Cutting Through the Noise

Did you know that our physiological reaction is the same in case of a real and a perceived danger? Our stress response doesn't differentiate between us being chased by a lion (real danger) and us freaking out about that public speaking we're scheduled to do tomorrow (perceived danger). From evolutionary perspective, this makes perfect sense: we want to be well prepared for possible dangerous situations in order to stay alive. But what happens when we start seeing dangers where there are none?

This is exactly what we're doing in today's corporate jobs. Day in and day out, we're trying to finish all our tasks, deal with ever increasing complexity, cater to constant demand to do more with less, all while balancing competing priorities. Then we get home and want to spend some time with family and friends, only to deal with just one more email at 10 p.m. when kids are asleep and/or wake up at 3 a.m. with swirling tornado of thoughts that keeps us awake for hours. And just when we manage to fall asleep again, it's time to get up and do it all over again. Instead of having occasional acute stresses, we move into the arena of a chronic stress: a slippery slope that can lead to all sorts of physical and mental illnesses.

One of many interesting things about the stress response is that it prepares us for a flight-or-fight, so our internal resources are optimised for movement and our rational mind is practically switched off, meaning that we can't make rational decisions under big stress. Decisions made under stress are usually the ones we regret the most and we're able to evaluate them only when the situation has calmed down, meaning we need to deal with the aftermath.

So what can we do about it? Quite a lot actually. Two main categories to deal with are: perception and self-care.

Perception

We all want to be part of and contribute to something bigger than us. Companies give us a context for that. At the same time, the pressure do deliver is big, so we start perceiving things that are happening much more seriously that they really are. You know that deadline? Someone came up with it, it's not carved in stone. The high importance emails you just got? It might be important to a person who sent it, but is it objectively so? Yet, both of these triggered a stress response. The reality is: none of it is really important. People working in offices don't perform surgeries, we deal with ideas, computers and Excel sheets.

You think I'm exaggerating? Let me tell you a true story: One of the companies I worked for was closed. As part of the closing, we needed to ensure that relevant documents are archived for legal purposes. My team was responsible for project portfolio of tens of millions of Euros, processes and internal regulation. Since contracts and invoices were being archived as mandatory ones, how many additional documents do you think my team had to store? Ten, hundred, thousand? Answer: zero. Everything that we were working on internally, endless days spent on developing methodologies, budgeting, reporting, etc. ended up as irrelevant once the end came.

So, if 'high importance' emails and 'carved in stone' deadlines can trigger a stress response, but are essentially smoke without fire, it begs some serious questions: What is truly relevant for you now? What do you want to achieve? What will you be proud of when your end comes? How does what you do daily fit into that picture? How good are you at distinguishing signal from the noise?

Self-Care

Self-care is one of the first victims of increased workload. We don't have time and/or energy to go to the gym, prepare our meals, spend quality time with our loved ones, or keep a consistent sleeping schedule. And all of that is not nice to have, but a must have for good performance. Can your phone run on an empty battery? Well, neither can you.

Just as an example, here are some findings from 2021 Whoop study on sleep:

• For every 45 minutes of sleep debt accrued the night before, participants exhibited a 5-10% decrease in performance on mental control tasks the next day.

• Conversely, for every 30 minutes of slow wave (deep) sleep obtained, individuals showed a 5-10% increase in performance on mental control tasks.

So taking care of yourself is not selfish, it's a prerequisite for managing stress well and subsequently performing well.

As individuals, we can't do much to change the world. But we can do a lot when it comes to how we deal with it. Prioritizing self-care and consciously assessing each situation, rather than instinctively following the flow, can do wonders in keeping us calm and resilient when false alarms blare.