How to Transform Your Stress Into Productivity

Sometimes stress is unavoidable  —  here’s how to turn it into your best friend.

We know that stress is bad for us, and that it causes everything from health problems to lost productivity.

New research suggests that much of that stress we encounter can actually be harnessed in positive ways and turned into productivity.

Here are a few things to maximize the benefits of stress, while reducing the damaging effects it can have on our bodies, relationships and careers:

The first step to dealing with stress is to recognize it  —  then, you can decide what you want to do with it. Quite simply, recognize stress as a side-effect of spreading your wings and challenging yourself.

Use it.
Stress wasn’t designed to kill us. Stress hormones actually induce growth and release chemicals into the body that rebuild cells, synthesize proteins and enhance immunity, leaving the body even stronger and healthier than it was before.

Turning Stress into an Asset.
It is extremely important to work on our relationships during.Who you are hanging around with and building these relationships with, matters too — try to avoid chronic complainers and individuals who harp on things they cannot change, because like negative thoughts and attitudes, complaining and stress is also contagious.

Focus on what you can control
Stephen Hawking once said, “One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn’t exist.”

There are a million and a half things that will be completely out of your control every day, no matter how much effort you put in — so ignore what’s outside of your influence.