Stress at work comes in five categories

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Stress is often considered to be the price we pay for success. But leadership consultant Amy Leneker says that’s a dangerous myth. It fuels patterns of overwork, self-doubt and burnout.

“Stress isn’t the price you pay for success; it’s the thief that steals it,” she warns in Cheers to Monday.

The title refers to the fact that over a lifetime we spend, by her calculations, more than 2,000 Mondays at work and should not endure the same number of weekends dreading, tolerating or disliking the approaching Monday. One step to reduce stress is to sort it into the five categories that plague us:

1. Schedule stress: This comes from having too much to do and not enough time. “A full schedule doesn’t equal a full life,” she says. Instead of blaming others for this problem, open yourself up to the possibility you are your worst enemy. Examine how many unnecessary meetings you have called. Study where roles and responsibilities can be clarified so the default in decision-making isn’t to call a meeting. And make sure there are breaks between meetings to clear the brain.
2. Suspense stress: This arises from waiting for what’s uncertain or looming. The deadline, decision or tough conversation isn’t here yet, but anticipation is raising your stress level. Anticipation, of course, can be both positive and negative so one tip she offers is to start to reframe incidents of anticipation as joyful. Replace “I’m so anxious,” with “I’m so excited.” It can also be helpful to understand how well equipped you probably are to handle negative stuff that may be coming.
3. Social stress: Many people can be lovely to work with but some aren’t and the workplace can, she suggests, sometimes feel like a school cafeteria, with worries over being excluded, dismissed or overlooked. “Of all the kinds of stress at work, social stress is often the most overlooked and the most painful to talk about,” she adds. Consider situations where you may be the cause of social stress and also how other people living their values are causing problems for you, which can make the clash more bearable. If you’re a leader, treat interpersonal issues as performance issues and act now; stop making excuses for toxic performers.
4. Sudden stress: This arrives unannounced and demands a response – an urgent request, last-minute change or full-blown emergency that throws your day off course. In such situations, she urges you to be a beacon of clarity, not contributor to chaos. Protect your focus, guarding against things that feel urgent but really aren’t. Decline low-priority optional meetings. Keep asking: How big of a deal is this, really? Invite your team to evaluate and react to such sudden issues according to a five-point scale, with only those rated five treated as super-urgent.
5. System stress: This is the biggie, stress from structures, processes and culture that come to us in unclear expectations, power imbalances, inequity, inefficient processes and much more. “The overwhelming majority of workplace challenges – 94 per cent – are systemic, not individual,” she writes, pointing to noted management researcher Margaret Wheatley’s studies. Self-care, Ms. Leneker advises, may help you cope in the moment but won’t fix a broken system. You must work with others. A good technique is setting expectation around three phrases: We agree to…; we won’t agree to…; we won’t always agree and when we don’t, we will….

Those categories can help you attack what is troubling you. Another technique she recommends is writing each stressor on a sticky note, with the number of the category or categories it is in, and then placing them on a two-by-two matrix according to their importance and the amount of control you have.

Acknowledge but then move on from unimportant stressors where you lack any control. Accept without fixing those that are also unimportant even though you have some control.

That leaves two critical bundles. For important stressors where you have no control, ask for what you need from those with more power in the situation. And for important stressors where you have control, take the first step to improvement and keep working at it.

Quick hits

• Knowledge work requires taking time for processing – reviewing what you have done and planning what comes next, insists productivity expert David Allen. He has long championed setting aside time on Sundays for that effort, tying together factors such as time, people, projects priorities, interests and commitments. He says it probably will save you time down the road but even if it doesn’t it’s essential.
• If you travel frequently for work, productivity author Laura Vanderkam recommends keeping a suitcase partially packed – not with clothes but with other things such as pain relievers, a toothbrush and other toiletries, extra contact lenses and items you are prone to forget.
• Atomic Habits author James Clear says, “You are not your grand plans. You are your daily patterns.”

Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.