How to Use Positive Stress to Empower Yourself

 

In my previous blog post I pointed out the difference between empowering stress and toxic stress. Empowering stress is any “pressure” or “demand” that motivates you to learn, grow and transform. Here are three ways to create positive and empowering stress in your life:

Identify what you want.

Identifying what you want creates the positive tension and pressure we call “desire”—a strong emotion of wanting to have something. When you think of something you want, you will a feel positive energy, pressure that moves you to take action for what you want. But before you can take action, you have to know exactly what you want. That is the first step towards all progress and achievement in life. 

Identify one to three things in your life that you want, or identify something you have but you want more of. It could be a personal quality, a material thing or an experience in life, such as happiness, confidence or love. Choose something you think is “within your reach” and then...

Develop a plan.

Get out your digital or paper notepad and list the steps that will enable you to achieve what you want. This is how you create empowering stress—by making a plan to make your wants a reality. Let’s say you decide you want to go on a two week vacation to Europe. Good, now you know what you want. Feel that positive energy and use it to build your plan.

Decide how much you’ll need to go on your trip. How creative can you be in saving money for your trip? Where would you be willing to spend less to save more? How can you earn extra money for your dream trip? How long do you think it would take to save the money you need? Put all your answers in your action plan. 

Take action on your plan.

When you make a plan, you’ve already taken action and you will feel empowered. Now is the time to take more action and create more positive energy. If you want to get promoted and your plan says you will need to improve your writing skills, sign up for a class today. As soon as you take that action, you will have more confidence in yourself and what you will soon have to offer your company.

Taking action empowers you because you discover that your fears were illusions. They were distractions that came from thinking about what you don't want. Taking action unleashes your power. In the beginning, be sure to take steps that will lead to success, because success leads to confidence, and you can use that confidence to want "bigger" things. That will create more empowering stress—the tension and pressure that mobilizes you to do what will fulfill your desires.

- Alan Allard, Executive Coach