Stress Management - The 48 hour rule

Something happened at work and I am freaking out!!  But know, you will be fine in 48 hours.  Can you survive 48 hours of stress?  Almost certainly …. YES. (it’s not fun but you will get through!) 

You cannot avoid situations in business that unexpectedly arise and bring you MASSIVE STRESS.  But know that in 48 hours you can regain reasonable calmness and have a plan in place to solve the issue.   (Of course this is for situations where you do have a bit of time to solve.)

 Consider my 48-hour stress reducer rule.

Ok……. so something big and unexpected happens or goes wrong and while externally you may not show it, internally you are freaking out and wondering what to do next.   

Imagine the 48 hours (2 days) broken into four parts.  

1)      Day 1 morning   2) Day 1 afternoon    3) Day 2 morning   4) Day 2 afternoon.

Start the clock …….stressful event happens……breathe…. and then believe or start to believe you can work your way through it.  

Day 1 AM          Start to problem solve, ask questions, think of potential solutions

Day 1 PM          Review what you’ve learned, ask more questions, reshape potential solutions

Leave work & try to relax: 

You should be a little less stressed with the beginning of a plan in the works, but still a bit freaked out 😊

Day 2 AM          Revisit potential solutions, pick best plan, what else can you do, who else can you talk to, enhance the plan

Day 2 PM          Finalize plan, share with trusted colleague, reflect & adjust if required

At end of day 2 should have a workable plan to start to execute   

It may not mean the problem is solved, but you can now proceed calmly (stress significantly reduced) working the plan with the solution or resolution in sight.

Test it out and see how it works for you.

Stress buster = develop potential solutions + gather perspectives + reshape + reflect + finalize plan