Managing Stress and Building Resilience syllabus

Syllabus

 1. Stress in today’s world

• Key points from Industry Research (including reports by MIND)
• Trends in modern day business life, including...
  • Increasing speed/agility
  • ‘Always available’ and ‘Always checking’
  • The nature and volume of email as a main form of communication
  • The stressful side of social media
  • Exercise around the typical triggers/stressors the group experience

2. How the body responds to stress

• What is happening in the brain
• The Sympathetic Nervous System (the accelerator – ‘fight or flight’) v the Parasympathetic
• Nervous System (the brake – ‘rest and digest’)
• The release of stress hormones – adrenalin, noradrenalin and cortisol, and the function of each

3.The effect of the stress reaction

• The positive effects of stress and the stress reaction and why it’s important to stay healthy
• When the stress reaction becomes unhelpful and pressure becomes anxiety
• Exercise around the experience of the delegates
• The health impact of long term stress reaction in the body

4. How to reduce the impact of stress and build resilience

4.1 Re-framing our thinking and how we approach stressful situations

• How one person will handle a stressful situation better than another as a result of the way they apply their thinking
• Different approaches for re-framing our thinking to increase resilience
• Specific insights from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
• Stepping back and looking at things with a fresh perspective
• Thinking traps and limiting beliefs
• Group Exercise for each attendee to analyse a recent stressful experience
• The ‘Pacifica’ App
• Insights from bestseller ‘The Chimp Paradox’ by Steve Peters. Managing your inner emotional ‘Chimp’
• Some simple tricks or techniques e.g.
• Your common-sense voice v. your stressed voice
• What would you tell your stressed self?

4.2  Mindfulness

• The logic for Mindfulness. What it is and what it isn’t!
• How it’s thought to counter our ever-vigilant, racing minds
• Studies showing how it impacts the brain and enhances our ability to deal with stress
• Review of the various tools and apps
• Ruby Wax – A Mindfulness guide for the Frazzled
• The Apps (including costs, pros and cons etc)
• Headspace
• Calm
• Happy not perfect
• Audio clip of Alec Baldwin interviewing Jerry Seinfeld, who’s used mindfulness for 30 years!
• Why the head of the world’s largest hedge fund says it’s the secret of his success.

4.3 Relaxation and breathing techniques

• Evidence of how each of the above counters the stress response in the brain
• Reduces stress hormones
• Triggers ‘rest and digest’ Parasympathetic Nervous System
• Simple techniques for each that you can do anywhere

4.4 Practical ideas on ow you can change the way you work day-to-day and manage your workload to alleviate stress

• Behavioural factors that contribute to stress (including multiple handling,

‘butterflying’)

• How to manage email to reduce stress levels
• Some theories on task management
• Clearing clutter
• Insights from ‘Work Smarter’ by Cyril Peupion

4.4 How other lifestyle choices impact stress

Exercise

• How small amounts of exercise reduce cortisol
• The benefits of one ‘walking meeting’ a day

Sleep

• Evidence of how lack of sleep triggers the same brain response as a stressful working day
• How lack of sleep impacts creative and analytical thinking
• Managing the factors that affect how well we sleep
• LED light (iPad, computer, phone), alcohol, caffeine, sleep aids, exercise, temperature, sleep routine

5. Wrap up and summary of key themes