Seth M of Expanded Consciousness Writes:

For some of us, when we’re struggling in our personal lives, we’re struggling in our work lives. It’s very easy to let the ups and downs of your personal life affect how productive or effective you are at work. In fact, TalentSmart studied over a million people and found that people who performed the best in life (in the top 90 percent) are capable of controlling their emotions during stressful or emotional times in their life.

Everyone has some level of stress that they deal with. However, it’s incredibly important to make sure your levels do not stay high for long periods of time. One Yale study found that prolonged stress can cause degeneration of the area of the brain that is associated with self-control.

The downside is that our minds actually need stress to operate. Some brain functions don’t kick in until we’ve reached certain stress thresholds. Thus begins the battle for balance.

Here are five ways that successful people manage their stress so they can perform at optimal levels:

They’re incredibly grateful

If you’re someone who rarely feels appreciative for the quality of your life, you could be slowly killing yourself. Showing gratitude and having a grateful mindset has been seen to reduce stress hormone levels by 23 percent.

Research out of the University of California found that grateful attitudes and behaviors improved mood, energy, and physical well-being.

They never ask “what if?”

When you start thinking about what could have happened, you’re wasting energy on a mindset that ultimately does not benefit you in any way. There are a million possibilities for the things that happen every day. If you focus entirely on all of those different things, you only create more anxiety and stress.

They strive to stay positive

As humans, we’re very capable of shifting the way we think. Which is good when our wandering brains insist on focusing only on negative things. When we’re in a negative mindset, any positive thought can change the direction of our thinking. If there’s nothing positive to reflect on from that day, think back to something in the past week or month. Or shift your thoughts toward something that you’re looking forward to.

Always have something positive to fall back on when your mind goes negative.

Read more HERE.