How Stress Impacts You and Those Around You
Depending on our natural strengths and abilities, we all react differently to different situations. In times of stress, the intensity of this response is often more heightened and our abilities can actually hinder us. In these challenging and uncertain times, therefore, it’s vital that we manage our unique gifts and not let them manage us. Here’s how:
Don’t Let Your Abilities Become Liabilities
Our natural areas of talent or strength tend to react in three ways during a crisis:
Fight or flight: When something negative happens to us, our bodies go into a fight or flight response. Either we want to fight it, or we want to get away from it.
Muscle memory: When faced with difficulty, we often replicate what we did in the past, relying on muscle memory. But we must reflect whether our response is helping or hurting the situation.
Acting without a plan: Taking action without a plan typically doesn’t work out well. Before you react, step back and examine where the urge comes from. Acting without thinking can often do more harm than good.
Be Aware and Beware
If they’re used in the wrong way, our abilities can hinder us. That’s why, especially in times of crisis, we need to be both aware of our abilities and beware of how we use them. The first step in self-management is self-awareness. And one of the best ways to become more self-aware is the Buffini & Company Heritage Profile™. This in-depth personality assessment tool helps you to understand your abilities, leverage your strengths and achieve your fullest potential.
Manage with Care
In times of crisis, you must be intentional with your strengths and abilities and manage them with care.
Stop: Don’t jump unthinkingly into action. Stop for a second and gather your thoughts.
Take a breath: Take a deep inhalation to flood your brain with oxygen. Then ask yourself who and where you can help. Asking questions like this means a better version of you will meet the crisis.
Act: By thinking before you act, you successfully update your self-ware. Now you are ready to go do.
To find out more about the Heritage Profile™ visit www.buffini.com/solutions/heritage-profile/
