5 Ways to Better Manage Your Stress - Emerging Nurse Leader

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN

I spoke with a colleague on the phone yesterday and asked her how she was doing. “I guess I should say I am doing great“, she replied, “but that would not be true.” As is true with many nurse leaders, she feels like she has too much on her plate to do and is constantly feeling stressed. These feelings are a way of life in today’s work environment and in modern life. All of us have stress. It is how well we manage it that is important.

In a December 2012 blog on ways that successful people defeat stress, author Heidi Halvorson offers great strategies that leaders can apply when feeling stressed. Five strategies that are especially important in nursing leadership include the following:

1. Have self-compassion

Most nurses are compassionate people but often their compassion does not extend to themselves. Nurse leaders often expect perfection in themselves and forget that to err is human. Halvoson observes that research has shown that people with self-compassion are more optimistic, less anxious and less prone to depression.

2. Take at least five or ten minutes during every work day to do something that you find interesting

It is important to look for things in your work environment that you can incorporate into your day to make it more interesting. This will replenish your energy. It could be having lunch with colleagues, mentoring a young nurse or visiting with a patient. For some leaders, it might taking time each day to catch up on a few journal articles. Whatever it is that can help energize you – find it and plan it into your day.

3. See your work in terms of progress, not perfection

It is easy to begin to doubt yourself when things don’t seem to be going well. We often measure ourselves by what we have not done versus our accomplishments. The truth is that leadership is a journey. I am a great believer in networking. Leadership can at times feel lonely but when you talk with other leaders, you are likely to gain a better perspective on your progress in your work.

4. Use if-thens for positive self-talk

Often the best way to deal with stress is to be proactive and anticipate it. Planning if-then scenarios can be very helpful. Anticipate a worst case scenario and then think about how you will react. Decide your response in advance. As an example if you will be attending a very stressful budget meeting to discuss staffing, plan in advance how you will react if you are put on the defensive. If you need to do a very difficult employee counseling, think about how you will handle it if things do not go well.

5. Always keep in mind the bigger picture

Within the context of our day to day work, it is easy to forget that work is just one aspect of our lives and all of us are replaceable. There are so many things in today’s health care environment that are beyond our control and stressing about it won’t change it. Steve Job’s the former CEO of Apple Computer may have had the best advice of all. During a 2005 commencement address, Jobs spoke about how remembering that he would soon be dead is the most important tool that he had encountered to help him make the big choices in life. He told these graduating students that “all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart”.