Tips for Managing Stress

Get to the Green Zone

by Joe Laipple, Ph.D., Kintla, Senior Vice President

If you want to perform at your best, get good at regulation. It is only after we regulate — how we manage stress — that we are able to think, perform, and produce at our best.

The Regulation Curve, based in neuroscience research, shows we need the right amount of stress to perform at our best. Too little stress (lack of interest or attention) and too much stress (frustration, anxiety) create low performance. How do we get to and stay in the green zone and get out of gray and red zones? Here are some tips.

PRACTICAL TIPS TO GET TO GREEN

THREE REGULATION METHODS

We all have come up with our own regulation strategies to manage stress. It is a good idea to build in deliberate regulation strategies to stay in the green zone and avoid shifting to the red or gray zones. Now is a great time to improve how you regulate. The methods below can broaden and deepen your approach.

1. Bottom up. This type of regulation involves physiological responses to stress like breathing or taking a walk. Yes, this seems obvious, but how often do we need to be reminded? Take a few deep breaths before jumping into a meeting where you anticipate being in the red zone. Schedule the time you’d like to go for a quick walk.
2. Top down. How we think about stress determines our top down regulation ability. Reframing is a practical tip and a great way to tamp down on the stress that is triggered when catastrophic words are used. Use objective, neutral words to more accurately describe a situation. When talking to others, reframe emotionally loaded words: “surprising” instead of “shocking”; “a challenge that we’ve handled before” instead of “complete disaster”. Another tip is related to our self-talk. Are you using catastrophic words to describe things? Use objective, neutral words to describe what is happening so you don’t send yourself or others into the red zone.
3. Relational. Connect with others to manage stress states. Think of someone who you like and who is regulated. Plan and schedule time to connect with them (virtual connections work especially with video). A regulated person can better regulate others. A dysregulated person dysregulates others. It is contagious.

CONNECT — GET GOOD AT BRIEF POSITIVE INTERACTIONS

Connect with others on a daily basis.

1. Identify who you will reach out to and schedule it.
2. Reach out to 3 people each day for brief (5 minute) positive interactions.

• Ask: How are you doing? How are you managing stress? How is your routine working?
• You get to share and be listened to by others

TAKE BREAKS THAT REGULATE

Schedule time to take breaks. That’s a no-brainer, but the way you use break time is critical.

1. Are you regulating during your break? Limit and earn your media time rather than just look at your phone or turn on the TV. Connect with someone you like or you find regulating.
2. Are you reaching out to someone who sends you to the red zone or are you watching or reading the latest media story?
3. Make choices that send you to the green zone rather than ones that predictably send you to the red zone.

PLAN A PRODUCTIVE DAY

Set a daily schedule with outcomes.

1. What do you want to accomplish today? What outcomes do you want to produce? Be realistic and avoid setting impossible or unrealistic goals as the perceived lack of success can backfire.
2. How will you do that?

• An effective plan should include ways to regulate and connect. Be sure to include plans to regulate whether that is managing the red zone or finding ways to stay engaged.
• Have a plan to connect with others you find regulating and strive to regulate yourself before you connect with them.

ANTICIPATE AND PLAN FOR RED ZONE TRIGGERS

1. Anticipate and plan when you are in the green zone. If we try to regulate after we are super stressed out, it will be harder to regulate.
2. Identify what sends you to the red zone. What are your personal triggers, threats, and distractions? Write down what happens to you in a personal journal or log to become more aware of these triggers.
3. What do you need to do more of/less of to stay in the green zone, avoid dropping into the red zone or get out of the red zone (or gray zone) once you are there?

• Watching too much live media coverage can be dysregulating.
• What is the appropriate amount of time you need to dedicate to this?

DEAD TIME AND ALIVE TIME

This tip was included in the dailystoic.com website (check it out) on March 28, 2020.

1. Dead time is spending our time staying in the gray zone. While this might be restorative for a few hours, we could get stuck here for hours on end.
2. Alive time is using your time to be productive. What are you doing to learn, grow, improve, get better? These are great questions to ask yourself and others to get to the green zone.

MOVE-EAT-SLEEP

Three basic needs include how we move, eat, and sleep and are potential bottom up regulation strategies.

1. Move. Plan and schedule time to walk, stretch, take yoga, and other forms of movement and exercise that work for you.
2. Eat. Eat healthy (of course) and use this time to connect with others. You can share a meal with someone you reside with, set up a zoom session to have a virtual lunch with a co-worker or have regularly scheduled family meals to eat and connect.
3. Sleep. Be purposeful. Have a plan to get the sleep you need.

REFLECT

Review what you are doing on a daily basis.

1. What do you need to do more of or less of to be able to regulate and connect?
2. What do you need to do more and less of to perform at your best?
3. Look back on what worked. Keep doing that.

Identify what small changes you can make to optimize performing at your best.

MORE DETAILS ON THE REGULATION CURVE

The Regulation Curve shows that we need the right amount of stress to perform at our best. This is based on neuroscience research on State Dependent functioning. Too little stress, and we are disengaged, bored or stuck in a rut. Our best performance occurs at the top of the curve when we are in a present or alert state, which is described as the green zone. Too much stress and our performance drops, which is shown in the red zone. We spend time in each zone every day. The ability to manage stress, stay in the green zone or get out of the red zone is called regulation. In order to gain access to our best thinking, performance, and productivity, get good at regulation. Those who are good at regulating will be more effective and productive. Being calm, alert, focused, and present are ways to describe being in the green zone. These are necessary to access our best thinking, perform, and produce.

TAKE ACTION

Based on this list of practical tips, what 1–2 actions will you try that will make the biggest difference?

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