10 ways to beat the stress attack

“No matter how successful, thriving, or seemingly secure any business appears, there are no longer periods of calm seas for leaders in any industry,” he writes.

Menkes has based his book on interviews with 60 present and retired CEOs and analysis of data from the performance reviews of 200 high-performing candidates for CEO roles in major corporations. He has come up with three key strategies to lead effectively in an environment of constant stress and complexity.

1. Be a realistic optimist

Menkes’ first rule of thumb is to practice realistic optimism. “People with this trait possess confidence without self-delusion or irrationality,” he says.

2. Have a clear sense of purpose

According to Menkes in Better Under Pressure, effective leaders have a crystal-clear idea of what they are working towards, they find complex problems invigorating, and love inspiring their staff and themselves to work effectively. This mindset keeps stress at bay.

“Their level of dedication to their work is a direct result of the extraordinary, remarkable importance they place on their goal,” he says. And having professional goals is fundamental, giving them a sense of purpose. “That goal is their master and their reason for being,” says Menkes.

The CEO of consulting firm ChangeLabs Peter Sheahan lives by these principles. He sets three-year goals for revenue, markets and profitability; sets annual strategic imperatives and quarterly priorities. This strategy is backed by weekly planning, rather than daily.

“It gives you enough perspective to stay aligned to your plans, and still enough detail to ensure you know your activities for that week,” he says. Sheahan never sets more than five annual imperatives, to avoid overload. “The value of the bigger picture goals is that in the middle of a peak in stress, you can step back and assess how things really are.”

3. Find order in chaos

No one is going to do their best thinking in a state of high anxiety. Sheahan agrees with the stress-busting value in being able to manage disorder and identify what needs to be worked on to move forward.

“If we don’t, tension and stress levels spiral quickly,” says Sheahan. “I find my tension builds when I am uncertain what I am working on, and more specifically unsure what my clients or teams expectations of me are.”

Beyond Menkes’ three big stress busters, there are other approaches to stress management that are proven to keep stress levels under control.

4. Think long-term

Craig Errey, managing director of business technology consultancy PTG Global, works with clients including the Federal Government and Virgin Blue. Experience has taught Errey the value of the long-term perspective.

“This week might be crap, I’ve got cashflow issues because customers aren’t paying fast enough, but on average things will even out,” he says. Errey learnt the benefits on a long-term view through the Global Financial Crisis. “It’s about prioritising, focusing on the longer term. Through the GFC, we didn’t forcibly fire or downsize; we focused on product and customers and kept an even keel.”

5. Remember the woolly mammoth

When we are stressed, our heart rates increase, our adrenalin glands secrete adrenalin, our hormone levels increase, our blood pressure increases, our breathing changes and we start to sweat. Heath and fitness coach Amelia Burton has been training CEOs, ladies who lunch and everyone in between for more than 14 years; one her most high-profile recruits is MasterChef’s Matt Preston. In Burton’s experience, people cope with stress differently. A housewife can be more stressed out than a globetrotting 100-hour-a-week M&A lawyer; it all depends on how they manage stress.

Burton uses the analogy of the caveman under stress, deciding whether to fight the woolly mammoth or flee the scene. “The body is meant to fight or flight,” she says. In those days when the woolly mammoth is taken care of, the body could relax and return to normal. Nowadays, with constant stress, it is harder to turn off the symptoms of stress. Burton prescribes high-intensity exercise (“something that gets you out of breath”), followed by a cool-down (telling your body the woolly mammoth has gone and you can relax). This turns off the stress.

6. Understand there are simple strategies to avoid “choking” under pressure – like humming

Chicago-based Sian Beilock uses a diverse range of testing methods including functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) in her research, to understand the brain science behind performance. Her laboratory at Chicago University is investigating what makes people choke under pressure. (Greg Norman, are you listening?) “Companies are really operating in a period of prolonged stress,” she says.

Beilock has been studying people doing a range of stressful tasks, written tests, memory exercises, public speaking and even golf putting. “There are lots of similarities between hitting a golf putt and giving a pitch to clients. Both activities can fail if people think about it too much,” she says. They fall into the trap of analysis paralysis. Beilock’s bestselling book, Choke: What the secrets of the brain reveal about getting it right when you have to, has implications for anyone wanting to boost performance under stress.

Beilock’s techniques to avoid choking have a lot to do with how our working memory functions. The research includes testing how distraction techniques such as whistling or humming can help a person avoid choking. Even spending just 10 minutes writing down worries can make a dramatic difference to the outcome of a stressful test. “Doing things that prevent you from over attending, trying to deconstruct everything you are saying, can be beneficial,” she says. So start humming.

7. Identify what you can and cannot control

For Errey, this GFC was his third major economic downturn. “I cannot control the economic climate; there is no point worrying about it in a way that is unhealthy,” he says. Instead, he will concentrate on metrics within his control. “What our sales effort look like, what our working capital look like, what my people doing,” he says.

8. Exercise and diet are fundamental

During the MasterChef Australia series, Matt Preston’s health and fitness coach Amelia Burton finds it excruciating to watch her cravat-sporting client tucking into yet another piece of deep-fried pork belly or smashed strawberry pavlova with double cream. When Preston turns up the next morning for his training session, Burton will have planned an extra punishing regime to combat the calories from last night, often forgetting that the show is taped weeks ahead and Preston had stuck to his soup for dinner regime.

Preston is typical of so many: working long hours, with travel obligations that leave them vulnerable to fatty, salty, sugary foods. She prescribes high-intensity exercise to break the cycle. Even after one session, Burton sees how much “looser” Preston is. From there, new habits form such as ditching the fourth coffee and switching to herbal tea. “A lot of executives have such a competitive streak. I tap into that,” she says. “Then you get the big transformation.”

9. Know your stress limits

A simple test of how stressed you are is to see how shallow your breathing is. Pace one hand on the abdomen, the other high on the chest. See where the movement is. It should be in the belly, the centre of healthy, deep breathing. “In correct diaphramic breathing, the upper hand shouldn’t move,” says Burton.

Other classic signs of stress include:

• anxiety and panic attacks
• stiff neck and shoulders and rapid heart rate
• craving fatty, sugary or salty foods
• excessive weight gain or loss
• 4pm slump and reliance on sugary drinks
• irritability, mood swings and insomnia
• physical breakdown, from a bulging disc to heart attack
• using alcohol or drugs to blow off steam
• infertility

According to Burton, a little bit of stress is okay, particularly if it is managed with exercise, sleep and eating well. From her experience, a person’s job does not determine their stress levels. “I worked with the CEO of McDonald’s, and he was always calm and relaxed. Then I would be training a housewife who was at meltdown. Stress is a personal reaction to a personal situation. Some people cope better with stress than others,” she says.

In an attempt to get everything done, Sheahan says, “we massively overestimate what we can achieve, and massively underestimate life's ability to interrupt us. So do less, better. Have fewer goals and priorities. Less scheduled activity every week. And nail the big ones.”

10. And there’s always the boxed set or…

Sheahan cracks a box set of The West Wing or Boston Legal when he needs to unwind. “They are my escape,” he says. Craig Errey has a secret weapon against stress. The devout atheist has a thing for renaissance polyphony, in particular the Tallis Scholars (click here).

Dean Homicki, the CEO of thriving tactile indicator firm DTAC, might be on to something when he says that “old-fashioned is the new fast lane” when it comes to stress. “Just being still, or say growing a garden, or maybe even the extreme action of a quiet stroll.” It might sound old-fashioned but it works.