Stressed? The Choices You Make Can Relieve, Or Increase, The Pressure

As humans, we have something called agency. It’s the freedom to choose. But agency has its price. We must pay the consequences of our choices.

That reality holds true in every facet of our lives. The deliberate, mindful choices we make have a measurable effect on how we cope with stress and all the other dynamics of daily living.

That’s the research-based conclusion of Dr. Paul Napper and Dr. Anthony Rao, psychologists who have spent years studying agency, the ability to respond actively rather than passively to situations that impact our lives.

In other words, agency is what people can use to feel in command of their lives.

Napper and Rao offer some smart—and non-pharmaceutical—treatments for anxiety in their book The Power of Agency: The 7 Principles to Conquer Obstacles, Make Effective Decisions, and Create a Life on Your Own Terms.

Duncan: What can leaders do to help create an agency-friendly (low stress) workplace?

Napper: I have never been asked this question. And I love it! The best way to ensure a high-agency work culture is first to have your organizational leaders focus on creating maximum clarity for employees at all levels.

When every employee is clear about where the organization is headed, and about their own individual role in helping it to get there, performance (and engagement) goes up dramatically.

Second, push decision-making down into the organization as much as possible and have managers coach to decision-making.

Third, set up a model company-wide where leadership changes with the subject. In other words, make it understood that the person with the greatest expertise in a particular area has decision-making rights. This may or may not be the most senior person.

Lastly, incorporate a pro-agency set of organizational values. One highly successful (and profitable) client organization has a values statement that includes this: “We hold the individual's right to self-determination in the highest light, providing an atmosphere in which people can reach their personal potential.”

Duncan: In what ways can curiosity and an eagerness to learn help people manage stress?

Napper: While most people are reasonably well-equipped to cope with simple situational stress, we all need to expand this capacity given the ongoing stress we’re currently exposed to.

Stress has a purpose. It signals that an adaptive response is required. In order to adapt, we must learn something new. Being open to new ideas and ways of thinking improves coping skills, that in turn lowers stress. In fact, the process of learning can directly reduce your stress. It slows your thinking down (and your emotions) as you practice sustained attention on one topic. By opening your mind and delving deeply into something of interest, your curiosity and engagement become a form of mindfulness.

The next time you catch yourself exploring something new, check in with how you are feeling. You’re more likely to feel invigorated than stressed.

Duncan: Managing emotions and personal beliefs, you say, is important in navigating life with confidence. How is this critical to agency?

Napper: Why emotions and beliefs are so central to human agency is because human beings are first and foremost emotional creatures before being thinking creatures. This has enormous ramifications, and not just for people who work in marketing.

Personal agency depends on our capacity to make good choices. Effective decision-making requires us to both understand what we are feeling and why—to make sense of it. If we are confused or overwhelmed by our emotions, we will not have full access to our logical reasoning abilities. Similarly, human beings naturally gravitate to developing beliefs.

Beliefs are essentially short-cuts to help us to organize ourselves and to feel that we understand the world around us. The challenge comes from beliefs that do not square with reality. When this happens, our thinking becomes distorted and it leads to poor decision-making.

Emotions and beliefs often work in concert. Emotions often drive beliefs and vice-versa. If we are to make high-quality decisions, we must query our emotions and beliefs to gain a better understanding of how they are influencing our abilities to decipher the reality of a situation. The ability to manage our emotions and beliefs in this way helps to ensure we are defining the situations we find ourselves in with greater accuracy. This is foundational to effective decision-making and the capacity to adapt which are essential to a healthy level of personal agency.

Duncan: How can people increase their critical thinking skills to make better use of their agency?

Rao: Here’s what we found in our extensive interviews of people with high agency. There are three principles these people followed to prime themselves for extended, more rational thought.

1. Critical thinking requires that our mind is uncluttered, not bombarded with stimulation.

2. It requires surrounding ourselves with people that encourage us to think smartly and more for ourselves.

3. We need movement to bolster human health and brain function. Movement also helps reduce strong negative emotions that tend to shut down function in the frontal cortex (executive functions) where critical thinking takes place.

Here are some ways to do this. More carefully screen what information you consume. Read, don’t watch your news, for example, and rely only on trusted and verifiable sources that follow journalistic standards. If your news is making you feel good, highly emotional, confirming what you believe, it’s not as much straight news as entertainment.

Surround yourself with people who are open-minded, value facts, can think independently, and don’t fall prey to conspiracy theories. Always break and move about when you sense you’re frustrated and stuck in the problem more than thinking of options and possibilities.

Finally, have a game plan. Use a framework, such as going to a quiet place with no interruptions. Find a time of day when you have energy to devote to extended thought. The brain consumes up to 20% of your body resources and slow, logical, rational thinking will fatigue you.

Take breaks and rest during decision-making whenever possible. Don’t ignore your intuition. Sometimes giving yourself permission to shelve a decision helps your brain, behind the scenes, arrive at the right decision path or more creative next steps.

Duncan: So how does a country build agency among its citizens? Does government play a role in this?

Napper: The best companies in the world take active steps to encourage their employees to be fearless, learning-oriented decision makers. They realize that in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world, the capability of their workforce is a critical differentiator. Indeed, it’s what allows a business organization to adapt and thrive.

In our view, it would be of great benefit if political leaders were to similarly define the agency of their citizenry as a critical determining factor in the strength and endurance of a nation. We see some countries doing better in this regard than others. Using an “agency lens” through which to evaluate government policy would ensure that higher levels of agency among a general population is achieved.

A place to start would be by creating an Agency index to measure this important attribute. Focusing on this will create more vital, enduring nations and better equip humanity to address the serious adaptive challenges we all face.