By Stephen D’Angelo
Stress seems to have become synonymous with life these days. If we are not constantly performing or producing, we assume we are failing or not living up to our truest potential. In this constant quest for success, are we really living? Or are we merely running ourselves into the ground? Life is precious and is meant to be enjoyed rather than wasted away with endless efforts to achieve fame and fortune.
Stephen D’Angelo is a business executive with more than 30 years of experience in the software technology industry leading high-performing global organizations. Through his extensive business success, he has a keen awareness of the critical success principles everyone should follow to live a happy, healthy, and successful life. Stephen is a proponent of holistically approaching leadership which ensures that everyone, regardless of their chosen field, has the tools, knowledge, mindset, and support needed to achieve greater success and happiness.
Whether we realize it or not, many of us are living our lives in a constant state of heightened stress. This is physically and mentally draining, and increased cortisol levels can cause severe health problems and diminish life expectancy and quality of life. Unfortunately, stress seems to have become synonymous with life these days.
Success is a marathon and not a sprint. That marathon must come with built-in “water breaks” if we are to reach the finish line unscathed. The reasons behind so many people living a stressful existence are many—work demands, family commitments, personal desires, etc. We live in a capitalist society, and success will always depend on working hard. Appropriately so, there is a large focus on productivity, but we must balance that with quality of life. What is the meaning of success if we are killing ourselves in the process? Our successes should allow us to live a meaningful and fulfilling existence, rather than stealing all of our time with those we love and leaving us feeling drained and overwhelmed in the process.
Many people find themselves operating from the mindset that “my worth is directly related to my productivity.” If we are not constantly performing or producing, we assume we are failing or not living up to our truest potential. This goes both for our efforts in our home and professional lives. In this constant quest for what we think success is, are we really living? Or are we merely running ourselves into the ground? Life is precious and meant to be enjoyed.
As a business executive with more than 30 years of experience as well as being a married father of two, I know firsthand that balancing the many demands of life is difficult. Sometimes impossible!
Over the years, I have gained a keen awareness of the critical success tenants leaders should follow to reduce stress, develop high-performing teams and live a happy, healthy, and successful life…for themselves and their employees. I learned to be a proponent of holistically approaching my life, family, and business with these tenants.
I often ask business professionals, executives, and those looking to enhance the quality of their lives to stop and think about the following questions:
What does it mean to align your personal self with your professional self?
Why are business professionals, executives, and top performers more stressed and lost than ever?
How can we all align the various aspects of our lives to achieve success, personal fulfillment, and the ultimate goal . . . happiness?
How can we recognize and remedy the dangerous symptoms and effects of burnout?
How well do you communicate and put into action leadership principles so that everyone is in alignment and wins collectively?
When addressing stress in a professional environment, the first step is to reduce stressors and create an environment where everyone in a group, organization, or company is aligned, creating positive energy conducive to achieving success. Leaders must follow what I call Spiritual Leadership. What is Spiritual Leadership? It is not what you think!
What does “Spiritual” leadership mean? When Spiritual Leadership is executed, a positive energy and spirit culture exists throughout the company, and everyone wins!
If you are going to implement this kind of leadership, you must actively live these principles. Too many leaders claim they will operate with these attributes, but their behavior is not actually consistent with their claims. Then they wonder why their children, spouse, executive team, and employees don’t completely trust and value them. This is the mortal sin of mortal sins! Not practicing what you preach will kill any leader’s ability to successfully navigate their team. If you don’t effectively navigate and lead your team, you will not succeed. Plain and simple.
I have seen time and time again that when leaders execute these tenants, they create an environment of less stress and burnout for themselves and their entire organization. Don’t confuse this with a soft and easy environment. It’s not. Grinding, working hard, and sweating together to achieve success create a very positive energy environment.
To quote Vince Lombardi, “I firmly believe that any person’s finest hour—her/his greatest fulfillment to all he/she holds dear–is that moment when she/he has worked his/her heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle—victorious.”
Here are the nine principles of Spiritual Leadership that will lead to an environment of success:
Winning – Everyone must understand that we are in business to win. You must define what winning is, and every organization in your company must be committed to that definition. During these times, too many companies have gotten soft. They are caught up in free lunches, ice cream trucks visiting the company, etc., and they forget that if they don’t win, they will be gone.
Accountability – Everyone must know they will be held accountable for achieving the results that are expected. No excuses.
Continuous Learning – If I’m going to hold my team accountable, I must also enable them. It is the company leaders’ responsibility to help their people be the best they can be. Your team must know that you are committed to making them successful as long as they demonstrate the proper work ethic and desire.
Transparency of Brutal Facts – Creating a great culture is based on trust. Trust is achieved when people feel they are being communicated within a transparent way. They admire when leaders discuss and address the brutal facts of what is going on positively and negatively with the business.
Process, Data, Metrics – Assess and lead the team with published data so that everyone is in 100% alignment as to how you measure the business and individual contribution.
Market-Driven – While you will innovate based on your vision, you must keep a close eye on the signals the market gives you. Your team must be confident that you will listen to their feedback and that of your clients/prospects.
Diversity – Diverse thinking drives innovation and optimization. Encouraging diversity is important to success.
Caring and Recognition – Your team needs to know that you care about them as people, not just as employees who deliver certain results. Recognizing their contributions and providing guidance to further their careers is critical.
Having Fun – Building a successful global company takes significant personal sacrifice and hard work. It is important you find time to have fun together in an appropriate businesslike approach. When the team has fun together, they are more committed to the cause and take more pride in their contribution. Achieving a balance between personal and professional life is necessary to feel fulfilled. I see that many people struggle with the meaning of life, which is why we must also look at our personal experiences, goals, and habits.
The trick to personal fulfillment is understanding that we no longer have to seek the answers to this age-old question about the meaning of life from the world around us, but can instead rely on our own strengths, our own wisdom, our inner voice/spirit, our own mindset, and our own power to create the life that we deserve—a life that is fulfilling, stable, and aligned with our core values and life goals.
Other tips that will help alleviate stress from our personal and professional lives are as follows.
Spend time in silence – The world we live in today is bombarded with “outside” noise. Smartphone messages, social media, TV media, friends’ opinions, etc., aking time each day to be silent allows the inner you to speak to you more clearly. Here is where awareness heightens.
Connect your inner spirit with the universe – Making the conscious effort of being aware that you are a spirit in a body and connecting that spirit to the universe allows you to manifest the realities you desire. This allows you to connect more effectively with the power of the universe.
Have a mindset of gratitude – Each day, list the three things you are thankful for. The art of gratitude creates calm and happiness and attracts you to more of what you desire. Most importantly, it feels good!
Create positive self-talk statements – Most people have to change how they see themselves. Changing their “I am” starts with conscious thought about what they want to be, and creating and repeating positive self-talk statements makes these a reality. We become what we think, and this activity sets you on course to self-discovery.
Spend time with positive people – Put yourself closer to the people who bring you positive energy and spend less time with those who negatively impact you. This is often a difficult thing to do because we have many friendships, and some are toxic. You don’t have to eliminate them completely, but adjusting where you spend your time will make your life more pleasant and peaceful and help you be the best you can be.
Understanding the how’s and why’s of a stressful existence is crucial in being able to implement a plan of attack. No one wants to live in a constant state of stress, yet our fast-paced society tends to have many of us on a fast track to burnout. Identifying where the stress is coming from in both a personal and professional sense can help leaders and individuals cultivate a sense of satisfaction and balance in the workplace, at home, and within themselves.
