Rethinking Stress in the Credit Department

By Rachel Weiss

There are looming deadlines, relationships to navigate, processes to improve – a wide variety of things to worry about! Many people characterize stress as a negative factor in their lives. It is this belief, however, that causes the adverse side effects of stress, not the actual stress itself. If you feel like stress is making you unhappy and detrimental to your life, you’re not alone. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way! 

Conventional wisdom tells us that stress is terrible for our health, yet many studies have shown this to be false. Stress is a natural reaction to circumstances, and when you allow it to rule your life is when it becomes dangerous. While it may not seem realistic, and it’s certainly not easy, you can choose your reaction to stressful situations, which can have a much more positive effect on your physical and mental health, including your emotional state and immune system.  

Instead of Disengaging, Embrace the Opportunity

Some people might advocate for simply disengaging or avoiding situations that cause anxiety, but this could put them at a severe disadvantage, and sometimes it is impossible. To thrive in today’s world, particularly in the modern workplace, we must find a way to embrace and overcome stressful demands, not simply ignore them. 

When you are stressed out about something, it is an indicator of purpose and engagement. You wouldn’t be worried about it if it didn’t matter. Those who live meaningful lives tend to worry more. And because the outlook on stress affects physical and mental health, those who see it as a negative presence to be avoided when possible are more likely to experience burnout, depression, and even heart disease. Those who frame stress in their lives in a more positive light tend to be happier and healthier.  

Believe it or not, stress can have a positive impact on you! With the right attitude, going through a tough situation can build resilience. As you experience things for the first time that are difficult or stressful, you may struggle with the situation and even crumble a bit if you don’t know how to cope. Yet, as you confront different situations and overcome various problems, you can train yourself to overcome similar situations in the future. You may have to experience some pain now, but it will make life easier for you later. 

A study at the University of California Berkeley found that some measure of stress will push you to optimal alertness and improve cognitive performance. They found that stress caused stem cells in test subjects to form new nerve cells that make their brains work better. So, some stress at your job can increase creativity and productivity. And there’s a bonus – by encouraging the growth of stem cells that become brain cells, stress can improve memory. Keep that in mind when you have a looming deadline! 

Coping Mechanism for Building Resilience

How can you change the way you feel about stress? This doesn’t mean focusing on eliminating or dampening stress or simply encouraging relaxation or mental health breaks. Instead, it’s more about adopting a growth mindset, which allows you to respond differently to stress. If you believe you can handle the demands you’re presented with (and it doesn’t matter how high those demands are), your body will learn to respond to stress with a challenge-response, which means you view stress as a challenge rather than a threat. Suppose you can reframe your attitude toward stress and avoid succumbing to a threat response. In that case, you can develop healthier biological reactions to it, such as reducing your production of cortisol (the stress hormone) and increasing your output of neurosteroids, which help the brain adapt to challenges and raise your heart rate variability – physiological signs of emotional resilience.  

It’s easier said than done! When thinking about past experiences or future unknowns that can cause stress, focusing on how you have learned or will learn and grow from the experience can help you retrain your brain in how you react to stressful situations. Also, focusing on your purpose and meaning in life can help. Thinking about how the stressful situation fits into your values and the pursuit of meaning can help to decrease the adverse effects. As you move forward with your projects and deadlines at work, keep in mind that there are benefits you will reap from the experiences. Focusing on new skills and resilience can help to overpower the negative aspects of stress that take such a toll on our physical and mental health.  

Another way to manage stress healthily is to engage your social support system. Social support and building connections with others help to counteract stress by increasing your oxytocin, a hormone that enhances happiness. Physical exercise is helpful, too. Active people tend to respond better when anxiety levels rise versus people who are more sedentary. 

Consider what targeted interventions you can set up for yourself and your team to help tip feelings in a more positive direction when experiencing stress. Recognizing how stressed you or your team members are on any given day and actively doing something about it (exercise, social connection, reframing the situation, etc.) can create a working environment where people are not afraid of stress and can focus on its benefits. With this in mind, check in on your colleagues, go out for a walk at lunch if you can, and adapt to a growth mindset by reminding yourself that everything is a learning experience that can help you enjoy a level of stress that will motivate you, not crush you. 

Stress Busting for Credit Managers

Rachel Weiss is the Executive Consultant for TheHumanManager.org