ourselves but we often activate the ‘busy card’ with the hope that it will affirm these thoughts about ourselves with others.
“Wow, Lucy is so busy, she must be awesome at her job.”
Damn right.
But let me tell you, busy is not always best. My liver’s busy after a big Saturday night and that aint a good thing.
The truth is, being busy to the point of tearing your hair out can really mess with the way you think, feel and act.
Why exactly does busy-ness and stress suck?
Get curious with your busyness:
take a few moments to think about what it means to be busy to you and if this is really true?
Busy yourself with the stuff that actually matters: consider "am I busy doing the things that I love and / or add value? If not, what do I need to say no to to make these a priority?
Dig into what you're avoiding through busyness: we often keep ourselves busy to get out of having to do harder things. What might this be for you?
Catch yourself in the busyness: when you find yourself about to say yes to another catch up or reaching for your phone to scroll, consciously decide if this is helpful and how you want to spend your time
So what can we do to break the I’m too busy and stress status cycle?
From one busybody to another, let’s rethink this whole ‘I’m so busy’ status and invest this energy into how we’re feeling and what we’re actually doing.
Let’s stop telling people how busy we are, cramming our days to the point of implosion and sweating the small stuff… the rest will sort itself out.
We look at this (and wayyy more) in Management Collective; a 6-week management mastermind on how to be a present and empowered leader. You can ditch that stress status for good - Learn more about the management program here.
Want to dive deeper? Here are some more stress-busting and management resources that you can explore:
Read “Create Time, Change Your World” for 5 things you can try to break the “I’m too busy” cycle
Discover if mindset coaching will help you to get out of your comfort zone
Check out this quick tip on LinkedIn break through that stress status cycle and remind