Stress and Our Overloaded Brains Cause Conflict and Drama at Work

Time to make your workplace less stressful, more engaging and more productive

I had several reasons for writing Better Decisions Better Thinking Better Outcomes, some of which I shared in the previous post on how reducing stress and increasing brain health leads to better decisions. We can all make better decisions and produce more desirable outcomes if we simply learn how to manage stress and maintain the health of our brains.

But there is also a larger goal inherent in this book. We live in a highly divisive, argumentative, agitated, and spring-loaded world. Workplace stress is at an all-time high, as is workplace violence and fear. Incidents of rage, verbal abuse, and physical confrontations are increasing at all levels of society, from elementary schools through to boardrooms and community associations and right on through to our national political discourse. 

I believe stress and our overloaded brains are two of the underlying causes creating so much conflict, tension, and drama at the human interaction level, both in the workplace and in non-work related interactions. As a result, the tendency is to react to situations, events, and people abruptly and emotionally. As a society, and as human beings, we need to create a new predisposition to pause and then respond instead of react. Remember, our emergency personnel are called First Responders, not First Reactors. If they reacted, instead of responding, in emergency situations the results would be dreadful.

It is not that we have forgotten how to be kind, humane, and just. It simply seems that such attributes are too often considered weaknesses, or easily subdued in favor of clashing, confrontation, rudeness, and a non-collaborative approach to interpersonal interactions.

What kind of world are we creating and leaving for our children and grandchildren?

It is time that individually and collectively we start working harder to change the divisive mindsets, aggressive attitudes, and bad behaviors that are percolating through our communities, schools, and workplaces. We all need to do a better job of responding — rationally, empathetically, and compassionately — to situations, events, and people. Doing so produces better outcomes and fewer regrets, in both our professional and personal lives.

So I hope Better Decisions Better Thinking Better Outcomes stirs new habits in helping you to cognitively respond, instead of emotionally react, to situations and other people. I hope it arouses a desire to not only find greater peace and solitude in your life, but to also spread these messages and benefits to others. And I hope it generates an eagerness in you to bring the concepts and ideas of this book formally into your own organization, business unit, or work team, either through the workshops my associates and I deliver or through your own enthusiastic practices and behaviors.

Together we can make your organizations less stressful, more engaging, more productive, and happier places to work.

Now, wouldn’t that be a wonderful outcome for you and your fellow colleagues and team members?