Academic Leadership

Academic Leadership: Fundamental Building Blocks

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believe that people are being negative. This is the 'glass is half empty' perspective. We

can change faulty thinking and reduce stress by changing our thoughts and self-talk.

Replacing them with rational and positive thoughts increases our personal effectiveness

and has been shown to stimulate the neurological centres in the amygdala and left

prefrontal cortex of the brain, the centres responsible for 'good feelings' (Goleman,

2000).

Gaining Control of Our Feelings

In order to become more masterful in managing our self-talk we need to gain better

control of our feelings. Dealing effectively with people can be difficult if your negative

feelings get in the way. It may feel impossible. Believe it or not, you choose your

feelings just like you choose your behaviour. Cognitive behavioural therapy states that

our beliefs influence how we feel and behave, rather than the actual events (Zeus &

Skiffington, 2000). Events by themselves are just events, how we evaluate them and

interpret them, however, determines our response. For example, all that happened in

our example was that a student was pushy and barged into your office demanding your

time. THAT IS ALL THAT HAPPENED. Everything else the Academic Coordinator felt

was created by him/herself through their thinking about the event.

Activity

Which of the above strategies for managing stress are suited to your personal

profile and interests?

Try one or more of them out and record the impact on your stress levels in your

journal.