I received this book free from the publisher
Book Details:
Book Title: Success With Stress by Jae Ellard
Category: Adult Non-Fiction, 102 pages
Genre: Self-help
Publisher: Simple Intentions
Release date: March 31, 2011
Format available for review: Print
Will send print books: Internationally
Tour dates: April 10 to May 5, 2017
Content Rating: G (This is an all ages book designed to create awareness and manage stress)
Book Description:
Believe it or not, stress isn't all bad; in fact, it's an important part of the natural world. Stress helps us survive as a species - because of that we want the ability to be stressed. That said, being able to manage stress with greater success is the difference between surviving and THRIVING. Success with Stress explores five simple ideas to spark your personal power to change the level, duration, and frequency of the stress in your life. With workplace stress being linked to quality of life, health, and workplace morale, this is a must-read for any team looking to improve morale and individuals looking to improve their quality of life.Buy the Book: Amazon
Add to Goodreads
About the Author:
Jae Ellard is an author, speaker, and expert on developing the skill of awareness in the workplace. After years in senior communication roles crafting content for executives, Jae collapsed from stress-related adrenal fatigue. This life-altering experience propelled her to research human behavior, neuroscience, mindfulness, and organizational relationship systems. In 2008, Jae founded Simple Intentions and developed the Mindful Life™ Program to generate intentional conversations to disrupt patterns and create awareness, accountability and action at team and individual levels. Jae has taught the skill of awareness in more than 50 countries to thousands of employees at multinational corporations such as Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia.Jae is a columnist on workplace awareness for Mindful Magazine, as well as the author of 7 books on the topic. She contributes to the Healthy Living section on Huffington Post as well as the Simple Intentions blog. In 2013, she founded Seattle Wisdom, a community organization working to create and support conscious conversations in professional spaces in the Pacific Northwest. Jae has a master’s degree in Communication Management from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Communication from Metropolitan State College of Denver. She holds certificates in co-active coaching and organizational relationship systems coaching.
Connect with Jae: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ LinkedIn
My thoughts:
When I first saw this book I jumped right on the list to read and review it. Who does not want to learn how to have success with stress right? This was a very quick book to read. In fact I read it in less than two hours. I think I will let what I read sink in a little and probably read it again a second time in a few days. For me it started out a little slow as I was not sure I was going to like it as it had some definitions of stress and what I would call sciency things. But I kept reading and I ended up linking it and it gave me some food for thought. To start with it talked about some symptoms of chronic stress - a few of which I do have and I know for a fact at least one if not more are caused by my stress - like my acid reflux. I know this because stress makes my flare up even more. Then the author goes into had to have success with your stress and dealing with it. In going through each of these strategies the author gives you two questions to answer at the end of each chapter. The five strategies are 1. get clear, 2. give up control 3. say what you mean, 4. honor yourself and others and 5. be in the moment. I also learned from reading this book that I tend to hedge which means I do no say what I mean instead I tend to say I don't know, maybe or we'll see when people ask me questions or ask me to do things. This is something I will have to work on. Like I said I want to read this again only take a little more time to think about the questions that the author asks. I am glad I gave this book a chance.
In 2007 I collapsed from exhaustion at an event that I was producing. It was the culmination of far too many hours working, the lifestyle choices I was making (and not making), and the always-present stress of trying to be “perfect” at my job.
My doctor said my body was in adrenal fatigue and that my career was killing me. His advice? Get a new job. I knew that wasn’t the “right” conversation—yet I didn’t know what was. I chose to stay on, but went deeper into my own mindfulness practice to try to understand what had happened.
Over the next year, I discovered that the right conversation sits in the knowledge there is a choice regarding the type of relationship you want to create with your work.
For those of you flirting with burnout, you are not alone. According to the American Institute of Stress, 80% of people feel stress at work. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 75% of all doctors’ visits are stress-related.
There is hope, however. And it comes down to being present to what’s happening in your life, and acting with mindful intention to make some changes.
Burnout is not so much about the specifics of your job. It’s mostly about the choices you make (and don’t make) about how you want to live. Being aware of these choices, and approaching the inherent stressors in any job with mindfulness and clear purpose can transform our relationship with stress—and put work in its place. To start, here are some actions you can take in this moment to start to redefine your relationship with work.
1) Define the core issues
Can you pinpoint what causes the overwhelm? Is it a capacity issue? Do you have more work than hours to complete? Is it a skill issue? Is there a gap in the skills you have versus what is required? Is it a communication issue? Are you able to share what’s causing stress? This is your first step: Collect all the relevant data so you know where to focus solutions.
2) One step at a time
You didn’t arrive at burnout overnight, and the process to undo some of the habits you created will take time. Pick one behavior right now that you can consciously begin to shift. For example, create clear start and end times for work each day. The flexibility that technology and remote working offer can be overwhelming and contribute to burnout if boundaries between work and non-work time are not well-established.
3) Befriend your body
How do you hold stress? Maybe you grind your teeth at night, experience a knot of tension in your neck, or have trouble staying asleep. Now think about what helps you to unwind. Taking a lunchtime walk outside, going for a post-work run, or getting a weekly massage, as examples. Regularly tune into your body so that you can recognize the earliest signs that stress is present, and take the preventive actions you’ve identified to work through it before it overwhelms.
4) Share what you need
Professional stress can be extremely isolating; we often withdraw in order to “deal with” work issues on our own. But letting the people in your life know what you need to feel supported is essential for putting things in perspective and managing stress. None of us can do it all alone. Your colleagues and loved ones won’t know how to help if you don’t tell them.
[This article originally appeared in Mindful Magazine]
Guest Post:
4 Ways to Mindfully Prevent Office Burnout
In 2007 I collapsed from exhaustion at an event that I was producing. It was the culmination of far too many hours working, the lifestyle choices I was making (and not making), and the always-present stress of trying to be “perfect” at my job.
My doctor said my body was in adrenal fatigue and that my career was killing me. His advice? Get a new job. I knew that wasn’t the “right” conversation—yet I didn’t know what was. I chose to stay on, but went deeper into my own mindfulness practice to try to understand what had happened.
Over the next year, I discovered that the right conversation sits in the knowledge there is a choice regarding the type of relationship you want to create with your work.
For those of you flirting with burnout, you are not alone. According to the American Institute of Stress, 80% of people feel stress at work. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 75% of all doctors’ visits are stress-related.
There is hope, however. And it comes down to being present to what’s happening in your life, and acting with mindful intention to make some changes.
Burnout is not so much about the specifics of your job. It’s mostly about the choices you make (and don’t make) about how you want to live. Being aware of these choices, and approaching the inherent stressors in any job with mindfulness and clear purpose can transform our relationship with stress—and put work in its place. To start, here are some actions you can take in this moment to start to redefine your relationship with work.
1) Define the core issues
Can you pinpoint what causes the overwhelm? Is it a capacity issue? Do you have more work than hours to complete? Is it a skill issue? Is there a gap in the skills you have versus what is required? Is it a communication issue? Are you able to share what’s causing stress? This is your first step: Collect all the relevant data so you know where to focus solutions.
2) One step at a time
You didn’t arrive at burnout overnight, and the process to undo some of the habits you created will take time. Pick one behavior right now that you can consciously begin to shift. For example, create clear start and end times for work each day. The flexibility that technology and remote working offer can be overwhelming and contribute to burnout if boundaries between work and non-work time are not well-established.
3) Befriend your body
How do you hold stress? Maybe you grind your teeth at night, experience a knot of tension in your neck, or have trouble staying asleep. Now think about what helps you to unwind. Taking a lunchtime walk outside, going for a post-work run, or getting a weekly massage, as examples. Regularly tune into your body so that you can recognize the earliest signs that stress is present, and take the preventive actions you’ve identified to work through it before it overwhelms.
4) Share what you need
Professional stress can be extremely isolating; we often withdraw in order to “deal with” work issues on our own. But letting the people in your life know what you need to feel supported is essential for putting things in perspective and managing stress. None of us can do it all alone. Your colleagues and loved ones won’t know how to help if you don’t tell them.
[This article originally appeared in Mindful Magazine]
Giveaway:
Prizes: Win a print copy of Success With Stress with a companion notebook (open to USA & Canada - 10 winners total)
Ends May 12
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