3 Strategies for Mastering Stress

Hello and welcome to the Curiosity Chronicle, a weekly podcast where I provide actionable ideas to help you build a high performing, healthy, wealthy life. Today's podcast is brought to you by AG1 by Athletic Greens my all in one daily supplement. Seriously, this stuff replaced an entire cabinet of supplements for me in one daily scoop. There's a reason I've been taking it every single day since 2011. To find out why, go to drinkag1.com Sahil and take advantage of a limited time offer. Now on to today's podcast Strategies for Mastering Stress the word stress carries a very negative connotation. Even reading it right now might bring up memories of stressful encounters or remind you of some stressful event on the near term horizon. But in reality, stress is not black and white. Like most things, it exists on a spectrum. In fact, when it comes to our performance in important moments, too little stress is just as bad as too much stress. While we all want to live in a state of low stress during certain moments, we need to learn to optimize our stress response. We need to learn to harness stress to our benefit rather than allowing it to derail us. Let's discuss three strategies for exactly how to do that. The Stress Performance Curve the Yerkes Dodson Law is a simple model of the relationship between performance and stress. It was created in 1908 by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson, who formulated their conclusions on the basis of the study of Japanese dancing mice. In simple terms, the Yerkes Dodson Law says that stress and performance are positively correlated, but only up to a certain point after which more stress reduces performance. There are three states to be aware of. 1. Low stress this is a state of low arousal. This state is necessary for recovery most of your living hours, but it is generally not conducive to performance. 2. Optimal stress this is the optimal state of arousal. It's the Goldilocks level. Not too hot, not too cold, just right. When you're in this state, you are well positioned to execute important tasks. Our modern day version of the hunt and 3. High stress this is a state of high arousal. This is the overstressed position we so often find ourselves in. It may lead to a complete shutdown from system overload. Again, working on important tasks while in this state is not ideal. As you think about optimizing your own performance, mapping your stress performance curve is an important first step. For a week, log your levels of stress while completing various activities through an average day and then log your relative performance on these activities. Look for trends in activities stress levels and performance outcomes. What are the typical activities that send you over the edge into high stress land? Are there activities where you'd like to experience more optimal stress but have trouble turning on for them? Create a mental map of your curve. Develop an awareness of where you are on the curve at any point in time. Three strategies for mastering stress 1. Mental reframe challenge first threat In a book entitled the Stress Prescription, Dr. Alyssa Appel uses a fascinating analogy of a lion hunting a gazelle to help frame the positive versus negative stress response. Both animals are experiencing stress, but differently. The gazelle is having a threat response Quoting from the book. She is full of fear, coursing with adrenaline. Her blood flow is constricted because her vessels have narrowed vasoconstriction to prevent excessive bleeding. Less oxygen makes it to the brain as physiological resources are directed to the limbs. End quote the lion is having a challenge response. Again quoting from the book. Her heart is pumping volumes of blood efficiently, allowing her maximal speed and anticipating the meal she's about to have. She is focused and driven. She seems to have unlimited reserves of energy. Most of us don't have to face this type of life or death encounter on a regular basis, I hope. But this difference between viewing an event as threatening or challenge is critical to our performance. I often find myself facing an opportunity and my internal reaction usually goes something like this. My imposter syndrome yells at me that this is the opportunity where I will finally be exposed as a fraud. I'm going to fail and everyone is going to know that I was a fraud. This is my version of the threat response. My confident reframe mind kicks in and reminds me that this is an opportunity to to rise to the occasion and show everyone what I am capable of. It is an opportunity to learn and get better even through stumbles and failures. This is my version of the challenge response. What I found when I let the imposter syndrome threat response win out. I always underperform. When I confidently reframe to a challenge response, push back and remind myself to embrace the growth opportunity I always perform at my best. Stress Strategy Number one When you encounter an opportunity and start to feel a threat response dialogue settling in, Reframe the conversation to focus on the growth opportunity. Let your challenge response guide you. Strategy 2 Breathing the physiological Sigh or Lion's Breath when you do find yourself tipping over the edge, there are specific science backed breathing techniques that are proven to immediately reduce stress and get you back into optimal territory. The physiological sigh is a remarkably effective approach that was discussed by Dr. Andrew Huberman on an episode of the Tim Ferriss Show A double inhale through your nose. A long exhale through your mouth. Repeat two to three times. Just like that. The lion's breath is another effective approach that is derived from ancient breathing practices or originating from yogic traditions in India. You sit in a comfortable position with a slight forward lean and your hands on the floor. You focus your gaze on the tip of your nose. Inhale deeply through your nose, open your mouth, stick your tongue out and down to your chin and exhale forcefully with a ha sound. Repeat two to three times. Note Limit the forcefulness of the exhale. If you're a beginner, both of these techniques will work to reduce your stress response and hopefully bring you back into optimal range. Stress Strategy Number two if you tip over the stress edge, use science backed breathing techniques like the physiological Sigh and lion's breath to bring you back down to an optimal zone. Preparation Train your stress muscle Just as an athlete can train to handle increasing weight or intensity loads you you can train yourself to handle and manage stress more efficiently and effectively. To do this, place yourself into controlled stressful environments and work on managing your mental and physical faculties. Example, get into a cold shower and see if you can focus and perform a simple mental task, basic math, reciting a poem, etc. For a fixed period of time. By engaging in voluntary stress training, you may improve your ability to handle the involuntary stress that that inevitably enters your life. Stress Strategy Number three Train yourself to handle stress more effectively by placing yourself into controlled stressful environments. Making stress your friend Sorry, but there is no such thing as the stress free life. The best we can hope for is to choose the type of stress we want and then learn to use it to our advantage. If you follow these three strategies, you'll be well on your way to turning stress from your sworn enemy into your good friend or at least your acquaintance. That's all for today's piece. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you learned something and I hope you'll share it with others. As always, until next time, stay curious friends.