Stress. Like death and taxes, we can’t escape it. The good news is, there is a way each of us is genetically wired to deal with and handle stress appropriately. You can transform the pressure we experience into fuel for you and your business’ successful evolution.
"Which works better, competition or cooperation? The answer, without equivocation, is cooperation. Although most people are surprised by this, scientists have repeatedly verified it in hundreds of studies since the late 1800s." Perry W. Buffington, Ph.D.
We live in a deeply pressurized business world. We are conditioned to believe that business must be fraught with high-stress, cutthroat competition and success must manifest a certain way or it isn’t worthy. However, there is room for everyone to succeed in the way each are designed to best fulfill their purpose. BG5 shows us the way to guide everyone on the path of success they deserve. Would you like to learn how you can transform stress and pressure into the fuel for success?
In BG5, one of the primary ways we assess a person based on how they are designed to operate is through what we call Functions. Functions and their Shadows are two of the 16 Success Codes we analyze to determine how you are here to be successful. You can find out how all your Functions operate by ordering a Career Map or the Complete Success Code Report and taking a look at Success Codes 9 and 10. The Functions that define your consistent strengths are revealed in Success Code 9.
Functions that are absent from Success Code 9 are listed under Success Code 10 as their "Shadows and Distractions." These shadows can be one of your biggest pitfalls yet, with awareness, can become your greatest source of wisdom. Let's discuss how the Drive and Stamina Function can operate in a fixed way (listed under Success Code 9) and how it can function in a flexible way (listed under Success Code 10 as “Always In A Hurry).
This image (left) shows the nine Functions in a person’s career design. One of the key elements to look at when analyzing someone’s BG5 Career Design is how an individual can best utilize each of their nine Functions. At the root of your Career Design is the Function called Drive and Stamina. This Function gives you profound insights into how you are uniquely intended to best handle the stress and pressure inherent in life and work.
Your Drive and Stamina Function:
Provides adrenalized fuel for ambition, beginning new projects, tasks, and teams
Creates hormones that get and keep you moving at work and play
Energizes you for turning chaos into order, creativity, emotional and survival intelligence
- Carries a profound initiating force that can fuel success or failure for your business
Utilize this fuel wisely, or you risk adrenal fatigue. The key for any Function listed in either Success Code 9 or as a Success Shadow in Code 10 is to act in agreement with your Decision-Making Strategy. Your Decision-Making Strategy can be found in Success Code 3—this is the way you are intended to make the right decision at the right time. Making choices you trust with confidence leads you to a better quality of life and improved bottom-line.
Success Code 9: Drive and Stamina Function—Processing Stress In A Fixed WaY
If your Drive and Stamina has consistent energy present, you have a particular, fixed way of dealing with stress according to your unique genetic imprinting. It could be that you require daily physical activity to discharge stress, or you may need to vent through regular emotional releases or to channel that energy into creative endeavors.
Your BG5 career report analysis can provide further details, and as your BG5 Career Consultant, I can synthesize your entire design in relation to your life and work experience to help guide you to the best ways you are designed to cope with the stress of work and life.
The good news is that you tend to have a reliable way of discharging stress that works for you. Having this be a Function for you means you are more stress resilient. This could show up as:
More likely to withstand the stress of external time-pressures (others can’t rush you)
You are able to focus on and cope with complex tasks that require stamina
- You can be good with time-management and setting/meeting deadlines
When your Drive & Stamina functions consistently, there also could be a tendency to put pressure on those around you, especially if they're inconsistent in this area—it causes them to hurry all the more. Without awareness of your Decision-Making Strategy to guide you, you may:
Become obsessive
Improperly initiate new projects
- Create resistance that brings unnecessary stress
Stress is one of the leading causes of disease, and improper stress management can undermine your health. Follow your Decision-Making Strategy and Authority to move forward in life grounded in correct action that can lead you to a better bottom line with less stress.
SUCCESS CODE 10: SHADOW & DISTRACTION—
ALWAYS IN A HURRY
If your Drive and Stamina Function shows up instead as "Always In A Hurry" under Success Code 10, this fuel operates inconsistently in you. The good news is that your design in an organization can offer the perfect solution when:
Short-deadline, urgent projects arise
Something needs doing very quickly
Flexibility is needed when dealing with time-pressures
On the flip side, a sensitivity to those time pressures and stressors can distract you, and you may tend to:
Unconsciously over-amplify pressure
Rush around on autopilot
- Hurry needlessly to get rid of stress
This tendency to amplify pressure is why your Drive and Stamina Function appears as one of your Shadows. Does being in a constant hurry tend to distract you from what is critical in your work? Do you tend to push quickly through doing things you don’t need to rush, even things you enjoy doing?
When you have the Drive and Stamina Function listed as a shadow, you have the flexibility of learning to deal with stress in many different ways. In rare instances, It may also show up as not knowing when to hurry at all. However, external energy can activate you with immense pressurization, which tends to amplify and distort this powerful energy. This pressure can show up as:
An inability to focus when you need to
Uncontrollable restlessness
- Physical tension or emotional stress
You may experience an enormous range of pressure over your lifetime - from deep stillness to extreme hyperactivity. Letting pressure pass through you that is not your own is important. Nature is an especially helpful place of renewal and peace for you.
Work Stress Management Image via StockUnlimited
When you feel stressed-out, you may find it very helpful to:
Breathe deeply
Walk outside for some fresh air
Find a quiet place to meditate
- Listen to some music
Take a break or move away from the source of stress, particularly if it is a person. Conversely, if the situation calls for it and you can handle the sensation, you could take a deep breath and utilize that pressure to get things done quickly.
Get familiar with the pressures you have consistently within you and recognize the source of stresses in your environment. Following your Decision-Making Strategy aligns you to the perfection of your process and can help you keep your balance despite work's constant stresses. There is an enormous profit potential in this Function—if it’s right for you to harness the fuel of Drive and Stamina and capitalize on the wisdom found here.
The Drive and Stamina to Fuel Success
Work Stress Management Image via StockUnlimited
Whether your Drive and Stamina Function is a dependable source of energy or an area of distraction and potential wisdom, you cannot make decisions based solely on stress because of the way the pressure can get in the way of seeing things clearly. For this reason, we recommend you follow your Decision-Making Strategy to deal with and move on the right pressures at the right time. This is critical to avoiding the resistance of frustration, bitterness, anger and disappointment in your career and business. Moving forward correctly, from a calm and focused with joy for living encourages proper initiation of your purpose. An action begun correctly from a place of confidence in the appropriate timing facilitates an enjoyment of the process along with success. Correct timing of action and not over-doing it on coffee can also help protect you from adrenal fatigue.
BG5 can lead you to a successful life filled with satisfaction, doing what you love. For a deeper understanding of this Function stay tuned to our focus on Drive and Stamina in upcoming case studies, celebrity profiles and webinar workshops in future BG5 specific blog posts. Are you ready to fulfill your highest purpose to improve your bottom line and our world?
