I know all about stressed – it’s ‘DESSERTS’ spell backwards!!!

Some of you may know that I don’t believe in coincidence – which is why when I saw “I know all about stressed, it’s ‘DESSERTS’ spell backwards!!!” this morning I figured there was a reason.

No, not that I was going to have dessert for breakfast… well, maybe a Christmas cookie or two for good measure.

Rather that in sales (perhaps even in life) stress can be a good thing OR a bad thing. A good thing you ask?

Stress is a force exerted by pressing, pulling, pushing, compressing, or twisting. Newton’s First Law of Motion is the one that says ‘a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it….’ True of both things and people (if you don’t believe me, how difficult is it to get up off the couch once you’ve sat down and turned on the TV?).

Which brings us to the GOOD THING about stress; without a little of it pushing us to move, we wouldn’t accomplish anything. The stress we put on ourselves to meet our goals, the stress our managers put on us to achieve what is expected of us at work, the stress our team puts on us to win – all good stuff.

Three GOOD Stress Tips:

1. Understand the motivation behind the stress, smile & get going
2. Recognize the kick in the pants and keep the momentum going
3. Make sure the activity moves you forward toward your goal

The BAD THING is when the stress turns into overwhelm. Instead of pushing us to move – we are pushed into a corner, unable to decide what to do… we do nothing. That is a cycle that turns into a downward spiral… more stress/more overwhelm/more doing nothing = more stress/more overwhelm/more doing nothing = more stress/more overwhelm/more doing nothing . You get the idea (you’ve probably been there)!

Three BAD Stress Tips:

1. Write down what you need to get done & prioritize
2. Do ONE little thing that helps you move forward
3. Keep doing little things and the big things will get done

Now go do something! Then have dessert.