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Do You Thrive or Crack Under Pressure?
Flatline5150 writes "The New York Times has a good article on why some people thrive under stress while others crack under pressure. Among other tidbits, pessimists make great lawyers..."
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"When people start feeling that what they're doing is not meaningful, then they take more sick days, begin looking for another job, and complain of health problems."
This should be required reading for all managers.
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7 / KB1JQO)
// IEEE 802.3: All 10base Are Belong To Us
Do You Thrive on Crack?
-thewldisntenuff
My MythTV HowTo
I thrive on pressure. By choice. See, I have a little issue with this thing called procrastination. I always wait and end up doing a large amount of work at the last possible minute, it keeps me on the edge, neat :D
I'm under the impression I would compress. Might be messy, though.
Seriously, if you don't give me a deadline of tomorrow, it doesn't get done. Period. (Why am I employed? I don't get it.)
If I come home from work and don't occupy myself with something, I'll get tired and need a nap. If I find something to do for the evening (aside from watching TV) I'm active and energetic until about 1 am (I usually get up between 6:30am and 7:00am). After doing some reading, I've found there's a good chance I have ADHD to one degree or another. I'm awaiting a doctor's appointment to see if this is the case, not that it has a major impact on my life. I have suspicions that this thrive under stress and symptoms of ADHD are very related.
I have ADD and I definitely do much better under pressure. If I don't load myself down with hours each semester, I get crappy grades. But, if I take way too many hours and never have enough time to possibly get all the homework done, I get better grades. I gotta have my time always allocated.. Otherwise I'm just completely unproductive.
For me, a little stress feels good. If I don't have anything to stress over, it feels like I'm not getting anything done.
--- We need more Ron Paul!
Steve, I saw you through my blinds typing this comment. Steve, I pay you $6.50 an hour to work, not post on Slashdot.
Get back to work. You've still got that 4:30 deadline to meet.
PS: I'm out of the office for the rest of the day to go golfing with your wife.
Definately. This is the key to good management. Most people respond to some pressure - too much and you just piss them off. Some people put too much pressure on themselves and you need to help them take some off to get the best out of them
I like pressure. If there's no pressure, it's not a challenge. If it's not a challenge there's no joy in doing a good job
As someone that needs to manage techs daily this is probably the skill I'd like to be a master of - giving each my staff the right pressure for them to perform at their best.
Oh, and I wish my manager would become a master of this!
Interestingly, it seems that it is the profession itself that causes the depression. In one study I read a few years back, when individuals were assessed the summer before law school, they showed rates of depression equivalent to the general population, but even after just the first year of law school, let alone once they graduated, rates of depression jumped to anywhere from 20-40 percent of the population studied.
I think you can get anyone to do anything provided they know they're appreciated at the end of it. I usually get paid, so that's appreciation enough!
The first sentence is very true. The second one, well, I guess that is true if and only if your pay is appropriate to your job's risks/required skill level/experience.
Me, I don't know how much my work really matters at the end of the day. But the fact that my bosses go out of their way to tell (and show) me that they appreciate the job I do, plus admiring remarks from colleagues who also do what I do (Web designer/Webmaster), make it worthwhile to me to get my ass out of bed in the morning.
I think one of the most fundamental needs of the human animal is to be appreciated.
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
That's certainly one way of looking at it. The poor uberworker (of which you, no doubt, include yourself), is surrounded by his coworkers, the eternal slackers.
Perhaps they're not motivated. Or perhaps your manager is naive and is using a bit too much stick and not enough carrot. You'd be amazed what some positive, encouraging management can achieve.
Or, to paraphrase Office Space, "if you motivate a man with the threat of getting fired, he'll only work hard enough to keep from losing his job."
A little sugar goes a long way. And REAL sugar, not saccharine. Anyone can tell the difference.
Let's take a look at some of the language used in this article, in order to see what connotations are associated with people who thrive on a stressful environment (i.e., a sweatshop, as opposed to those who do not thrive. Tell me what message this article gives us.
Here are some selected excerpts from the article:
"juggling multiple projects and running on four hours of sleep is business as usual."
So that is the Brave New Workplacein America. But that is not the workplace in France, and many other countries in Europe, where 35 hours per week is the mandated maximum work week, and where everyone gets 4 to 6 weeks of time off.
"But for Mr. Jones, the stress is worth it, if only because every now and then he can gaze at the Manhattan skyline and spot a product of his labor: the soaring profile of the Chatham apartment building on East 65th Street,"
Teaching us to accept our place in the sweatshop. Slavery is Freedom, dontcha know, and sweatshop workplaces are heaven.
"Mr. Jones belongs to a rare breed of worker"
Oooh. I wanna be a "rare breed", too. How about you?!
Let's take a look at some of the words used to describe our stress-loving heroes:
"they grapple
Wow! If only I could just be like them!
"People who are high in hardiness enjoy ongoing changes and difficulties,"
OK, Slashdotters, did you get the memo on our Brave New Sweatshop Economy. No, it is not a Velvet Sweatshop that we are headed for, it is just "changes and difficulties". Now get back to work!
But what about the rest of us non-heroic types? How does this article describe us?
"Their coworkers who complain of being too stressed have consistently higher levels of hormones that rarely dip very far, trapping them in a constant state of anxiety.
Oh. OK. We are "complainers" trapped in our anxiety. Gotcha!
"Some people will say 'No, I don't like a lot of stress,' but they find themselves in one stressful job after another, so there must be something that's pulling them.""
Hmm, or maybe, just maybe, it is because our government has sold us out to the corporations and the wealthy, thus creating a sweatshop environment where nearly EVERY job is becoming more and more stressful. Naw, that couldn't be it. Could it?
eat shiat and bark at the moon