How pressure affects our ability to make good decisions...
A report published in Psychology Today indicates that stress can reduce a person’s IQ by as many as 10 to 15 points. When someone is anxious or upset, they find it difficult to think straight and it affects their decision-making. They start acting on emotions rather than rationality.
The article lists five ways to counteract this:
- Give your brain a break - Allow yourself to have unstructured thought.
- Turn off distractions - Things such as TV and radio can stimulate a negative response.
- Seed your unconscious - Give your unconscious things to work on in the background.
- Focus on something else - Talk to a friend or do another activity for a while.
- Practice mindfulness - Including meditation, walking, or massage.
Being able to make quick decisions in the workplace is often key. Learning to deal with this pressure requires resilience.
Common thought is that it’s acquired through experience. There is certainly truth to that, but it can also be actively learned through practice and a variety of techniques - including those listed above.
Teaching the skill of resilience to staff from the earliest possible opportunity will have long-term benefits for a business. Stressed employees will make mistakes, lose focus and motivation and eventually look for other opportunities.
Yet those who are taught to be resilient will be better equipped to cope with complex and difficult scenarios. Making a conscious effort to invest in this will boost the confidence of employees, let them know they are valued and ultimately, the business will flourish because of them.
By Tom Seymour, an online content writer for alterniq inspired growth.
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