Dealing with Stress and Uncertainty with Eliz Greene [Podcast]

Podcast #170 – Marc Interviews Eliz Greene, Author of “Stress-Proof Your Heart” and Expert in Dealing with Uncertainty

Description:

We are all dealing with a lot of uncertainty these days.  I discovered Eliz Green on my friend Thom Singer’s podcast episode Uncertainty, Overwhelm, and Stress for Business Leaders.

Eliz is the author of Stress-Proof Your Heart and you can learn more about Eliz on her about page.

Eliz’s introduction is as follows:

Do you worry about the toll all of the uncertainty and stress is taking on your health, quality of life…and maybe even your sanity?

Eliz Greene has a thing or two to say about stress.

She is a professional speaker, a small business owner, and a mother of 19-year-old twins.

She received volumes of unvarnished truth from employees and leaders all over the world as part of her research on job stress. Working with a wide range of organizations, from NASA to Forward Financial to Colgate-Palmolive…and smaller organizations as well, she’s seen how high-performance, purpose-driven leaders create teams immune to overwhelm and uncertainty while protecting their own productivity and quality of life.

She is on a mission to help busy people deal with the stress caused by uncertainty and overwhelm so they can feel better, protect their health, and get more of the important stuff done…

…and don’t we all want that?

Now on to the podcast…

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Eliz has dealt with health uncertainty for the last 19 years. She has developed skills to be able to deal with uncertainty.

We are hard-wired to react to uncertainty as a problem that we need to protect ourselves from.

Our reaction to uncertainty is perfectly normal.  Our brains like predictability.

Eliz discusses a study where people were told they were not going to get a shock, were going to get a shock, or might get a shock. It is the last situation that people found most stressful.

Figuring out what you can control, and then taking control of that part of the situation, will reduce uncertainty and therefore stress.

When we are living in uncertainty and are stressed, our decisions tend to be very reactive; we struggle to think creatively and critically.

Reducing Stress

Highly capable people struggle with problems that they cannot solve. Disconnecting from audio and video news is one way to reduce our stress. These types of media know-how to pull you in. Instead, find one or two trusted resources and read the news.

Celebrate all victories, including the smallest of tasks – like getting up in the morning.

Sleep is magic in dealing with stress. Sleep is the best way to get rid of cortisol in our bodies.

Anytime our heart rates go up and then come down, our body reduces its levels of cortisol. This is why exercise is so valuable.

When we lengthen our breaths as we do in meditation, the body will get rid of cortisol.

Laughing is also a great way to lower cortisol levels. Watch the pancakey wife below.

Another way to lengthen our breath is to sing. Eliz gives the example of a person who sings at top of their lungs in the car on the way to work.

Are you a border collie or an iguana? Take the Stress Recovery Personality Quiz.

Embraceyourheart.com

StressProofBook.com