The Equipose of Stress and Performance

You do your best work when you are properly stressed.

“The Yerkes-Dodson law states that there is an empirical relationship between stress and performance and that there is an optimal level of stress corresponding to an optimal level of performance.”*

You can't be excellent if you are stretched far beyond your ability for too much time. When overwhelmed, overcommitted, overtasked, or fatigued, you will eventually melt down and your performance will plummet.?

The corporate “martyr-warrior” in us all loves to constantly complain/brag how busy we are. Yet, it is less common to talk about when you aren't challenged enough and when boredom is setting in. The risks of being on this end of the bell curve is becoming uninspired and maybe even depressed.?

Your goal should be to stay light on your feet and balance at the top of this bell curve like a gymnast walking on a high beam.

Operating at this frequency, with the perfect amount of stress, you remain closest to achieving your full potential. Your performance is strongest and you find harmony in your work.

Sometimes this is as simple as balancing your workload, saying yes to this or no to that. Other times it means re-evaluating the type of work itself.?

The beauty of challenging yourself is there is no shortage of ways to do it. Turning the knob down on your workload or admitting you are over your head is often much harder.

Keep in mind, new challenges can come from both inside the workplace and out. The game you get to play is constantly giving yourself new challenges in both work and play, so you can toggle back and forth on the stress continuum.?

Recognizing where you are at on the bell curve will give you an idea of how and when to take on more or less stress, and it will also tell you if you need to try something new altogether.

*Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/yerkes-dodson-law#stress-performance-bell-curve?