Stress makes your body go into “fight or flight” reaction. There are countless systems and methods to minimize the effects of this once it kicks in. But what if you got ahead of the stress? What if you could cut off the reaction before it started?

Here are 5 signs of stress that affect you mentally (as opposed to emotionally or physically):
1. Memory problems. Stress acts a silent, internal distracter. Part of your mind is literally always focused on the stress, thinking about it, trying to figure it out. This sometimes results in you forgetting little things (like how to tie a tie) or big things (a missed appointment). If you notice this happening, start looking for stress that you aren’t dealing with.
2. Concentration problems. Since part of your mind is tinkering with the stress, your concentration is not 100% on whatever task you are trying to focus on.
3. Judgment problems. Many times, to escape the pain or unpleasantness of the stress, you will unconsciously make self-destructive decisions. More drinking, overeating, and promiscuous sex are all poor judgment decisions that people make when under stress. If your behavior in these areas increases, start thinking about attacking your stress.
4. Worry problems. A little bit of worry is natural, and even good. It protects you from rash decisions. But if your worry is starting to overwhelm your decisions or your actions, it is a sign that stress is increasing in your life.
5. Uncontrollable thoughts problems. Your thoughts rise up, like bubbles from the bottom of the lake. And you, when you are not being pushed by stress, can pick and choose the thoughts you want to entertain or follow up with. But when your thoughts come faster and uncontrollably, and you are losing the ability to rein them in, take time to step back and find the stress in your life that is contributing to this.

Think back to the last big fight you had with stress. Wouldn’t it have been easier if you could stay focused? If you weren’t fatigued? If you could think clearly, and not be distracted? Wouldn’t it have been easier if you had fought the stress before these signs kicked in?

A stress management system that (kicks in) immediately on seeing one of these or other signs of stress will give you a better chance of fighting through the stress successfully. A system that has components specifically focused on strengthening these areas is more likely to make the stress feel – well, stressless. Having the right tool for the job is a lot easier when the job tells you what tool to use. Learn to recognize and react to the signs of stress.

STRESS JUDO COACHING is a 6 step comprehensive stress management system, designed to train you to attack stress and transform it into opportunities.

Workplace stress is relentless.  It presses on you without relief.  It attacks you from all sides, in all situations, at all times.  It causes pain.  It causes health problems.  And ignoring it, or treating it like just-part-of-the-job, means that you will never rise above it.  It will frustrate you.  And you – the real you, who can do the job and command advancement – will fade from anyone’s notice.

Here are 5 ways that workplace stress frustrates your personal effectiveness at work:

1. You spend so much time dealing with stress that you have less time to do the extras on your job that get you noticed as a go-getter.  This is mischaracterized as time management.  Real time management is creating those gaps in your day that you fill with what you want to do.
2. You spend so much energy on stress that you don’t have the ability to compete with younger or newer co-workers.  Stress is like a hole in the gas tank of your car.
3. You spend so much money dealing with the bad health effects of stress that you cannot afford those social outings that develop teamwork between you and management.  Upper management is looking to promote the people they know and trust.  Social outings help establish this.
4. You spend so much emotional energy on fighting off stress that your personal attractiveness and appearance look neglected and older.  This does not mean “dress to impress.”  But it does mean that those bags under your eyes from lack of sleep make you look incompetent.
5. You spend so much social capital complaining to your co-workers about the stress in your life that they cannot view you as their effective leader.  People will not follow someone who tells them that he or she cannot get the job done.

It is very easy to go along with everyone else and treat workplace stress as a sort of natural disaster: something you plan for, but cannot prevent.  This approach leads to an attitude of complacency and passivity.  By attacking stress, you can break out of this mental defeatist attitude and take control of your life in a tangible way.

The way to attack stress is with a comprehensive stress management strategy and system.  Stress attacks you externally and internally.  It affects and weakens your physical body, your emotional systems, and your will.  Having a system built primarily to help one of these, with some add ons for the other types of stress, is the least effective.  Stress needs to be met as hard and aggressively as it attacks you.  Take control of stress and you take control of your life.  Remember: life is what happens to you; living is what you do to life.

For a comprehensive article on fighting stress effectively, please read stress and the workplace

And for probably the most effective and efficient way to train you to fight stress, too please look at stress management coaching.

So I have applied this to stressful situations.  When you are under stress, the goal is to get to a stress-free situation as quickly and efficiently as possible.   The typical approaches to stress management – meditation, exercise, taking a long walk – simply do not do this.   They are components of how to get there.  But, a black belt martial artist will not rely only on his devastating right hook or his crushing left thigh kick, but instead has an arsenal of techniques to draw upon.

Just so, handling stress is not only about feeling stress-free. It is about being stress-free.   And the best way to do that is to get rid of the stress, by personal, high-quality stress management coaching.

So the answer to “how can I fight stress?”  Stress Judo Coaching.   With 3 exclusive reports, showing you our proprietary system for immediate stress reduction.  For your FREE coaching session, click on CONTACT US.

Thank you

Rick Carter

However, simply focusing on how you feel internally really doesn’t do anything about the stress that caused the bad feelings in the first place.  What if you took up the question “How can I FIGHT stress?”  Answering this question will help you eliminate stress, not merely manage it.

Stress Judo Coaching.   The exclusive coaching program that helps you answer “how can I FIGHT stress?”  And win.

Not dealing with the stress is like focusing on your feelings instead of dealing with the mugger waiting in the bushes to beat your ass when you step outside.

You need a program to train you to attack stress, while at the same time you are preparing yourself internally to stand up and go toe to toe with it.  You defeat the bad health effects of stress and make yourself physically and emotionally powerful.

Stress Judo Coaching.   The evolution of stress management coaching.

Joining the STRESS JUDO COACHING community give you 3 free exclusive reports: STRESS JUDO The Truth; STRESS JUDO The Remedy; STRESS JUDO The Overview.   These reports explain the STRESS JUDO COACHING system and how it can be applied immediately to your life and turn stress inside out.

For personal transformation and help with managing stress in the workplace, go to STRESS JUDO COACHING.

Read the rest of the article: stress and the workplace

So I wrote a blog post about it–> stress management coaching.

• Am I working effectively?

• Is the work I do efficient?

• Do I have many fruitful hours of work or am I always distracted?

Here are some time management tips focused on increasing workplace productivity to get more out of your usual work day.

Read personal effectiveness.