Why Stress Comes At Us: A Case Of Supply And Demand

A different theory, and some tried and tested solutions, by Neil Gabbie

There’s lots of talk about stress these days.

Pre-pandemic, there was Brexit and failed elections, then Covid-19 came along. And even whilst it’s still here with us, there’s rioting across the US and protests across the world.

It’s tough to be a human being. Then again, it always was.

Unrealistic deadlines, tense shareholder meetings, angry bosses, screaming children, cheating spouses. Slow traffic, slow wi-fi, slow checkout queues.

So there’s lots of talk about stress these days.

And if you use Google, you can certainly find lots of analysis about what stress does to you. All those physiological implications of the fight or flight response, like a tight chest or chronic raised blood pressure.

And despite all this knowledge, still so many people suffer with both short and long term health issues.

I recently came across some interesting analysis about how to actually model it, in some work by Heidi Hanna, Founder & Chief Energy Officer of SYNERGY Brain Fitness.

Stress, A Case Of Supply And Demand

I really think this can be helpful insight as we come to deal with what’s going to unfold in the coming weeks and months.

As professionals, executives, parents and spouses, there are constant demands on you. You have deliverables in your jobs, and obligations in your relationships.

And you will deliver to those demands with your own supply of time, energy and other resources (e.g. skills, people, money).

Whilst those demands usually remain high, sometimes they peak, and your capacity to deal with them falls too far below. Supply can’t meet demand, and within you, this is a fundamental cause of excessive stress.

Your stress is caused by the idea of being unable to meet your personal and professional obligations.

And when demand exceeds your capacity over long periods it can become a chronic and dangerous condition. It’s real, and it’s here with us right now.

So what’s the solution?

The great thing about the diagram is that it shows you that there are two areas that can potentially help close that gap. You could reduce the demand on your time and energy, or increase your supply capacity to deal with it.

In most situations, the solution will not come from reduced demand. You can’t just decide not to do the work. These are the jobs that need to get done. That’s why you’re paid the big bucks, right?

So let’s turn our attention to the supply side.

Our supply capacity is determined by three main elements: time, energy and skills/resources.

Can you create more time? Hmm, not really. Perhaps you could make some marginal changes by becoming more efficient. Or you could work longer hours. That doesn’t sound like a good idea, does it?

What about skills/resources? Well, in the real world of targets and budgets it’s not likely to be somewhere you can go. Headcount and training budgets are most likely strictly constrained.

So all that’s left is your energy.

And it comes to one of my own specialist topics of energy management.

As luck would have it, although energy is, like the others, a finite resource, it’s the one that you can manage yourself.

It’s within your control.

You can use tools and techniques to make more energy available, and waste less of it, allowing you to increase your productive capacity and meet the demands placed on you at work and in life.

You will close that gap between supply and demand, and so release the hold that stress has over you.

Using these techniques that I’m going to suggest below, you will find that things are happening behind the scenes, that you will barely notice, but you will sit back at certain times and realise how much better you feel.

Some of these are not rocket science, but they focus on activities that can waste significant amounts of energy that you might not have realised.

A clean, fresh diet: fast foods, highly processed and pre-packaged foods put your body and digestive system under more strain than fresh natural foods. Your body has to work hard to defend itself against complex chemicals that it’s not designed for, using valuable energy in the process.

Healthy sleep patterns: burning the midnight oil, either finishing that report or binge watching the latest Netflix offering, is reducing your body’s opportunity to refresh and recharge its batteries. Get disciplined at hitting the sack early (set an alarm if you have to) and then get up early feeling refreshed and energised every day.

Regular exercise: despite you thinking that exercise uses it up, whilst it temporarily drains some physical energy, it helps your body to maintain its mental energy at levels that leave you ready and able to deal with the stressful events of the day.

Those three are the core non-negotiable elements of high-level energy management that raise your capacity to handle the demands on you on a daily basis.

For next level up-skilling, try daily meditation, a gratitude practice, journalling and regular hydration. Incorporate some or all of these into a morning ritual as soon as you get up, and you’ll begin every day feeling like you can handle everything, rather than the lethargic dread that you have as you reach for the snooze button.

Next, cut out the complaining, office politics, gossiping and criticising. All huge wastes of energy that literally dissipate into the air in front of your face.

The truth is that stress happens in the brain. So most of these practices focus on maintaining your mental energy to manage the stress that you actually feel. Life is full of stressful experiences, with demands on us that we can’t avoid, and which are more than we believe we can handle.

Energy management practices, especially focussed on mental energy, are proven over centuries to be the universal techniques, available to us all, to enable us to meet those demands and become successful and fulfilled.

Neil Gabbie is an Executive and Leadership Coach with a background in Financial Management in a Fortune 500 company (talk about high demands!)

He works with clients over Zoom to support their professional and personal success, especially around navigating the corporate world to get to where you want.

He offers a free discovery session at www.bestmatecoaching.com/coaching and you can mention this article to receive a bonus extra session.

Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilgabbie/

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