Did you know that 90% of top performers are skilled at mindfulness and managing their emotions to remain calm and in control in times of stress?

This month worldwide is celebrated as "Mindful in May Month", where millions worldwide are focusing on the benefits of practising mindfulness to keep calm under pressure and manage their emotions, which directly links to peak performance.

We all know colleagues in the Construction industry where stress has played havoc on their physical and mental health. Studies have revealed that prolonged stress causes degeneration in the area of the brain responsible for self-control.

Mindfulness has been studied in many clinical trials. The overall evidence supports the that mindfulness practices deliver numerous benefits and assist with various conditions, including:-

Improving attention and concentration

• Decreasing burnout
• Improving sleep
• Reducing stress
• Reducing anxiety
• Reducing pain
• Assisting with depression
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Improving diabetes control
• Preliminary research also includes benefits for those experiencing asthma and fibromyalgia.

Isn’t Stress Just A Part of the Job?

The tricky thing about stress (and the anxiety that comes with it) is that it is absolutely a necessary emotion. Our brains are wired such that it is difficult to take action unless we feel some level of this emotional state, and performance peaks under the heightened activation that comes with a moderate level of stress.

The trick here is understanding, identifying and managing the severity of stress and the length of time you are under stress, e.g.:

1.  Boredom/depression (low stress / low performance)

2.  Increased attention and interest;

3.  Optimal Performance;

4.  Strong anxiety;

5.   Complete meltdown (high stress over a long period).

Research reveals an upside to experiencing moderate stress levels, but it also reinforces how important it is to keep stress under control. The study found that the onset of stress entices the brain into growing new cells responsible for improved memory. Intermittent stress keeps the brain more alert, and you perform better when you are alert. However, this effect is only seen when stress is intermittent. As soon as the stress continues beyond a few moments into a prolonged state, it suppresses the brain's ability to develop new cells.

Long ago, intermittent stress was the bulk of what we experienced in the form of physical threats in our environment. However, as the human brain evolved and increased in complexity, we've developed the ability to worry and perseverate on events, creating frequent experiences of prolonged stress.

Besides increasing your risk of heart disease, depression, and obesity, stress decreases your cognitive performance. Fortunately, though, unless a lion is chasing you, the bulk of your stress is subjective and under your control.

Mindfulness Practices for Peak Performance

Top performers have well-honed mindfulness practices and coping strategies that they employ under stressful circumstances. This lowers their stress levels regardless of what's happening in their environment, ensuring that the stress they experience is intermittent and not prolonged.

There are many ways to practice mindfulness, from simple exercises that you can do anywhere and anytime to more structured mindfulness exercises. The key to achieving peak performance over the long term is setting aside time to practice mindfulness consistently. Over time, you might find that mindfulness becomes effortless. Think of it as a commitment to reconnecting with and nurturing yourself.

There are many strategies that successful people employ, and below are six of the best to keep mindful, manage stress and keep performing at your top level. Some may seem obvious, but the real challenge lies in recognising when you need to use them and having the commitment to practice them consistently:-

1.     Gratitude

Set a time in your day to find and acknowledge what you are grateful for. This improves your mood by reducing the stress hormone cortisol by 23%. Research reveals that people who worked daily to cultivate an attitude of gratitude experienced improved mood, energy, and physical well-being. It's likely that lower levels of cortisol played a significant role in this. If you also cultivate this practice with your team, your team will perform better.

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude helps keep your thoughts positive and make stress intermittent by focusing your brain's attention on something completely stress-free. It gives your wandering brain a little help to refocus your attention. If you can't think of something from the current day, reflect on the previous day or week or on an exciting event that you can focus your attention on.

2.     Breathe

This task may seem too easy or even a little silly, but you'll be surprised by how calm you feel afterwards and how much easier it is to let go of distracting thoughts that otherwise seem to have lodged permanently inside your brain.

It is the easiest way to make stress intermittent. The practice of being in the moment with your breathing will begin to train your brain to focus solely on the task at hand and get the stress monkey off your back.

When you're feeling stressed, take a couple of minutes to focus on your breathing.

When you have stressful thoughts, close the door, try to sit down, take three deep breaths and close your eyes. Focusing on the breath as it moves in and out of your body for even a minute can help. If your mind wanders or you can't relax, try counting. Breathe in to the count of four, hold to the count of four, breath out to the count of four and repeat until you feel your body relax. Research other methods and practices, like yoga, that include breathwork.

3.     Mental Recharges

You know the statement "slow down so you can speed up"? Technology today enables constant communication 24/7. It is challenging to enjoy a stress-free moment outside of work that redirects your train of thought when an email arrives. When you make yourself available to your work 24/7, you expose yourself to a constant barrage of stressors. Given the importance of keeping stress intermittent, it is easy to understand how taking time off the grid to mentally recharge yourself can help keep your stress under control mentally. Studies have shown that forcing yourself offline, giving yourself an email break, or turning off your phone gives your mind a break and can lower stress levels.

Does just the thought of that that make you sweat? If taking time out from technology and/or work-related communications out of work time is too big a challenge, choose blocks of time in your weekly schedule when you consciously select time out to mentally recharge (and let your team know). You will be amazed at how refreshing these breaks are, how they reduce stress and how alert you are when you return.

4.     Arresting Negative Self-Talk and Project Panic

A big step in being mindful and keeping at peak performance is recognising and arresting negative self-talk and rumination and continuous worrying or questioning.

It's easy to think that unrealistic deadlines, unforgiving bosses, and out-of-control traffic are why we're so stressed all the time. You can't control your circumstances, but you can control how you respond to them. So before you spend too much time dwelling on something, take a minute to regroup and put the situation in perspective.

If you find yourself in 'project panic' and continually questioning or worrying about "What if it goes wrong?" or "What if it isn't perfect"? This kind of repeated thinking throws fuel on the fire of stress and worry. Of course, you need to assess risk, and things can go in many different directions. But once you have evaluated the risks and have scheduled review time, if you sit in a place where you continuously worry, the less time you'll spend focusing on taking action that will calm you down and keep your stress under control. It is something to watch for as perfectionism can be the foundation for procrastination, which only adds to the problem. Mindful and calm people know that worrying and asking "what if? will only take them to a place they don't want—or need—to go.

Most of our negative thoughts are just that—thoughts, not facts. When you believe the pessimistic things your inner voice tells you, it's time to correct this unproductive thought pattern and make a list. Literally, stop what you're doing and write down what you're thinking. Once you've taken a moment to slow down the negative momentum of your thoughts, you will likely find that the scope of the stressors looks much more limited than it initially appeared, and you will be more rational and clear-headed in evaluating their veracity.

You can bet that your statements aren't true any time you use words like "never," "worst," "ever," etc. If your statements still look like facts once they're on paper, take them to a friend or colleague you trust and see if they agree with you. Then the truth will surely come out. When it feels like something always or never happens, this is your brain's natural threat tendency to inflate the perceived frequency or severity of an event. Identifying and labelling your thoughts as thoughts by separating them from the facts will help you escape the cycle of negativity and move toward a positive new outlook.

5.     Limit Stimulants and Increase Sleep

Yes, we all want to fly through our work, but stimulants have a cost and don't put us in a rational and reasoned thinking space. Stimulants release adrenaline, which is the source of the "fight or flight" response, a survival mechanism that sidesteps rational thinking in favour of a faster response. Great when a tiger is chasing us, but not so great when you're responding to a terse email. Stimulants put your brain and body into a hyper-aroused state of stress where your emotions can overrun your behaviour.

Stressful projects and deadlines may make you feel as if you have no time to sleep; working through the night on tight deadlines or worrying about work so you can't get or stay asleep can be a challenge, but taking the time and steps to get a decent night's sleep is often the thing that helps you get things under control.

Lack of sleep raises stress hormone levels, and your self-control, attention, and memory are all reduced when you don't get enough—or the right kind—of sleep.

When you sleep, your brain literally recharges, shuffling through the day's memories and experiences and storing or discarding them (which causes dreams) so that you wake up alert and clear-headed and sometimes have that magic 'solution' ready to go.

6.     Develop and Use A Life-Affirming Support System

It's tempting, yet entirely ineffective, to attempt tackling everything by yourself. To be calm, productive, and at the top of your game, you need to recognise your challenges or weaknesses and ask for help to mitigate your stress. Ensure you have a support system that you can tap into when a situation is challenging, or you start to feel stress or overwhelmed.

Your support system is life-affirming individuals you feel are on your team, authentic, honest and most importantly, backing you. Those that are ready to help you get the best out of situations. Identify these individuals in your life, whether they are friends, mentors or coaches and seek their insight and assistance when you need it.

Something as simple as talking about your worries will provide an outlet for your anxiety and stress and supply you with a new perspective on the situation. Most of the time, other people can see a solution that you can't because they are not as emotionally invested or affected by the situation.

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