How to use an envelope to stop stress in its tracks
Learning to switch off from worries and difficult work issues is the key to success.
We all know we should have "downtime".
Rest periods...time when we don't think about work.
Time when we focus on family, sports, sleep....
Time in our life when we stop worrying and we take time to relax.
Research has consistently shown that recovery time is important for high performance.
But in our 24/7 work culture, how do you switch off from work and stop worrying about a situation or a difficult decision that you have going on?
Study shows a simple envelope really does help
Xiuping Li , Associate Professor at National University of Singapore decided to investigate how a simple psychological technique could enhance our ability to manage negative emotions about an event or a decision that we regretted.
In the study, eighty students were asked to write about a recent decision they regretted.
Half of them were then told to seal their written recollection in an envelope.
Afterwards, the envelope students felt less negative about the event than the control students who just handed in their recollections without an envelope.
Two further experiments shed some light on the process
Sealing a disturbing news story in an envelope reduced the negative emotional impact of the story and reduced participants' memory of it.
By contrast, sealing an unrelated piece of paper did not have these effects, thus showing that it's the act of containing the emotional material that's important, not the mere act of putting anything in an envelope.
Finally, sealing in an envelope a written recollection of a regretted event led participants to feel less negative about the event than simply paper-clipping the pages together - so it's not just the mere act of doing something to a written recollection, it is specifically enclosing that material that is beneficial.
What's more, this final experiment showed that the link between enveloping the material and participants' feelings was entirely mediated by their having a greater sense of psychological closure.
The researcher said:
“We have shown that the metaphorical act of enclosing and sealing influences the memory, in the sense that the recollection of the emotional details of an event becomes weaker. An effective way to relieve distress may be for the distressed person to seal an object related to his or her emotions in a package.”
The EBW View
So in future when something is troubling you and your worried about work, recognise those negative emotions and use your Business Emotional Intelligence.
Write your worries down, put them in an envelope and seal it.
Doing so should help bring you psychological closure and help you cope more effectively with your stress at work.
If you want to update your manager/leadership or coaching toolbox then discover how partnering with EBW could help you, your team and your organisation.
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