Everything You Wanted to Know About Stress (and Resilience)

“I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, “Where’s the self-help section?” She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.”   

Stephen Wright

The topic of work and life stress continues to be a research interest of mine and something I’ve written frequently about.  I have such a strong interest in occpational stress and health I run another company called LifeHub that specializes in worksite wellness and health promotion.

Stress:  The Current State

It’s no mystery that work/life balance is typically a challenge for talent at all levels and even those who are in very senior leadership positions.  Simply, everyone is being asked to produce more with less resources in the new “lean” world-wide competitive work climate that we all are part of (even if you are in education, government or the non-profit sector).

The annual Stress in America survey, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Psychological Assocation among 1,226 U.S. residents, showed that many Americans consistently report high levels of stress (22 percent reported extreme stress).  Other main findings include:

1. Forty-two percent of adults report that their stress level has increased, and 36 percent say their stress level has stayed the same over the past five years.
2. Sixty-one percent of adults say that managing stress is extremely or very important, but only 35 percent say they are doing an excellent or very good job at it.
3. Forty-four percent of adults say they are not doing enough or are not sure whether they are doing enough to manage their stress, but 19 percent say they never engage in stress management activities.
   

Furthermore, balancing family and work obligations and gender differences were also quite interesting to note (our own research also suggests some interesting challenges for working women). So, perceptions of stress at work are quite high with several recent studies by Envisia Learning Inc. suggesting that 40% to 65% of all executives and employees rate their jobs as being very or extremely stressful with significant impact on work/family balance and overall health ((Nowack, K. (2006). Optimising Employee Resilience: Coaching to Help Individuals Modify Lifestyle. Stress News, International Journal of Stress Management, Volume 18, 9-12)).

For those of you looking for a single place to find some of my current and past Blogs on the topics of stress, resilience and work/life balance, I thought I’d summarize them here for you:

Envisia Stress/Work Life Blogs  

• What’s Worse for Your Health: Unemployment or Working for a Jerk Boss?
• How to Be Happier (But Not Too Happy)….
• How Do You Define Success in Work and Life?
• Work Relationships and Health
• Do You Have Relaxation Deficit Disorder (RDD)?
• The Maximum Sleep for Optimum Performance
• Leadership Lessons from Ajax the Seeing Eye Dog #11: What Causes the Most Stress for You?
• Leadership Lessons from Ajax #18: Resilience–the Art of Bouncing Back
• Life Unbalanced
• The Stress of Taking Breaks: Vacations Might be Harmful to Your Health
• Optimal Happiness Levels for Work and Life Success
• Women, Work Stress and Hidden Challenges
• Talent Resilience: Who Are the Hardy?
• Are Vacations Good for Your Health?
• Does Work Make You Crazy?
• Leaders, Coworkers and Social Support
• Losing a Job and Losing Social Connectedness
• Time to Give Thanks…The Power of Gratitude
• When Giving Up is Really Healthier Than Sticking with It
• Can Resilience be Developed?
• What Causes the Most Stress for You?
• Can Leaders Have a Career AND a Life? Part I
• Can Leaders Have a Career AND a Life? Part II
• Are You Happy With Your Social Network? Part I
• Are You Happy With Your Social Network? Part II
• Can You Be Too Happy?
• Happiness: Modifying Our Set-Point
• Catching the Moods of Your Boss
• Is it Better to Hold in or Express Emotions?
• Do Bosses Who Kill Talent Through Poor Leadership Practices Go to Hell?
• Do You Live in the Past, Present or Future?
• Leadership Lessons from Ajax the Seeing Eye Dog #8: Leaders Need Friends Too
• Leading Talent During Times of Stress and Uncertainty I
• Leading Talent During Times of Stress and Uncertainty II
• Does Praying for Effective Leadership Work?
• Working for a Bad Boss, Periodic Depression or Caring for Elderly Parents: What’s Worse?
• Bosses Who Just Love to Beat You Up
• Leaders Can Cause Bad Hair Days…..
• Bummed Out Leaders
• Are You Confident that you are Confident?
• The Most Effective Bosses are Fatheads
• Will Kids Really Make Angelina Jolie Happier?
• Do Early Birds Get The Worm in Business?
• It’s Tempting to Skip Reading This….
• How Long Can You Keep a New Year’s Resolution?

Ken Nowack

Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)