Strategies for Executive Self-Care: Nurturing Well-Being in High-Pressure Roles

According to ComPsych, the largest employee assistance program provider in the United States, 62 percent of North American adults have high-stress levels that can lead to exhaustion and/or feelings of a loss of control. 

Constant, unmanaged stress almost always leads to burnout and underperformance. There is also a correlation between high-stress levels and an increased likelihood of heart attack, hypertension, and other diseases.

“Mood and sleep disturbances, upset stomach and headache, and disturbed relationships with family and friends are examples of stress-related problems that are quick to develop and are commonly seen,” wrote the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 25 years ago.

Certainly, high-pressure roles are more likely to be stress-inducing. So, how can you nurture your well-being while juggling an intense professional life?

 

✅ Practice nurturing your well-being at work.

When your day includes stressor after stressor, it can be tempting to power through, hoping to de-stress at the end of the day.

But working without regular breaks can compound your stress – and make you less productive.

Digital marketing firm Augurian suggests incorporating different types of self-care into your day. For instance, physical self-care might include buying a standing desk or scheduling walking meetings with coworkers. Your emotional self-care might incorporate writing down your “wins” of the week, while mental self-care might be turning off your emails during your lunch break. Spiritual self-care could be something like using noise-canceling headphones while you work. 

The key here is figuring out when and how your internal resources are depleted. For instance, if your back hurts, maybe it’s time for physical self-care. If you’re snapping at your coworkers, it’s probably time for a mental health break. 

 

✅ Recognize that you need to recover from stress.

High-pressure situations at work build cortisol, as well as boost anxiety and exhaustion, say Meister et al. in Harvard Business Review.

If individuals who are constantly under stress don’t practice recovery or don’t know how to recover, then they’ll fail to perform. This is why professionals in high-stress jobs, like pilots and athletes, have mandatory recovery periods. 

But when you’re feeling the most stress, you’re less likely to nurture your well-being. If you feel intense pressure at work, for instance, you’re likely to commit to longer hours, exercise less, and even eat poorly, the researchers argue. 

The best way to recover from work is to identify what helps you to stop thinking about your job. 

“Research shows that even thinking about work detracts from your ability to recover from it, and the mere presence of your mobile phone distracts you, leaving you unable to detach from ‘the office,'” Meister et al. note. 

What’s more, “passive” or “low-effort” activities like watching TV are not actually better for recovery. Instead, pursue exercise or “mastery experiences” that require focus and determination, like playing an instrument, learning a language, or putting together a puzzle.

 

✅ Build better self-care habits.

If you’re out of practice with self-care, it can be difficult to incorporate self-care into your routine.

In part, this can happen if you’ve planned an overwhelming self-care routine, like exercising for hours each night. If your self-care expectations are also stressing you out, then you might want to examine if you’re bringing your high-pressure workplace into your after-work habits. 

Once you’ve identified a self-care routine that feels rejuvenating, you should take small steps towards making these habits part of your life. The goal is to avoid biting off more than you can chew.

So, instead of saying you’ll meditate every night for an hour, start by setting a goal to meditate for 10 minutes three times a week. 

Psychologist Tamara Judge calls these “micro-goals.”

“Each week, set some micro-goals (preferably related to your values) to help you improve your mental or physical health or stay organized. This could be as simple as thinking of three things you are grateful for each day, or it could be to go to bed at the same time each night,” she suggested.

 

Nurturing Your Well-Being in a High-Pressure Job

 

Stress takes a toll on our mental and physical health.

Moreover, certain corporate cultures valorize working long hours and taking a few days off. If you’re in a work situation that doesn’t give you space to recover, you may always struggle to overcome your feelings of burnout.

But if your workplace isn’t the problem, then you can minimize the negative impacts stress has on your life. First, plan small mental and physical health breaks throughout your day. Next, choose the after-work activities that help you leave work behind you.

Finally, set self-care micro-goals that help you integrate anxiety-mitigating activities in your life. 

Few high-pressure jobs come without stress. But if you implement an individualized self-care plan, you’ll be able to minimize the impact your workplace has on your life.