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Stress Less, Achieve More in the Workplace and Job Search

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Pressure is good. Stress should be avoided according to Aimee Bernstein, author of Stress Less Achieve More: Simple Ways to Turn Pressure into a Positive Force in Your Life. She states that, “…all us feel we’re always under pressure because of our constant accessibility.”

What makes you the most stressful about the job search process? I would love to hear what you think. There are three ways you can tell me:
1) Leave a voice mail or text message at 708-365-9822. Let me know if I can share it on future shows
2) Email me [email protected]
3) Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com and press the Send Voicemail button to leave a message online

If you are a career coach or professional and would like to contribute advice or voice your opinion, leave a message along with your name and website. I will include both on the show and show notes on the blog.

My guest, Aimee Bernstein is the President of Open Mind Adventures and coaches, consults, and trains senior leaders and teams within creative and high-pressure environments. Her past clients include Dolce & Gabbana and other large entities. Here are some highlights from our discussion:

The level of stress has gone up incrementally–everyone is under pressure these days. The internet has made us accessible 24/7 through mobile devices, and we feel that we always have to be doing something
It’s part of Work-Life these days where you are expected to have all of the right answers, have them in a way that is calm and collected, and to be able to do everything
It’s best to create boundaries for yourself, but it is not a popular philosophy in business.
To shift stress, businesses need to shift their culture, but until they do, people need to know how to shift their pressure
With many terms to throw around, press and stress are the new good stress and bad stress
Pressure is defined as strength and energy depending how you related to it. It is the energy of change
If you are open to the energy of change, you will experience liveliness and high performance.
Pressure is a helper and a bit of intelligence to expand your capacity
To do well at job interviews you have to be as big as the job–How cool can you stay under pressure?
Aimee differs from the notion that we need to handle stress. We need to handle the pressure and AVOID stress.
Most people live in their cognitive minds
Look at the clues –How are we when by ourselves?

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About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

Accepting and Giving Criticism Effectively for the New Hire

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You were recently hired after a long job search. It’s been a while since someone scrutinized your daily performance at work. Maybe you’re a new hire and yet to receive feedback to gauge if you’re adequately learning and performing. If you fit either of these categories, then you are the receiver of criticism rather than the giver. We will learn about the value of criticism, its importance, and how it can be a positive tool for your first 90 days of your new job.

Dr. Deb Bright is our guest today. She will help us understand the positive attributes of criticism as a giver and receiver.

How important is feedback to you? Do you embrace as a necessity? Or are your experiences mostly a nightmare? I would love to hear your thought in one of the following ways:

1. Call and leave a message at either 708.365.9822 or go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com and press “Send Voicemail.”
2. Email me at [email protected]
3. Leave a comment on the blog

Dr. Deb Bright (@DrDebBright) is the author of the book, The Truth Doesn’t Have to Hurt: How to Use Criticism to Strengthen Relationships, Improve Performance and Promote Change. Her goal is to help people give and receive critical feedback positively and productively. Deb’s clients include companies such as, Chase, The New York Stock Exchange and ITT. Again, I would like to thank AMACOM for my free review copy of Deb’s book, and arranging our conversation.

Here are highlights of our discussion:

Accepting criticism should be viewed as a skill set. Employers need to ask where did they receive training to receive and give criticism
New employees need to look at themselves as a product. You are being hired for more than your technical skills, but the ability in working as a team, including you manage feedback
Once you gain the skills, view it as a life enhancement, not just for the job but for life
The receiver is in the control of the criticism exchange process because the receiver can challenge the giver. The receiver is also the one who decides if he/she accepts or rejects it
The lack of training feedback is best addressed during downtime. Once you receive feedback, be sure to follow-up with your boss know you have been working on what he or she pointed out during the exchange
Deb described the building of an “expectation package.” It is a two-way exchange that makes critique work to build trust and respect
We also discuss Deb’s experience as a potential Olympic Diver being coached by someone who clearly set expectations. Listen to how Deb accepted criticism from her coach and the impact it had on her life
Deb embraced her coaches’ directness in dispensing criticism but pointed out there was a common goal. This reflects a key in accepting criticism. There were common goals and rules in giving and accepting critique

We will not publish a show next week since it is Thanksgiving week. Look for a new episode December 2, and for the Dec. 9 & 16 episodes we will have our regular segments plus holiday job search tips sprinkled throughout the show. After that we will take a holiday hiatus retuning Jan. 6 with new episodes!