By Michael Kline
I know you’re stressed and have a million things to do. Be patient. If you get to the end of this article, I promise some new ideas about stress and I promise it’s not diet and exercise. Aaaaaaaaagh!  If you start your sentences with a word that should only appear in comic strips, you might be stressed. If you finish sentences with words that are politely spelled with !&#%*@ symbols, then you might be stressed. If you yell at people, curse traffic, sigh at every inconvenience, say “I need a drink/smoke”, bite
your nails or curl up on the floor in a fetal position in your office, you might be stressed.

The trouble is most of us need our job and our relationships that provide the stressors. We also know that every job and every relationship will have its’ share of stressors anyway.  Did you know that stress, in moderation, can be helpful?  Like a little fear, stress can drive you to be  your best, to stay sharp and focused at work, home, play and in relationships. Like most things that are good for us, too much becomes bad for us. Too much stress can cause a multitude of health problems, including heart disease, digestive troubles, obesity, and skin conditions. Beyond physical health, excessive stress can damage our mental and social wellness too, destroying relationships and leading to anxiety and depression.

Sometimes you get to the point where you can only think of extremely short-term solutions – drink, smoke, fight, quit, run away, lash-out, over eat, or stop eating. I’ve tried most of these quick cures, to no avail. This is where you expect me to say diet and exercise. No, you don’t want to hear that, until you’re ready to hear that – when you are, you’ll do it. It’s not like it’s a secret. Its’ the best cure for nearly everything, but until we develop self-discipline, the mother of all
character strengths, diet and exercise will remain elusive fantasies. Let’s talk about something you can do to manage stress today, that’s fun, creative and instantly rewarding.
1. Stop saying I CAN’T, and ask what CAN I do?  This shift in word use is very powerful.
2. Stress comes when we feel that we are not in control – so what can you do to take some control? Business slow?
Relationship suffering? Take action and do something positive – anything! When you are working on something, it brings hope back into the picture. Hope is a positive start, on which you can build some momentum for more ideas, more effort, more action, and more results with less stress. Procrastination produces just the opposite.
3. Do you work in fear? If you are afraid of speaking up at work, know this – most employers are looking for people who engage and take an interest in making things better. If your company is looking to cut back, they would be wise to cut back the quiet worker who contributes nothing extra. Be the interested employee who contributes ideas. These ideas will reduce your stress because you’ll be working at making the place better, and at the same time will reduce your fear of not being valuable enough.
4. Are you valuable? Yes. I can’t say you are in the right job or industry or relationship, but most of the damage done to us, we do to ourselves. We tell ourselves we aren’t good enough, educated enough, experienced enough, we don’t know the right people, or people don’t like us enough… it’s all crap. Yes, that is the technical jargon used to describe the psychological disorder of not feeling like you are enough. Crap. You are enough. Stop choosing to feel stressed because you let others be in charge. At the very least, you are always in charge of how you feel, so start there. Go do something you love, without fear or a lack of confidence or a feeling of uncertainty stressing you.
5.There is no such thing as certainty. Like most people on this planet, I started out with nothing, had some successes,
some failures, and more successes. The only thing I am sure of, is that I’ll be okay no matter what false sense of security, or false sense of insecurity I feel from time to time. I am in charge of my life, which is a big stress-reducer. I
will mess it up and fix it again and that’s ok. Wherever you are, you are in the right place. How you got here was the right way. Wherever you go is up to you and you can start heading there anytime you’re ready, and that will be the right time.

In conclusion then, my message is to be proactive. Lots of opportunities to reduce stress and create more wellness in your life are being offered by the local non-profit, Evergreen Institute for Wellness, including an Introduction to Meditation for Stress Reduction, a class called Standing in Your Power and more. Their website also offers several free online wellness classes,  visit www.evergreenforwellness.org. 

Thinking of starting a business to take charge of your life? Find out if you should and how best to do it – I’ll be teaching a SCORE start-up workshop Oct 26th. Visit www.mtwashington.score.org. 

Michael Kline is a local retailer, success coach and trainer. He may be reached through his website, www.klineseminars.com, or e-mail, mike@klineseminars.com. 

How to Solve Every Business Problem with 7 Habits
Conway Daily Sun, March 24,2009
By Michael Kline
Sometimes the simplest thing in the world hits you as the solution to your biggest problem. I love that! I keep thinking about new applications for Steven Covey’s landmark book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Initially, I thought of it as another self-help manual - good in theory but near impossible in real life. I was young and foolish when I first read it; now that I’m old and foolish, it’s a much more enjoyable read. I’ve studied the book repeatedly, I’ve listened to the audio version repeatedly, I watched the videos and taught the lessons dozens of times. I still find new applications every time I think about the habits. I’m going to share with you some business insights from the 7 habits with the hope that you will want to learn them and create a program to improve your business.
Be forewarned, like learning a philosophy or a religion this is a journey, not a destination. It’s deeply rooted in principles so it remains solid no matter how our situations change. You can apply the habits to your health, family, job, or closest personal relationship, but this is a business column, so that’s where we’re headed today. Lately, I’ve been writing new workshops for small businesses and in my research I’ve been attending seminars like a Power Point slide-show junkie. It’s no wonder so many people think seminars don’t work when they keep teaching manipulative tricks to get people to do what you want. In the process I’m realizing that while you do need to learn the rules of the game, you don’t need personality trait-type “techniques” for sales training, customer service or managing people.
In sales training, there’s a process – some call it 5 steps, others 7 steps, but all agree the most important element of the process is listening to the customer; this is also called a needs analysis, but Covey calls it habit #5 “Seek First to Understand, Then be Understood”. Imagine if that was a habit - how helpful you would be to your customers in the sales process. Imagine in customer service, how surprised and happy a customer would be if seeking to understand them was the norm amongst your employees. The lacking of this habit is the source of so much poor service and indifference we feel at retail stores, restaurants or even so-called service businesses, and don’t even get me started on the customer service call-centers. In a recent seminar on supervisory skills, every situation that students presented could have been addressed using one of the 7 Habits, or prevented entirely by practicing and teaching all the habits in the workplace. On the topics of personal responsibility, surviving a recession, dealing with limitations around you – apply Habit #1 Be Proactive/Take Responsibility”. On goal setting, business planning or project management – Habit #2 “Begin with the end in mind”. Time management –Habit #3 “Putting First Things First”. Dealing with difficult people, or negotiating with suppliers, Habit #4 “Think Win-Win”. Any situation that suggests a compromise – refuse to compromise – that’s where no one gets what they want. Habit #6 “Synergy” in where you work together to find a new, third solution better than either party initially sought. Increase productivity, stop burn-out, improve morale, reduce turn-over and absenteeism – Habit #7 Sharpen the Saw.
Properly implemented, a comprehensive company culture initiative based on the 7 Habits could dramatically change your company and everyone in it. Having worked in a company that did this, I can personally attest to its effectiveness. I’ve never seen the buy-in of any other program like we saw from this initiative, because it values and empowers everyone, builds trust and turns the phrase about people being our best asset from lip-service to reality. Now, if you’re not a fan of singing kum ba yuh and hoping for the best, then you’re wondering how this works in real life. So glad you asked!
To bridge the gap between theory and application, I integrate these habits into my strategic planning and management system. This initiative fits perfectly with the management methodology discussed in my last column. If you missed past columns discussing the mechanical side of the management system, visit my website www.klineseminars.com and click on “articles” or email me at mike@klineseminars.com with questions, thoughts or requests for help.