Battling Stress in Business: From Fear to Goal Setting

Fear is a chain reaction in the brain triggered by a stress stimulus, culminating in an active release of chemicals. At that moment, we notice our heart rate quickening, our breath becoming shallower, and our muscles brimming with energy (this reaction is also known as the “fight or flight” response). This reaction is almost entirely autonomous – we don’t consciously initiate it.

In complex and crisis situations, it is crucial to make quick decisions and act promptly. However, it is precisely during these moments that we make the most mistakes: unnecessary purchases, rushed sales, stress eating, or, conversely, skipping meals and losing sleep. It’s incredibly challenging to override fear and emotions to think rationally.

Regaining Control:

So, how do we regain control? Let’s begin with evacuating fear. Create a journal or notebook for yourself in the coming weeks, where you can unload all your emotions, fears, and anxieties. It’s important not to harbor these thoughts – as long as they reside within us, they corrode us.

Where to start: jot down a list of all your fears and concerns. This exercise helps you understand what you truly feel right now and why it matters to you. To grasp the nature of your fear, it’s important to contemplate the consequences of what terrifies you.

Notice what might unite your fears? Perhaps all of them revolve around one or two real threats that are worth delving into further. It’s essential to experience your fear – it lasts from 60 seconds to an hour when we experience the most intense emotions, and it’s crucial not to get stuck in them. Our brain cannot differentiate between dangerous events, memories of these events, or our imagination. For the brain, it’s all the same process.

Mapping Your Influence:

To regain control and management, we create a map of our influence on the situation. It’s necessary to categorize all risks: risks we can personally control and manage in the situation; risks we can partially influence; risks beyond our control. Such a business map is a useful schematization for initiating internal discussions with the team and partners about goals and objectives.

We’ve also sought the opinions of business representatives and leaders on how they overcome various challenging situations.

Insights from Vage Zakaryan, Head of Development at Gem Space superapp:

“In the first place, regaining control over your state is crucial. After that, we can manage our actions. It’s at this point that we should define our goals, and these goals become a source of inner resources and determine our behavior in crisis situations. It’s extremely important for these goals to be motivating and achievable. Also, it’s important to understand if it’s genuinely your goal. Or is it a desire that aligns with society and your environment? If it’s your goal, talking about it will increase your energy reserves for its attainment.”

Brenda Cranston, Operating Director at Momentum Marketing Group, emphasizes the importance of self-improvement on the path to new goals and in overcoming internal limitations:

“No one is as invested in achieving your goal as you are. So, why not get to know yourself better to move more accurately toward that goal and gain a deeper understanding of your desires? Self-improvement in various areas – not just professionally but also in sports, education, and more – can help with this.”