How to Train Yourself to Be Immune to Stress

Recently we put together a slide show of glamorous-sounding careers that, due to incredibly high stress levels, are actually much less fun than they appear. But what if you flipped through the eight careers and thought, 'long hours and horrendous pressure be damned! I still want to be a stock broker.'

Good for you. Determination counts for a lot and so does the ability to stand by who you really are in the face of others' doubts. But you also better start thinking about your capacity to cope with stress and how you can improve it.

Stress has been shown to have a huge impact not just on your body but also on thinking and problem solving. "Neurons in the parts of the brain relating to learning, memory and judgment don't function as well under stress," according to Stanford University neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky. As you'll need just these functions to succeed in any cutthroat career, taming stress is key to advancement.

You might be a cool customer by birth, shaking off pressure and performing calmly in the spotlight, but if you weren't gifted with a natural immunity to stress you can build one up in yourself, according to a recent HBR blog post by Justin Menkes. Just be warned the process may not be painless. At the conclusion of a long, interesting post about stress, Menkes offers techniques for building up your capacity to perform under pressure:

One simple exercise involves memorizing something, be it a poem or the 50 states, and then reciting it before friends at a dinner party, while encouraging them to taunt you if you make mistakes. At first, you are more likely to have missteps in this context. Eventually, you will find that you can do the exercise faster, with more accuracy, in front of an audience than when you do it by yourself.

Mentors can also nurture this quality in future leaders by creating similar experiences. For instance, if your next-in-line is slated to present before the board, don't let him do so without preparation. Have him present first in front of a few colleagues, then at the Monday morning meeting, then before the management team, all before they present in the higher-pressure environment of the boardroom.

Read More on BNET:

• Painless Public Speaking: Low Stress Ways to Improve
• Career Anxiety: How to Stop Worrying About Success
• Don't Choke: Secrets of Performing Under Pressure