Stress

Stress is almost inevitable below are some good resources and advice on managing stress in the moment and long term.

‘The greatest weapon we have against stress is the ability to choose one thought over another.’

At the time:

Don’t go over the situation in your head instead give yourself a break.

If you can’t be excused for a few minutes then try the following techniques which can be used without others noticing.

  • Mindfulness
    • Sensory – take a moment to notice something you can feel, see, hear and smell.
    • Alter your focus – the feeling of your clothes or under your feet as you walk.
  • Deep breathing
    • Breath in, hold and out for 4.
    • Lengthening your breath progressively

Once calmer:

Write down every demand and prioritise what you need to do now, what can wait and what you can delegate to others.

Later on reflect:

  1. Start by purging your thoughts
    1. Write everything down about what happened including your feelings
    2. This could be a story, random words or a letter to someone (not necessarily intended to be sent).
  2. Separate out facts from feelings.
  3. Look at the facts and decide the way you are going to think about them
    1. Facts are neutral and you get to decide what you think about them.
    2. Your thoughts dictate how they are going to make you feel
    3. Don’t fall in to negative thought traps
      1. Negative filter – only hearing the one bad not the many good
      2. Fortune telling – predicting the worst outcome
      3. Mind reading – believing others are thinking badly of you
      4. Polarising – outcomes can only be excellent or terrible, no room for grey areas
      5. Catastrophizing – imagining the worst case scenario and believing  that will be the result.
  4. Establish why you felt overwhelmed or stressed
    1. A lack of confidence
    2. Being expected to do something you don’t feel capable of
    3. A lack of knowledge
    4. Poor interaction with a colleague.
  5. Consider how next you could do things differently to change how you felt for the better.
    1. Pre-reading - Knowledge is key for confidence so pre-reading is most essential at this time in your career, see the section for studying tips
    2. Surgical walk through – Every boss is different establish what they want initially and this will give you the confidence to just get on with it
    3. Simulation training
    4. Change your behaviour (you can’t change other peoples!)
  6. Discuss with someone (supervisor/ friends/ your mum) and ask for feedback

Other tools and resources