stress

A while back I (probably stupidly) posted my "Big Five" scores and I later announced that I had determined to try to reduce my "Neuroticism" or "Need for stability" score on the test. Tonight I had a revelation that my score might not be truly indicative of how I handle stress. While I am certainly highly-strung, I don't think that I go to the extremes that the test implies that I do.

One of the classes that I am taking now is called Managing People and it requires that I, again, take the Big Five assessment. This time, however, I had to take an assessment that is designed to be used in the workplace for assessing employees and potential employees so it has some slightly different measures. As has been typical, I tested extremely high in having a "Need for stability." I am not talking in the top quarter of testers high. I am talking in the top five percent high.

I take two issues with my test score. First, my interpretation of this score is that this should indicate that I should be curled in a ball weeping under my desk or ready to punch someone at the first sign of stress. Second, I do not believe that if I were in a group of twenty randomly selected people that I would be the most easily stressed. I know many people who are more easily stressed than I am. I think that what is happening is that I have been told so frequently and believed so strongly that I am highly strung that I tend to relay that on the personality tests.

This all occurred to me tonight when I was watching The Amazing Race. One team had a setback and got all upset, and one team member threatened to quit the game. That actually happens relatively frequently in the game. While I would be stressed in that situation and I might need to step away from the situation for a moment to de-stress a bit, I cannot fathom being so frustrated by the situation in question that I would just give up. I also cannot fathom it hampering me much in completing the task in question.

My current job involves customer service as have a few previous jobs I have had. This means that there are occasionally stressful situations of varying degrees that pop up, and I can get worked up about them. I have mentioned before that this typically results in better customer service because I am motivated to resolve the issue quickly. I don't think I get to the stress level that I see from the people on TV, though. Maybe that's just because I don't have to witness the results of my stress?

Regardless, I am going to make a concerted effort to calm down going forward. The results from the last test I took recommended the book Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, so I might give that a try. Yet another self-improvement book to read.