What If People Had a Check Pressure Alert?

In the locker room at the gym this morning I overheard 2 ladies saying that their check tire pressure alert had come on in their cars today. It was about 17 degrees this morning and the ladies went on to complain about having to put air in the tires on such a cold morning.

Ironically, when I got in my car after exercising, my tire pressure alert was on as well (it was a balmy 23 degrees by then). In the case of our tires, more pressure needs to be added. The opposite seems to be true for the folks I’m talking to in workplaces today. Of course these team members and leaders want/need less pressure.

It got me thinking…wouldn’t it be helpful if people had a check pressure alert so that we didn’t go “flat” at the worst possible time?

Well maybe we do have such an alert built in but it’s just not as obvious or clear as a dashboard warning sign. I think the following are signs that if we paid a little bit more attention to we would recognize as pressure building signs and we could preemptively lower our pressure to a level that is much healthier.

• Frequent illness
• Sleepless nights due to worry
• Crankiness
• Impatience
• Sluggishness
• Obsessive thinking patterns

You’ll recognize these as the classic signs of stress. They are in essence the alert or warning signs from your body that your pressure is off. You can use the five SHIFT steps for managing the acute stresses of work (visit the Free Resources tab at www.VickiHess.com for more information about those).

For coping with recurring or systemic stresses, you’ll need to take your self care up a notch by doing more of the things that folks share with me as effective stress managers. The suggestions you have shared with me include: exercising, eating right, getting enough sleep, meditating, volunteering, singing, dancing, praying, reading, spending time with family, watching funny movies, etc. I’d love to hear what works for you.

Don’t wait for a “flat” to slow you down. Keep up with the self-maintenance and listen for your inner pressure alerts today.