Have you ever been assigned an exciting project at work that seemed to be well above your skill level leaving you feeling overwhelmed, busy, and stressed?

I was recently put in charge of an important proposal for the first time without much guidance or help, causing me to feel scared and exhausted. I realized that the responsibility was all on me and felt the pressure of ensuring everything must be done right.

I became stressed and suffocated by the situation and it was starting to restrict my performance.

After a few days struggling, I caught myself and decided to take control and reframe this situation into a purposeful, positive experience or I would be consumed by anxiety and squander my opportunity.

By realizing and implementing the key concepts discussed below, I was able to turn a stressful work project into a positive, exciting learning experience that I really enjoyed, and ended up thriving as a result!

 

Remember Your Skills

If you find yourself leveled up with more responsibility at work at some point, it’s really worthwhile to stop and think about what got you to that point.

Most people don’t even take the time to analyze their progress and miss out on a valuable step in personal development.

Quantify it. That’s what engineers like to do.

Success leaves clues and anytime you’ve find yourself winning, you need to realize why in order to repeat and increase the chances of more success in the future.

In this process of reflection, you’ll realize the core skills that you really excel at and should continue to be cultivated and refined. These are likely soft skills like high quality communication, work ethic, integrity, positive attitude, and your ability to lead.

Realizing these skills and achievements both builds the confidence you’ll need to attack this project and also helps you continue to problem solve using the same principles.

This article discusses things more in depth: How to attack a project you don’t know how to do.

Lastly, by quantifying your wins and skills, you also begin to focus on and realize the importance of this opportunity, which is key for finding value and increasing motivation for the situation.

 

Realize the Impact this Will Have on your Career

Sometimes in sticky or stressful periods, we forget about the long term benefits and results.

Assess what this means for your career.

Is this opportunity something you’re actually excited about and will gain valuable experience and skill from? Are you setting yourself up for future awards and success?

Or is it a drag and maybe you really just need to reconsider your job and maybe even your career path?

Either way, this could be a moment of much needed evaluation that’s been gifted to you.

Realizing value helps you break through challenges with passion, energy, and purpose during intense times of stress. You’re awakening the emotion behind your motivation for success.

 

Re-Frame Stress and Mindset

Stress needs to be managed or it will manage you. There are actually several ways you can interpret stress in order to manage it, and even use it to your advantage if done right.

With my situation, I looked at my stress in two ways.

First, I re-framed my interpretation of the stress by using different language to trick my brain into thinking this situation was going to be worthwhile and less intense instead of terrible.

When I started feeling like I was strapped for time, worried, and frustrated, I interrupted that thinking and used words to tell myself and others that this was exciting, invigorating, and I was evolving instead.

After all, this was an opportunity for growth and advancement instead of feeling bored, sleepy, and undervalued.

Why are you feeling stress anyway? Because you want to do well, and that is a great thing!

The second thing that really helped with re-framing stress was remembering that I was growing.

I was feeling the stress because this was something I hadn’t done before and wasn’t proficient at.

According to neurologist Andrew Huberman, when your brain and nervous system experiences something new and is learning, it secretes stress hormones making you want to stop (skip to 45:00 in the video below).

It’s at this moment that you need to recognize this situation as a gateway to real growth and if you pass through it, that’s where rapid advancement occurs.

When you apply this principle to your stressful work project, stress IS the feeling of growth. This IS you actually learning new skills and gaining valuable experience.

You’ll never be the same again. Sometimes stress is a good thing.

 

Conclusion

A demanding, difficult project at work doesn’t have to be a stressful mess if you perceive it correctly.

Instead of being consumed by pressure and stifling your performance as a result, interrupt yourself and turn the experience into a time to thrive.

• Remember what got you here. Recalling the skills that got you the win is essential to understanding the formula for more wins. You’ll realize your best skills which can be relied on and developed further to build confidence and increase your problem solving.
• Realize the impact this will have on your career. Sometimes we are consumed by the moment and forget about the long term benefits. Finding purpose in the situation can help you blast through the mud with energy and motivation.
• Re-frame how you interpret the stress involved. Tricking your brain by using different words to describe the situation can help disarm a toxic situation. Stress when learning new things is actually the precursor to extreme growth and should be welcomed and endured for advancement.

Stress in the workplace is unavoidable, but if we learn to overcome it and use it to our advantage, maybe we can develop immunity to its disruption.