Achieve Your Goals without Negative Stress

Working smart to reach your goals is important. Working hard on your goals is OK, but beware of work without thought for better ways or new ways to reach your personal goals. Don't let unneccesary or harmful stress lead you away from what you want to achive.

Stress handling wouldn't seem like it would be a part of setting goals but it could be the difference between you accomplishing them or not.

There is positive stress versus negative stress. Positive stress blends expectation and excitement to life, and we one and all thrive under a certain amount of stress. Competition, conflict, and even our frustrations and sorrows add depth and enhancement to our lives.

Your goal should not to eliminate stress but to learn how to manage it and how to use it to help you achieve your goals. Insufficient stress acts as a depressant and could leave you feeling bored or dejected; on the opposite, excessive stress may leave you feeling all mixed up inside.

You need to find the optimal level of stress which will individually motivate but not overwhelm each of us.

What is Optimal Stress for Me?

There is no single level of stress that is optimal for every person. As individuals with unique wants and needs, what is distressing to me might be a joy to you.

And even when we agree that a particular event is distressing, we are likely to differ in our physiological and psychological responses to it. That's just human nature.

A person who loves to clear up difficult situations for his boss and moves from job site to job site would be stressed in a job that was stable and routine, whereas the person who settles easily under stable conditions would very likely be stressed on a job where duties were highly varied.

Also, personal stress requirements and the amount which we can tolerate before we become distressed changes with our ages. It has been further been found that many illnesses are related to unrelieved stress; for example, anxiety disorders, bowel disorders etc.

If you are experiencing stress symptoms, you have gone beyond your optimal stress level; you need to reduce the stress in your life and/or improve your ability to handle it.

Stress symptoms include, among others: