What Kind of Stress Can Undermine Your Performance?
This May Shake You, but You Need It
Most Entrepreneurs are wrong about Stress.
Most of us have this image of stress as an “enemy to be defeated”. A negative force that paralyzes, exhausts, destroys concentration.
Let's say you just received an unexpected email. This client changes his mind, and does not want to continue on the path you proposed, he wants to do it differently. However, you know that you bring value to what you have proposed, that it is a Game Changer.
You don't understand why, this customer had to change his mind.
And there, your heart thumps. Your thoughts are racing. Your breathing quickens. Your brain is saturated. What was fluid becomes chaotic.
This is obviously “Stress”. And instinctively, you only want one thing: for this stress to stop.
But, let me already spoil it for you that this famous “Stress” is not necessarily bad.
And here's why
So what type of Stress are we talking about?
1. Hormones linked to Stress
It's not the stress that exhausts you.
It's the fact of staying stuck in it. And here's why:
When you feel stress, your body does not weaken.
On the contrary, it is charged with energy.
It's as if your brain goes into turbo mode.
It makes you faster.
It energizes you.
It prepares you for take action.
It's noradrenaline, adrenaline and Cortisol that come into play.
They boost your alertness, your concentration and your ability to respond quickly.
You become more efficient, not less.
In fact, the idea that stress can be positive is not just an intuition. Science has confirmed this for a long time! There is a well-known principle in psychology called the "Yerkes-Dodson Law".
Imagine a curve: at the beginning, the more stress you increase (just a little!), the more your performance can GROW. That's good stress, the one that motivates you, that pushes you to surpass yourself. But be careful, if you go too high (intense stress!), the curve goes back down and your performance can COLLAPSE.
For us, entrepreneurs, it is CRUCIAL to understand that: stress is not always the enemy. There is a "good stress" that can propel you.
But then, why do you have the impression that stress is burning you?
2. What is lack of Action?
Stress, basically, is an impulse to act.
But if you don't use it, it accumulates. And that's really important, because stress, if it's poorly managed, it will lower your Performance.
Because you can have a tendency to think too much. Answering questions too much instead of taking action.
We all have our own definition of Performance.
For some, it's going faster, doing more, optimizing every minute.
For others, it's going the distance, remaining consistent, not collapsing.
It can be: reaching a specific number, exceeding a goal, or simply feeling empowered. mastery.
But when there is a Gap in our Intention and the Action we undertake, we can be less Performing, and perhaps even, a part of us has less desire to be Performing.
The absence of Action is like Antman said. Stress Is The Gap Between Intention And Action
Because your brain works by resolving tension.
Every time it perceives a misalignment between what you want and what you do, it triggers an alert. And the longer this gap lasts, the more stress increases. Which leads you to reconsider your level of Congruence which I mentioned in Why 90% of your resolutions fail (and how to avoid that in 2025
How does this gap work? (I give you 3 examples)
You want to send an important message.
Intention: “I have to respond.”
Absent action: “I don’t dare, I’m postponing.”
Gap → Stress.
You want to get started sport.
Intention: "I have to go."
Absent action: "I procrastinate, I find excuses."
Gap → Stress.
You want to make a decision.
Intention: "I know what I should do."
Absent action: "I hesitate, I'm afraid of the consequences."
Gap → Stress.
And that's where Performance drops.
Why does Stress cause your Performance to drop?
Before you can understand why your performance drops, you need to understand how it works.
Performance is a flow of energy, a current that propels you towards what really matters to you. It is the reflection of your Vision, your Fortitude and your capacity to surpass what you thought possible.
Stress can set you in motion, activate you if you know how. do it.
It activates your system, increases your alertness, your reactivity.
It is there to prepare you to act.
You might believe that stress is an enemy.
In reality, it is not it that destroys your performance.It is your relationship with stress that decides whether you win or lose.But your ability to embody it depends on three elements:
Your ability to maintain mental clarity.
If your stress becomes too intense, you lose your ability to analyze.
You become reactive instead of being strategic.Your level of available energy.
Poorly managed stress empties you instead of boosting you:
Fatigue, drop in motivation, loss of momentum.Your freedom of action.
When you feel stress without having any room for maneuver, your brain registers a blockage.
It puts you in protection mode: procrastination, avoidance, loss of confidence.
So, how can you become “Perfect” even under Stress? (3 actions to do)
As I know that a part of you wants to perform, it could be to go faster, do more, optimize every minute. Or achieve a specific number, a goal, or simply mastery,
Stop suffering.
Not by trying to suppress it. Not hoping it goes away. But by reintegrating it into your game.
Stress is raw energy. Either you direct it, or it overwhelms you.1. Bringing control back into the equation
Where can you regain control?
What can you act on immediately?
Even a small adjustment can be enough:
Reformulate the problem from another angle.
Break the issue down into micro-actions.
Consciously decide what you let go of… and where you put your energy.
This adjustment puts you back in action mode, and it changes the whole dynamic.
2. Channel energy instead of wasting it
Misused stress is like an engine running in a vacuum.
You burn energy without moving forward. Where you can regain the advantage is by giving direction to this energy. How can you use it, rather than suffer it?
Express it physically. Move. Get into the action.
Use it to fuel extreme focus.
Direct it towards a specific challenge.
Stress becomes a great fucking advantage as soon as you allow yourself to play with it and above all develop the reflex to turn it into an opportunity when it presents itself.
There is a quote that says : “What you focus on comes true”
3. Make stress a performance indicator
To ensure that stress works for you, you need to change the filter.
Instead of saying to yourself: “I'm stressed, it's a problem.”
Ask yourself: “This stress alerts me to what?”
Two scenarios:
It's a real issue: It puts you in front of an area where you need to level up.
Use it to adjust your focus, your requirements, your decisions.
Or,It's a parasitic stress: It has no real use.
Cuts the loop. Breathing, refocusing, movement. Don't give him more space.
In 2013, in “Rethinking The Stress,” a study by Alia Crum and colleagues proved that if you believe stress is bad, well... guess what? It will be more likely to be for you! And you may have less desire to Perform.
On the other hand, if you change your vision and say to yourself: "Stress can also be POSITIVE, STIMULATING, a sign that I am committed and that I will progress"... Then your body and your mind react differently. You manage pressure better, you perform better, and even your health improves!
Feel this tension, this racing heart, this energy flowing through you? It's not necessarily bad, it's also a signal that pulses within you. Did you think it paralyzed you? FALSE!
It charges you. So stop putting up with it. Reappropriate this energy. Ask yourself this question: Where am I ready to let go a little for a while, where am I putting my energy towards a value that matters to me?
I am certain that by taking the time to answer this question, you will little by little become more and more efficient, living up to what you expect of yourself.
Performance is the 3rd cardinal point of my SoloBOOST method. ™.And I would really like to know what it means to you?