Hardiness: Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Life Goals
Steven J. Stein and Paul T. Bartone
Wiley (January 2020)

How to manage pressure rather than be controlled by stress

In their Harvard Business Review article, “Pressure Doesn’t Have to Turn into Stress,” Nicholas Petrie asserts, “Pressure is not stress. But the former is converted to the latter when you add one ingredient: rumination, the tendency to keep rethinking past or future events, while attaching negative emotion to those thoughts. Of course, leaders must practice reflection — planning for the future or reviewing past lessons — but this is an analytical, short-term process, with positive fallout. Rumination is ongoing and destructive, diminishing your health, productivity, and well-being. Chronic worriers show increased incidence of coronary problems and suppressed immune functioning. Dwelling on the past or the future also takes us away from the present, rendering us unable to complete the work currently on our plates. If you ask ruminators how they are feeling, none will say ‘happy.’  Most feel miserable.”

I was reminded of that passage as I began to work my way through Steven Stein and Paul Bartone’s explanation of “how to make stress work for you.” Despite all manner of “progress” in various fields of research, “with the explosion of knowledge about mental health and the increased availability of technology, we still haven’t been able to take control of our problems. In fact, in many ways, things have gotten worse.” Petrie agrees, as do I and countless others.

What to do and how to do it?

Stein and Bartone focus on the Hardiness Resilience Gauge (HRG). “It is the years of research using this instrument that has helped inform much of what we have learned about hardiness. Many of the studies we talk about in this book have relied on this business measurement tool.”

For many people, the greatest challenge they face is to make a commitment  to gaining or regaining control of themselves and their lives. Highly developed hardiness (mental, emotional, and spiritual) enables them to sustain that commitment. In this context, I am again reminded of “The Serenity Prayer,”  formulated by Reinhold Niebuhr: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.”

After reading and then re-reading this book, I remain convinced that most (not all) problems within a workplace culture create pressure (to varying degree) and unless they are managed effectively, they become become worse…and this stress can eventually result in burnout.

Here’s a metaphor to ponder: Tires without pressure are flat and can be repaired.  If they  continue to be used, they will be shredded. Unlike tires, people can increase their hardiness.  They can also help others to increase their hardiness. That’s the WHAT. The WHY is obvious.

In their book, Steven Stein and Paul Bartone explain the HOW. They offer examples of dozens of people who have taken full advantage of the principles that serve as a foundation for the Hardiness Resilience Gauge. The fact remains, however, that each reader must take full ownership of the commitment, challenge, and control that their own peak performance requires.

Most people have a vision of success. That’s fine but keep in mind what Thomas Edison once observed: ” Vision without execution is hallucination.”