• Because I value people and myself, and am a developer of people; I will be a supportive part of their lives.
• My goals are to maximize the number (including myself) who:
  • succeed at achieving their goals and doing what interests them,
  • protect themselves from physical and emotional harm and
  • avoid harming others.
• To achieve my highest priorities I will maximize
  • use of techniques to reduce time (1), encounter (2), situation (3) and anticipation stressors (4); and
  • management of these stressors with a balanced lifestyle (5) and development of social, physiological and psychological of resiliencies (6); and use of temporary stress-reduction techniques (7).
• The guide to my decisions and behavior is the search for the most effective strategies for success through preparation, preventive maintenance and building relationships.

1. Reduce time stressors with this mission statement; and effective and efficient time management, plus delegation.

2. Reduce social stressors with collaboration and interpersonal competence. These will be use of abilities to: resolve conflicts, build and manage effective high-performance teams, conduct efficient meetings, coach and counsel people needing support provide negative feedback in constructive ways, influence other’s opinions, motivate and energize people; and empower individuals.

3. Reduce situational stressors by redesigning work to maintain freedom by combining tasks, forming identifiable work units, establishing customer relations, increasing decision making authority and opening feedback channels.

4. Reduce anticipatory stressor anxiety with current circumstances by prioritizing with clear personal priorities of what is to be accomplished, what cannot be compromised and a lasting legacy; goal setting and small-wins.

5. Aspects of a balanced lifestyle to include are social, occupational, spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional.

6. Develop social resiliency with supportive social networks and highly cohesive teams. These will that have common commitments to solving problems, will provide suggestions, encouragement and emotional bonding. Develop physiological resiliency with physical activity; and eating plenty of low fat foods and fruit, vegetables and grains. Develop psychological resiliency with the "hardiness" of being in control of my life, being committed to and involved in what I do and being challenged by new experiences; and having a small-wins strategy and using deep relaxation techniques.

7. Relax immediately with muscle relaxation, deep breathing, imagery and fantasy, rehearsal and reframing.

Note: Many of the ideas for this format came from the chapter on managing stress in the book Developing Management Skills by David Whetten and Kim Cameron. A version of their book was used in a Cal Poly Pomona Master's in Business Administration class, Seminar in Organizational Behavior, with Dr. Lady Hansen.

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This gif is my "handle" at Webchat Broadcasting System which I do for fun once in awhile.

March 1998