Coaching practices for How to Handle High Stress Situations at Work

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Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

  • I’ve gotten so good at "embracing the stress" that I keep telling myself I’m fine while quietly running on empty
  • Right before the thing that matters
  • There’s a high-stakes thing coming
  • In the moment my mind goes blank and the only voice in my head is “you can’t handle this”
  • I can stay calm reading about it, but the moment I’m actually in the situation all my good intentions vanish and I react

Practices that may help

  1. Pair the enhancing mindset with genuine stress management
    Believing stress can be useful does not mean tolerating excess — recognize when reduction is the right move.
    The Stress-Is-Enhancing Mindset
  2. Practice the "see it, own it, use it" reappraisal
    Crum’s framework: notice the stress (see it), acknowledge why it matters (own it), and channel it (use it).
    The Stress-Is-Enhancing Mindset
  3. Stress Inoculation: Pre-Exposure to Prepare for Future Stress
    Deliberately practice under conditions that simulate the stress of future high-stakes performance.
    Deliberate Discomfort: Using Voluntary Challenge to Build Resilience
  4. Prepare coping self-talk in advance
    Script what you will say to yourself at the trigger, during the peak, and afterward — before you need it.
    Stress Inoculation Training
  5. Graduated anger inoculation (stress inoculation exposure)
    Practice coping with anger in imagination — from mild triggers to intense ones — before you face them live.
    Novaco Anger Management, Made Practical
  6. Debrief after each stressful encounter
    Within 24 hours of a challenging event, review what you did, what worked, and what you will adjust.
    Stress Inoculation Training
  7. Map your stress response (conceptualization phase)
    Before you train coping, understand the full sequence: trigger → appraisal → body → behavior → consequence.
    Stress Inoculation Training
  8. Manage emotional arousal before and during problem solving
    Use a brief calming strategy when emotions are too high to solve problems effectively.
    Problem-Solving Therapy, Made Practical
  9. Regulate the level of distress in the system
    Keep productive pressure high enough to motivate change but low enough to prevent shutdown.
    Adaptive Leadership, Made Practical
  10. Practice coping under graduated real-world stress
    Move from imagined stressors to mild real ones to full-intensity situations — always with your coping tools active.
    Stress Inoculation Training

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