Stress, Perception, and Locus of Control

Perception and locus of control are interrelated skills that determine how one handles stress and how resilient individuals are to crisis, chaos, and stressful events. People that believe they have less stress believe that they are in control of their own lives. Lazarus and Folkman (1984) believe “psychological stress is a particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being” (as cited by McCauley, 2005). Clawson (2006) asks the question, how much do we live life inside-out versus outside-in? Are we living fully influenced by and reacting to our external environment (which creates a victim mindset) or do we feel that we have control or perceive that we have control over our external environment by exhibiting thoughtful responsive actions outward? Darwin (n.d.) states “it’s not the strongest of the species who survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change”. According to Senge (2003) when we live life with an external locus of control, “we are victims of a self-reinforcing crisis of perception – a crisis of our own making”.
References:
McCauley, C. (2005). Stress and the eye of the beholder. Leadership in Action, 25(1), 3.
Senge, P.M. (2003). Creating desired futures in a global economy. Reflections; Vol.5, Iss. 1. EBSCOhost Database.

Reducing Stress through Positivity

I am a firm believer in positive perceptions, positive thinking, and that the battlefield of the mind is where we need to stand guard most vigilantly. We can lose the battle or accept defeat with “stinking thinking” before we ever make a physical move or a verbalization in any situation. Chiu et. al. (2005) believes that “locus of control can influence experienced stress by affecting one’s perceived ability to cope with and perhaps change a stressful environment” (p. 837). According to Sosik and Godshalk (2000) job stress is linked to health problems and illness, poor performance, waning effectiveness and waxing health care costs. Additionally, job related stress is reported as costing corporate America approximately $200 billion annually, or 10% of U.S. GNP (Sosik & Godshalk, 2000). Stress may be abated through communicating effectively, increasing efficacy expectations, clarifying performance expectations, participating in or developing support groups, strengthening relationships, and continuing to expand opportunities to learn and develop personally and professionally.

References:
Chiu, C., Chien, C., Lin, C. & Hsiao, C.Y. (2005). Understanding hospital employee job stress and turnover intentions in a practical setting: the moderating role of locus of control. The Journal of Management Development; Bradford: 2005, Vol. 24, Iss. 10.
Sosik, J.J. & Godshalk, V.M. (2000). Leadership styles, mentoring functions, a job-related stress: a conceptual model and preliminary study. Journal of Organizational Behavior; June 2000, Vol. 21, Iss. 4.

Reduce Your Expectations, Reduce Your Stress

We should only have expectations for ourselves, and perhaps for our children...But when we put expectations on others I believe that we are only setting ourselves up for disappointment, possible heartache, and stress! Life is so much smoother when we truly "go with the flow", otherwise, when we place expectations on others of productivity, timeframes, events, places etc...we are putting pressure on them to perform to our expectations....there is not anything wrong with having expectations on others it just in our reaction when they are not able to meet our expectations....I continue to learn over time that I can only expect of myself and that I have less stress when I do not thrust my expectations off on others....I get along with them much more harmoniously, I do not create tension for myself or with them and I can just relax and let everything come as it comes, surprises and all....this is difficult to let go and just flow but let me tell you it is so much nicer to let people just be themselves and to be able to enjoy others and our environments without the added stress of unrealistic expectations!