Learn how stress gets in the way of your productivity and goals, and what to do about it to maximize your potential
What is a stress roadblock you ask? Great question.
Stress roadblocks are the ways that stress gets in the way of our hustle, productivity, and true potential.
Think low energy. Poor attention and concentration. Tummy troubles. Poor sleep. And wayyy more.
You're capable, intelligent, and driven. It's not that- It's poorly managed stress getting in the way of your ability to maximize your potential in life.
Hundreds of my clients have seen massive improvements in their focus, productivity, and physical and emotional health once they have learned to master stress and remove the stress roadblocks in their way.
This can be you too.
Learn to maximize your potential and how to step into the best version of yourself by understanding stress, how it gets in the way, and how to manage.
Maximize Your Potential by Understanding Stress
You might be thinking, okay, so how exactly does stress get in my way? Unfortunately, all kinds of ways due to activation of the autonomic nervous system, specifically the sympathetic nervous system.
When the stress response gets activated in the body, also known as the fight or flight response, a series of changes occur that make productivity very difficult:
Cognitive Changes
When the body's stress response is activated, thinking abilities start to decrease. In fact, the more stressed and activated we are, the more our cognitive abilities decrease.
Not exactly the winning equation for productivity, right?
Under stress, we experience the following cognitive issues:
Poor attention and concentration
Distractibility
Poor memory
Difficulty with decision making
Brain fog
Digestive Issues and Other Physical Issues
When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, a series of physiological changes occur. Ever tried to work when you have a massive headache, stomach issues, or other physical issues? I'm guessing you probably were not very productive.
Stress can cause and worsen the following issues:
Constipation, diarrhea, stomach cramps, and other digestive issues
Headaches
High blood pressure
Muscle tension (especially in the neck, shoulders, and jaw)
Chest tightness
Shortness of breath
Poor Sleep
There is a direction relationship between stress and sleep. When we are more stressed and anxious, we don't sleep well. When we don't sleep well, the body releases more of the stress hormone, cortisol, increasing stress and anxiety, and making it even harder to sleep.
A major key to productivity and reaching our full potential is sleeping well to feel energetic, refreshed, and cognitively sharp. When we don't sleep well due to high stress, we experience the following:
Fatigue and low energy
Irritability
Decreased focus and attention
Higher stress
Reduced immune system functioning
As you can see, there are many ways that high stress can get in the way of our ability to feel energetic and focused to be productive and feel good about our accomplishments.
Train the Stress Response to Maximize Your Potential
As you now know, high stress activates the stress response in the body, leading to a series of changes in our cognitive abilities, physical symptoms, and ability to sleep well.
One of the best ways to fully maximize our potential is by learning to calm the nervous system to improve attention and focus, physical health, and to improve sleep quality.
A calm nervous system leads to a productive and focused mind. One of the best ways to calm the nervous system is to engage the deep relaxation response with deep breathing.
Deep breathing offers the following benefits:
Reduced muscle tension
Improved attention, focus, and decision making
Better immune system functioning
Improved blood pressure and heart rate
Reduced stress, anxiety, and irritability
Improved sleep
It is recommended that individuals practice deep breathing every day to get the full benefits of deep breathing and nervous system training.
Monitor Your Thinking to Reach Your True Potential
Our thoughts are powerful in determining how we feel about ourselves, our abilities, and our success. Under high stress, our mind tricks us into believing negative and untrue things about ourselves, which decreases our confidence in ourselves and our ability to accomplish the things that we want in life.
Watch out for the following stress thoughts that get in the way of our hustle, focus, and confidence:
1) All-or-Nothing Thinking
This is a form of perfectionism, in which we categorize ourselves and our accomplishments in all or nothing thinking, or black and white ways.
Example: I am a failure because I got a 9/10 on my performance review
2) Mental Filter
This involves selectively focusing on specific information (usually negative), while ignoring all other information.
Example: My boss told me he did not like one piece of my project, so the whole project must be horrible.
3) Should Statements
Should statements are meant to motivate us, but they actually cause us to feel guilty and unmotivated. This is because we are often reflecting on things we have not done yet, which makes us feel badly, and in turn more likely to avoid the task.
Example: I should really start exercising. Why am I so lazy?
4) Unrealistic Expectations
This is a big one for most high achieving people. It's helpful to have high standards for yourself. But, it's important to ask yourself if they are realistic and achievable, or rather your ideal that may not be so realistic.
Example: Even though I only have a few hours to study, I plan to review every chapter I have studied so far in depth.
Our thoughts are powerful in determining how we feel about ourselves, so monitoring unhelpful thoughts that are common when stressed is a crucial part of reaching our true potential and accomplishing our goals.
Summary
Poorly managed and high stress is often the culprit that keeps us from reaching our true potential in life. Stress impacts sleep, cognitive issues, physical health, and so much more.
Therefore, learning to prevent and manage high stress is the key to success to stepping into the best version of ourselves and accomplishing everything that we want.
Are you ready to step into your most productive, energetic, and motivated self? My signature 1:1 coaching program will help you remove all of the stress roadblocks in your way, for good.
Book a discovery call so we can start your plan, now.
-----About Dr. Julia
Hi! I'm Dr. Julia. Health psychologist, stress and sleep expert, and creator of the Master Stress Method.
I help busy professionals remove the stress roadblocks from their life to unlock their most energetic, productive, and motivated selves.
My 8-week, 1:1 coaching program has helped hundreds of stressed out, overwhelmed, and burned out clients significantly reduce their stress and anxiety, improve their sleep, and maximize their productivity in just 8 short weeks.
I can't wait to help you stop the struggle with stress, for good. Let's chat :)
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