When I started reading
this article I thought, "oh no, how am I going to get through
another missive on 'How to Reduce Stress?'" When I saw that
it had been published in the Harvard Business Review I decided
it must have had at least enough merit to surface in that well
known and respected business magazine, so I decided to read on.
The authors coined the phrase "Inner
Quality Management" which is, of course, a play on the terms
Quality Management and Total Quality Management. Both terms have
been with us now for almost two decades. They have been both
revered and reviled and spawned into micro versions of themselves.
And so the authors put this mutation to another use, claiming
that their version of a stress-free life is obtainable by using
a prescribed Five Step Program (oh no, not another Step Program!)
which actually makes a lot of sense when (or should I say, if)
you follow it. According to the authors it is thoroughly backed
up by extensive research, and obviously the Harvard Business
Review found it to be. The Five Steps are:
1. Recognize and Disengage: Take a break.
2. Breathe through Your Heart: A deep breathing exercise.
3. Invoke a Positive Feeling: Don't Worry - Be Happy
4. Is There A Better Alternative?: Think in a linear fashion
5. Note the Change in Perspective: Feel Good?
Just as a health care provider would give
you a prescription for diet and exercise to maximize failing
health, the authors Five Steps ask you to break your stressful
habits one bite (or jog) at a time. One would need to first agree
that the premise is sound and then agree to take the days and
weeks needed to practice, practice, practice the Five Steps.
As many diet and exercise regimens fall by the wayside quickly,
it is easy to see how this could happen with this one, if only
because of the commitment anyone would have to make to a more
disciplined lifestyle.
There are as many roads to stress free
living as there are diet and exercise programs. This Five Step
Program may be for some of us, but the "many" will
be still be looking for a quick fix at the end of the day.
If you think you might want another alternative
to consider as you pour that extra cup of coffee or squeeze the
rubber ball till your wrist hurts, then this is an article you
probably should read.