INT 144: Combatting Stress in Your Leadership Role

Being a leader often comes with a ton of stress. There’s so much pressure for you to do your very best, and many people come to you for guidance. One wrong decision will cost you, the people under your leadership, and the company.

With all of this pressure and stress, how can you combat it all?

In this episode of the Int-HER-rupt podcast, host Linda Yates speaks with Nicole Trick Steinbach on dealing with stress. Listen to these insightful tips on how to handle stress as a leader.

Nicole’s Successful Journey in Escaping Poverty

• Nicole grew up in a single-mother household and experienced poverty during her childhood. She became the first in her family to attend college. Her educational background and drive helped her escape the poverty she faced during her youth.
• After spending 20 years in tech and becoming a global senior Director, she now runs a business where she teaches other women about bravery in leadership roles.
• However, she did face challenges while climbing the ladder. One of these challenges is overcoming imposter syndrome. What helped her was accepting hard feedback and allowing herself to move away from things that no longer served her.

Shifting Bravery to Accountability

• To help you move out of a hard place, get serious about what you want. For example, do you want a life of financial freedom?
• Don’t be afraid of hard work. Everyone wants the easy way out, but some steps may require you to put in more time and effort.
• Remember, accountability has nothing to do with control. Instead, it’s taking responsibility for your perspective, impression, experience, and action.

Biggest Stressors for Leaders Today

• Following someone else's ghost: Following a past leader's actions is okay, but remember to be yourself. Nicole provides details on how you can be yourself as a leader and not follow someone's ghost
• Having a team that's just like you: It's essential to have team members who will push back on you and are nothing like you. You need others with different experiences, races, ages, and religions to gather different ideas.
• Forgetting about their careers: Continue to build your career while you help others. While building your team and helping them become successful, you may fail to focus on your career. Find growth in your career, and don't put it on pause. 

Dealing With Stress in Your Work

• Define your goals: Take the time to determine what you want out of your career. Set deadlines to help you reach your goals and celebrate success.
• Rest your body to bring creativity: In today's society, we're too focused on the hustle and tend to forget how important it is to rest our bodies. There's a reason why certain people are more successful than others, and it's because they take the time to sleep to bring creativity.
• Nicole lives by sun, social, and sleep to help her manage stress. Be sure to get vitamin D, connect with others, and rest when your body is tired.
• Her last tip is never to stay somewhere when you're not thriving. Yes, you need the paycheck, but if you know a company is not right for you, move on to help you afford stress and burn.

“When you're building cortisol and dumping dopamine throughout it, you have all kinds of issues, such as cardiovascular and relationship issues. That's when people start drinking too much, smoking too much, partying too much, whatever it is, and not sleeping enough, like cortisol is there. It's such an important part. Dopamine is there. It's such an important part. But you know, what else was really important? Equilibrium!” - Nicole Trick Steinbach

Nicole Trick Steinbach shares terrific tips on combatting stress as a leader. As always, your host, Linda Yates, has guest speakers who share powerful advice on helping you become a better leader. Subscribe to the Int-HER-rupt podcast for more leadership tips!

Resources

Celebrate Brave with Nicole Trick Steinbach's podcast

www.tricksteinbach.com

Nicole Trick Steinbach LinkedIn

Nicole Trick Steinbach Instagram

If this episode connected with you, reach out to Linda and let her know. This podcast is produced by TSE Studios. Check out other podcasts by TSE Studios, including this episode’s sponsor, The Sales Evangelist, helping new and struggling sellers close more deals and achieve their sales goals. Subscribe to the IntHERrupt Podcast so you won’t miss a single show. Find us on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, and Stitcher. Audio created by Ryan Rasmussen Productions.