Stress from your work is therefore GOOD for you

At least, if you do it right

Stress. I always have a bit of it. Put me and my loved one in a villa with a pool in Tuscany and we enjoy it until Monday morning at nine o'clock. Suddenly we feel guilty. I felt that way too when I used to work half a day on Wednesdays. I only really felt relieved when it was half past five and the workday was over. It's not about the work or the boss; it resides in me. Years ago, when I took a sabbatical and my loved one and I enrolled in an Italian course, I felt it too. Homework stress, being-on-time stress, am-I-doing-it-right stress.

I have accepted it and since I started my own business, it has been much better, but still, it remains a sore point. Until I read an article this morning via Blendle in which the so-called workflow is praised. Although it is not the same as my stress problem, I feel that I am close.

A flow is a state of being that you reach when you are completely absorbed in something. You forget everything around you, immerse yourself in the moment, in what you are doing, forget the time, and have a supreme state of focus. This can happen during sports, but also during your work. The more often you have it, that flow, the better you perform and the happier you feel. Not only because you challenge yourself to achieve the best, but also because it feels really good to experience a flow.

Why?

Because your cortisol level rises, among other things. Cortisol is indeed a stress hormone, but this is nice stress where you are actually very much in control. With ‘normal’ stress, you have no grip on the situation and that is what makes you restless. You ‘tunnel’ into the matter so much that everything suddenly becomes clear.

How do you achieve a flow?

By setting goals for yourself. Achievable but challenging. And make sure they are tangible goals. Better to finish that proposal or file today than to formulate a three-month goal. That is too big to get into the flow. The more often you do it, the easier it gets and the happier you will feel.

And then

What is most important is to blow off the stress after your flow. Reward yourself for the work done. So walking, breathing well, sitting comfortably on the couch under a nice, warm blanket. And a MyTheresa session and a glass of Amarone wine, that too.