Five Keys for Transforming Stress Into Success
THE PHYSICIANEXECUTIVE NOVEMBER • DECEMBER 2006 45
Stress is a primary occupational hazard for doctors. Yet many are in a state of denial about their level of stress. They often shrug it off without fully realizing how it’s impacting their own well-being or those with whom they interact professionally and
personally.
Why is this so?
Medical training reinforces and exacerbates the preexisting trait of perfectionism that many doctors have. While the practice of medicine both requires and values excellence (the positive motivator of perfectionism), when taken to extremes, perfectionism can cause people to feel that nothing they ever do is good enough to justify a feeling of self-satisfaction.
Perfectionism can create or perpetuate low self-esteem, as well as a sense of chronic disappointment in others. Furthermore, medical training is designed to strengthen
doctors’ ability to operate under duress, and they became acclimated to high stress levels. Even after training when they have the ability to exercise more control, they’re so conditioned to tolerate stress that they may not recognize when things are getting out of balance and they need to take corrective action.
Lastly, because of the rigorous and focused training demands during their 20s and 30s, many doctors never get the kind of life/work experience that many of their age peers get through engaging in the social contact and exploration of living and working in multiple and varying contexts. As a result, many doctors don’t learn some of the adaptability and change management skills their cohorts necessarily learn that confer greater stress resilience.
The cumulative stress of practicing medicine tends not to culminate until mid-career when doctors are in their mid-40s and at their entrepreneurial peak (although there are now studies documenting high levels of burn-out as well as significant suicide risk in medical residents). It’s at this time that they have reached a high enough level in their practice that they have more business responsibilities (for which they usually are not trained). They’re far enough out of training that they must invest significant time and energy to stay up to date clinically. Add to that the reality that for many their families are reaching a crescendo, they’ve got more financial and emotional demands at home, and their lifestyle costs are or have rocketed up.
All these factors converge to produce chronic high stress that can produce symptoms ranging from loss of confidence and professional equanimity to more severe fatigue, irritability and anger, burnout, risk of depression and suicide, and slipping backwards in the business. Stress mediation for docs is crucial and needs to match and offset the level of stress.
While each person will have stress reduction strategies that work particularly well for them, there are five keys to reducing stress and achieving enduring optimal well-being.
1. Manage perfectionism
Learn to say no when requests are unrealistic or emotionally exhausting. Set realistic goals for yourself and others. Accept mistakes and failures as the path to success. Let go of the need to control everything and do it yourself. Recognize that a successful life and high self-worth are based on more than productivity and accomplishments.
2. Empower Yourself
Knowing you have the freedom to choose how to act in difficult situations is a trait of stress resilience. Our experience of stress is a function of how we respond to events, not the events themselves. Self-empowerment drives self-esteem. Every choice you make reflects the quality and degree of your self-esteem. This includes how well you take care of yourself, the food you eat, the level of fitness you maintain, the quality of your relationships, saying what needs to be said, and giving yourself options when things aren’t going well.
Reclaim your sense of purpose and passion. Stop, take a step back, and assess your level of fulfillment. Does it reflect the passion and purpose that guided you into medicine in the first place? If not, it’s time to evaluate what you need to reconnect to these elements that sustain
you spiritually in your work.
3. Develop stress management skills
Most of us did not routinely learn skills in high-performance communication, conflict management, and time and priority management. However, they are learnable. It’s common knowledge that prolonged stress leads to physical illness. In either case, the toxins in life are outbalancing the nutrients required for health and well-being. Learn to say no to reduce external demands and give yourself multiple, real vacations, both short and long, as a way to rejuvenate.
4. Focus on what you want, not what you don’t have.
Quantum physics tells us that everything is energy, including thought. Everything begins with thought, and what you focus on expands. Focus only on work and that will expand. Focus on the things that are irritating you and your irritation will expand. Instead, learn to view your negative emotions as information about what you don’t want, and once you have that information, shift your focus to what you do want for yourself.
5. Make decisions and take action
Success in any aspect of life is a function of three skills: self-mastery, tools and the ability to take action. There’s truth to the saying if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got. The most important stress reduction action is to take action.
Once you recognize you’re out of balance, clarify what you need and then take practical, positive engineered steps to achieve the wellbeing you desire. If necessary, get expert help to solve the problem. You deserve the same kind of attention your patients get, don’t you?