Well Being Program 3: Working Better
Interactive Transcript
Click on a word to move the video to that point.
Deepak:Well being is something we
all desire. But staying healthy and feeling
good can be quite a challenge, especially
with the stresses that pervade every aspect of our lives today.
exercise and eating healthfully are two essential
steps to well being. In this series,
you'll learn about a third step. Relaxation.
Not just sitting around but some
specific activities that trigger your body's relaxation
response. You'll learn about the importance of
deep relaxation for reducing the harmful effects of stress
along with a series of easy to do
relaxation skills. And through our weekly
questionnaire, you'll gain an awareness of how
stress may be affecting you.
pencil ready and join us as we take the next step
to well being.
ahead places a lot of pressure on all of
us. Whether we work raising a family or jetting
from boardroom to boardroom.
out how work related stress impacts your
effectiveness and productivity on the job as well as
your health. We'll actually go through a questionnaire to help you
recognize signs of stress from work and find out what you
can do about it.
Director of the Relaxation Response Institute in Toronto
is a pioneer in the teaching of relaxation skills
for stress management.
you really appreciate how seriously stress is affecting you.
Even if you work you might deny it because you might think
of it as a sign of weakness or an inability to
cope. But in this confidence-demanding society, we've learned
not to admit anything that might be construed as
weakness. We feel we can't afford to make such a confession because
it might mean career death. But this really is a potentially
dangerous assumption. Not being aware of
the excess of stress in our lives and taking the proper steps to
manage it could mean literal death.
the only symptom they'll acknowledge is their last
breath. Now of course, stress
won't always kill us immediately. But it will affect
our health in some way as well as our effectiveness at work,
our relationships, the overall quality and enjoyment
of our lives. Even if we can't admit
our stress to others, we have to learn to recognize
it and admit it to ourselves and learn how to manage
it. Proper stress management and relaxation techniques have
helped thousands of workers on the job and in the rest of their
lives.
to keep us motivated but that too much can make us ill.
But what do we mean by the right amount and
how can we tell?
You would never run into a room saying, I have
blood pressure, I have blood pressure. Let's hope you have blood pressure.
If it's too high or too low, you've got a problem. And there's
a range within which
stress is ideal. It motivates us, it pushes us, it
strives us. One of the things that many older people
miss in their lives and really need are some sort of
stressful events that challenge them, that they have to prepare for, that
keeps the mind active. Now, when stress gets too high
it leads to all sorts of detrimental
behaviors, feelings, emotions and all kinds
of things that dramatically interfere with our performance.
workplace. And I think it's as important
for the manager or the boss
as it is for the employee. And that is
you want to watch your performance level
and your energy level. And if you're performing at a
good level and if you're energy is good, then carry on.
But when people cross the line and start to feel distressed
when their performance is falling off a bit or they're starting to feel
tired, the worst thing to do is for them
to push themselves harder or for their boss to be
pushing them harder.
about managing, to know when people will respond to a push
and when a push simply makes things worse.
And if you have an employee who's not
concentrating well and maybe making some mistakes in
their work, it would be sometimes far more helpful
to say look, why don't you take an hour off and go and relax
than it would be to dress them down and say now, you work
harder. Because that added stress at that
particular time will almost always make things worse.
differently to stress. For example,
personality is an aspect of stress.
And many people have heard about Type A, Type
B. And we think of the Type A person
at work who is constantly
feeling that they are under pressure and that
there are time deadlines and that the work must be
completed and they tend to perhaps skip their
lunch or skip their work break and
they always feel that they can never succeed
at completing all the work that is sitting on their desk.
And so, the person with these feelings
of time urgency are
characteristic of the people we say are Type A and
they have a greater tendency to
respond to stress. Even though the work situation
may be the same, a Type B person will not feel
that stress pressure that a Type A person would feel.
a fairly high tension person if you want to categorize
it the typical Type A.
very obsessive, very
competitive,
very impatient.
or a lot of the stress that I experience is probably self-
induced. There is certainly a certain amount of it
in the work place.
understood that it was related
to overwork
too much pressure at work but
I didn't really know what to do about it or if there was anything you could do
about it other than just making it through that period
of time that was a problem.
and migraines for probably close to 20
years.
I created purely on my own.
of your body that you can be tense in without even being aware
of it. And I didn't realize that until some of that started to go
away.
because of the stress. I felt like I would
have just continued on the way I had been until I had the
proverbial heart attack.
we have to learn in the 90's, one of the really
important inner skills we have to acquire is the ability
to be aware. There are numerous ways
of becoming aware and one of the best is going through a
check list. And just seeing where you
are at now. Sometimes it takes somebody else to
shine the light for us to see it because we're not used
to looking in certain places.
a self test in a few moments. Can you tell us what it's about?
And what it will do for us?
just appreciate that stress is part of life. You
can't avoid stress in the work place. Stress
is you're going to have changes, you're going to deal
with time demands and job pressures. That's just part of work.
But there are certain personality characteristics that we
have that have been trained into us from the time we are children. We
learn from our parents, our school teachers. It's rewarded
by our employers. And these characteristics and
attitudes add to our overall stress levels.
it's something we are doing to ourselves that contributes to the level
of stress that we're working under?
characteristics that we have that add to our stress levels.
It's interesting how this was discovered.
A couple of cardiologist, Friedman and Rosenman, back
in the 1960s had their office
reupholstered. And the upholsterer came in and just made a chance comment
that most of the chairs were worn out
towards the front. And they found that this was unusual.
Where most chairs in most waiting rooms
were worn out towards the rear of the chair.
people were sitting towards the edge of their chair, tight, and it was
just an insight that the doctors said well, maybe
the people who had suffered coronary heart
disease were unable to sit back comfortably
and it was that insight that led them to do a whole
exploration that recognized that there is a stress
prone personality that tends to get heart
disease but not only heart disease. These people
get 90% of all heart attacks.
It just raises one's overall stress levels and contributes to
stress related illnesses.
these characteristics?
And don't worry if you don't have paper and pencil handy. Just
follow along with us and I think you'll gain real insight.
<<1>>How Competitive are you?
On one side
you're not competitive. On the other side, you're highly competitive.
You have the numbers 1 to 7 between.
If you're absolutely not competitive, if you go out of your way to avoid
competitive situations, you're probably a 1 or a 2.
If you're extremely competitive, so competitive
when you play games with your children or grand children, you have to win all the time
you're a 7. Most of us fall somewhere between the
2 extremes.
yourself and just put the number down you think best applies
to where you fit.
Next question.
<<2>>You don't mind leaving things temporarily
unfinished on one side. On the other, you must get
things finished once you've started.
So if you're comfortable operating on a number of different
projects that aren't finished that you have 5 or 6
books around the house that you are reading at the same time,
you're probably a 1 or a 2. If you're the kind
of person that has to finish something once you've started
you'll stay late Friday night at the office to finish
your assignment that's due on Tuesday, even though you have
time on Monday, just because you just want to get it
started.
If you're one of those kinds of people, you're probably a 6 or a 7.
So take a moment and put down the number
that you think best represents where you fall between
the two extremes.
Next question.
<<3>>You're calm and unhurried about appointments
on one side. On the other side, you're never late for
appointments.
person that leaves early and plans ahead and makes
sure you take account for all the traffic problems that
may occur and you generally arrive early at your appointments, you're
probably a 1 or a 2. And if you're never late
for appointments, time weighs heavily on you,
if you're, a 7 would be the kind of person that would
leave a car stuck in traffic as you walk the
last 200 meters to get to your appointment so you're not late.
Then you're a 7. Next question.
<<4>>You listen well, you let other finish speaking
on one side. And on the other side, you anticipate
others in conversation. You nod, you interrupt
you finish sentences for the other person.
a problem with this one because I would
rate highly on both ends because I do
let others finish speaking and I think I listen well but
on the other hand, I nod and do all those other things too.
Should I write myself in the middle?
a subjective decision of course. Perhaps though
you may want to take another position. How would your
spouse rate you on this?
you've got your answer. Next question.
<<5>>You're never in a hurry even when pressured on one
side. And on the other side, you're always in a hurry.
So, if you're a 1 or a 2, you're
a cool person, you're never in a rush, you'd make
a good bomb disposal expert. On the other side,
you're always on the go, you're at war with time.
Type As tend to be at war with time.
So just rate yourself on the scale of 1 to 7 and write down
the number that you think best represents where you fall.
Next question.
side and you're uneasy when waiting on the other side.
If slow lineups in the bank
drive you to distraction, you're probably a 6
or a 7. Next question.
And you're always going full speed ahead on the other
side. Now, for example,
after you finish a task, you decide to reward yourself
and take a little bit of time off, you're probably a 1 or a 2.
If on the other side, you're always going full speed ahead,
you finish one project and even before you finish it, you're
already thinking about the next project, you're probably a 6 or a 7.
and you're always doing more than one thing at a time
on the other extreme. High achievers tend
to always want to do more and more in less and less
time. High achievers are the ones that read while they
eat, that are talking on their cellular phones as they drive to
work. So if you do more than one thing at a time, rate yourself
probably you're a 6 or a 7. Next question.
at the other extreme, you are vigorous and forceful
in speech. Use a lot of gestures, you speak loudly
you tend to dominate. Where do you think
you fall on that continuum? Next question.
The other end of the extreme, you want recognition
by others for a job well done.
So if you're
inner directed and you take your cues for success from how you
feel inside, you're probably down a 1 or a 2.
If you take your cues for success from what others say,
then you're probably a 6 or a 7.
Next question.
and the other extreme,
you do things fast. High achievers tend to walk
fast, read fast, sleep fast, work fast.
Everything is done quickly.
Next question.
you're hard driving.
That speaks for itself. Just rate yourself where you think you
fall between these two extremes.
Next question.
and the other extreme, you hold
feelings in.
you're probably down towards 1 or 2.
And on the other extreme, you're the kind of
person that no one knows how you feel. You've just been passed
over for your promotion and no one knows how upset you are.
In fact, in all likelihood, you probably don't know how upset you are too.
Because high achievers on the whole don't have a lot of insight into
themselves. Next question.
side. And on the other you have few interests outside of your
work. So you're probably a 6 or a 7 if
your life is your work. If you think how could I possibly
waste time going to cultural events
or taking courses when I could really be out there, racking
up achievements. Next question.
and the other extreme, you're ambitious, you want quick
advancement on your job.
I've got a problem with this one in that, I'm satisfied
with the job I have now and yet I'm ambitious too.
I'd like to get ahead and do new
things. Where do you think I should rate myself?
with your work and you're ambitious. So maybe this is one that
you might want to put down as a 4.
<<16>>You never set down deadlines.
And the other extreme,you always set your own deadlines.
So on one side, you feel things will get done when they get done
maybe you're a 1 or a 2. The other extreme,
you set deadlines for yourself all the time. You need deadlines
to motivate you. Next question.
you feel you can take a day off work and you don't worry about it, things will just get done
is one side. On the other side,
you feel totally responsible. If you don't do it, it's just not
gonna get done. Next question.
and on the other extreme,
you always judge your performance in terms of numbers.
So on one side, you're more concerned with
quality rather than quantity
high achievers on the whole tend to be concerned with accomplishing
lots of things. The more you do, the better it is.
More concerned with quantity rather than quality.
Next question.
On the other side, you take your work very seriously.
So, if your attitude is
I'll do it tomorrow, you may be down as a
1 or a 2. On the other side, you take your
work very seriously. You work weekends, you take your work home in the
evenings, you work late. Just rate
yourself between these two extremes.
And the final question.
precise and on the other side, you're extremely
precise. In fact, a 7 is probably
a perfectionist.
rather do right now is look at the implications of the scores.
If you scored over 80 on this test, you would
be classified as a Type A personality.
That's a stress creating, stress prone personality.
Tends to be characterized by having a high need to achieve.
Type As tend to be competitive, aggressive
at war with time, experience economic
insecurity.
your stress levels are higher
than they should be. If you're over
110, you would be considered a Type A1.
That's an extreme Type A personality and Type A1s have
been described as walking time bombs.
If you scored between 60 and 79, that's the
mid point. That's a pretty balanced state. It's called a
Type AB and if you scored under 60
you are what is called a Type B personality
Type Bs are very rare and if you scored under 60,
stand up and give yourself a bow.
Another point and I would have been an A1. Is this test
accurate?
self-scoring. I can't call it an accurate test but it's
an indicator test. To really
determine whether you're a Type A1 or a Type A2
you should be interviewed by an experienced interviewer
who could tell by the way you move and the way you talk where you fall
in the classification, on this continuum.
But it's really the points
of Type A personality I think you should take note
of. The extremes, the hard driving.
That sort of thing. Those are indicators for
you to be aware of those characteristics in
yourself.
allow me to get ahead. They're the ones that pay my bills.
think that these characteristics are absolutely necessary
for their work, for them to be
successful. And yet, a number of interesting studies have been
done that illustrate that Type As aren't
as effective as they like to think they are. In fact,
they find that Type As spin their wheels a great deal. They may
work hard, they may hard drive themselves, they may be
very ambitious but they spin their wheels a great deal and
the rubber doesn't meet the road as often as most Type As like to
believe.
explanations for why the presidents of large
corporations often tend to be Type
Bs. The Type Bs seem to work smarter, not harder.
But the fact is, Type A personalities get
90% of all heart attacks. So we do have to take note.
We do have to become aware of these characteristics.
Our stress hormones are chronically elevated when we are
Type A personality.
the Type A characteristics really
raise your percentage of getting a heart
attack. But what I want to do is offer you
a tool, an approach that will enable you
to break out of the Type A personality
for long enough to rest and recuperate.
in the lives of Type As. In this culture, we're
very achievement oriented. It's go, go, go. Most of us
never really rest properly or efficiently.
What the relaxation response is all about is
it enables you to break out of the cycle of stress,
to rest and restore and replenish yourself
and it adds the balance in the life the Type
As really require for well being.
you've told me that I'm likely to suffer a heart
attack, that I spin my wheels and that I'll never be president
of an organization. What else can go wrong?
one of the other characteristics of the Type A personality
is that they come from insecurity.
So let me just ask you, just sit back comfortably
in your chair and I'll teach you a simple exercise to help you break
out of the stress. And for those of you at home,
you get much more out of this program by actually doing the
exercise with us rather than just watching.
us.
with the eyes closed so I advise you please to close
your eyes and people at home, close your eyes, get comfortable in your
chairs and just breathe normally.
Just be aware. Let your shoulders relax, let your jaw relax
and just allow your breath to happen naturally.
Breathing in and out through your nostrils. Just
normal breaths.
Just get in touch with the rhythm of
breathing. And just watch the air coming in
your nostrils. Notice the air cool as it comes in
and warm as it goes out. Keep your focus
at your nostrils. Noticing the air, cool as it comes in
warm as it goes out. If your mind
starts to wander away, catch it and bring it back
to the awareness of the air coming in
and going out of your nostrils.
on that very simple exercise. Very
profound in its implications. Just observe.
Watch the air cool and warm.
And just see if you can notice which nostril
you're breathing in and out of. Most people don't realize
that they only breathe through one nostril at a time.
And every hour and a half or so, the nostrils shift.
So just be aware. Feel the air coming
in, going out. See if you can notice which nostril
you're breathing in and out of. Just observe.
If your mind wanders off, bring it back.
Stay focused.
about is just focusing the concentration
on one thing. In this case, watching the air coming in and going
out, noticing which nostril you're breathing in and out of
Stay with it
See if you can notice
where the breath changes direction. See if you can notice
where the inhalation turns and starts to become
an exhalation and where the exhalation
turns and starts to become an inhalation. Just stay focused
and watch your breath.
[music]
Noticing where the breath changes direction
Stay focused. You can do this
at a desk. You can do this lying in bed.
Now take a deep breath
hold it
exhale
[music]
and very
very slowly, little bit by little bit, slowly open
your eyes.
[music]
Welcome back.
good. Not nearly so nervous about a heart
attack.
be done in a quiet space where you're not going to be
interrupted. Where you can sit down maybe for 5 minutes at first
and then build to 8 minutes and build to 10 minutes
Eventually 15, 20 minutes. Just helps
you to stay focused and
one of the best approaches
to turning on your body's relaxation
response is to focus your mind on one
thing.
You have to do it. The bottom line is taking the
time out of your busy day to use
any of these techniques from each program. We're introducing you
to very simple techniques.
The important thing is to take the time and do it.
need?
if you can work with some of the longer relaxation
exercises that we have in the home study package
that are 20, 25 minute audio cassettes that guide
you through a range of exercises that will help you to develop
a body awareness, a body knowledge of relaxation
and with that awareness, with that skill
that you develop, you'll be able to
access the relaxation response quite quickly with simple
short techniques like the one you've just learned.
me, Eli.
exercise doesn't work for you then try another exercise. It's
just really important to realize that we all need to learn to manage stress.
[Credits}
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all desire. But staying healthy and feeling
good can be quite a challenge, especially
with the stresses that pervade every aspect of our lives today.
Everyone's aware that regular
exercise and eating healthfully are two essential
steps to well being. In this series,
you'll learn about a third step. Relaxation.
Not just sitting around but some
specific activities that trigger your body's relaxation
response. You'll learn about the importance of
deep relaxation for reducing the harmful effects of stress
along with a series of easy to do
relaxation skills. And through our weekly
questionnaire, you'll gain an awareness of how
stress may be affecting you.
So get a paper and
pencil ready and join us as we take the next step
to well being.
[Opening Montage]
In today's competitive society, the struggle to earn a living and get
ahead places a lot of pressure on all of
us. Whether we work raising a family or jetting
from boardroom to boardroom.
In this program, you're going to find
out how work related stress impacts your
effectiveness and productivity on the job as well as
your health. We'll actually go through a questionnaire to help you
recognize signs of stress from work and find out what you
can do about it.
Eli Bay,
Director of the Relaxation Response Institute in Toronto
is a pioneer in the teaching of relaxation skills
for stress management.
Eli: Although many of you sometimes feel over-stressed, very few of
you really appreciate how seriously stress is affecting you.
Even if you work you might deny it because you might think
of it as a sign of weakness or an inability to
cope. But in this confidence-demanding society, we've learned
not to admit anything that might be construed as
weakness. We feel we can't afford to make such a confession because
it might mean career death. But this really is a potentially
dangerous assumption. Not being aware of
the excess of stress in our lives and taking the proper steps to
manage it could mean literal death.
For some people,
the only symptom they'll acknowledge is their last
breath. Now of course, stress
won't always kill us immediately. But it will affect
our health in some way as well as our effectiveness at work,
our relationships, the overall quality and enjoyment
of our lives. Even if we can't admit
our stress to others, we have to learn to recognize
it and admit it to ourselves and learn how to manage
it. Proper stress management and relaxation techniques have
helped thousands of workers on the job and in the rest of their
lives.
Deepak: So far in the series, we've seen that we need some stress
to keep us motivated but that too much can make us ill.
But what do we mean by the right amount and
how can we tell?
Dr. Jensen: I think of stress like blood pressure.
You would never run into a room saying, I have
blood pressure, I have blood pressure. Let's hope you have blood pressure.
If it's too high or too low, you've got a problem. And there's
a range within which
stress is ideal. It motivates us, it pushes us, it
strives us. One of the things that many older people
miss in their lives and really need are some sort of
stressful events that challenge them, that they have to prepare for, that
keeps the mind active. Now, when stress gets too high
it leads to all sorts of detrimental
behaviors, feelings, emotions and all kinds
of things that dramatically interfere with our performance.
Dr. Posen: There's two things that you want to watch for in the
workplace. And I think it's as important
for the manager or the boss
as it is for the employee. And that is
you want to watch your performance level
and your energy level. And if you're performing at a
good level and if you're energy is good, then carry on.
But when people cross the line and start to feel distressed
when their performance is falling off a bit or they're starting to feel
tired, the worst thing to do is for them
to push themselves harder or for their boss to be
pushing them harder.
And it's a very subtle thing
about managing, to know when people will respond to a push
and when a push simply makes things worse.
And if you have an employee who's not
concentrating well and maybe making some mistakes in
their work, it would be sometimes far more helpful
to say look, why don't you take an hour off and go and relax
than it would be to dress them down and say now, you work
harder. Because that added stress at that
particular time will almost always make things worse.
Dr. Bird: In a work situation, people respond
differently to stress. For example,
personality is an aspect of stress.
And many people have heard about Type A, Type
B. And we think of the Type A person
at work who is constantly
feeling that they are under pressure and that
there are time deadlines and that the work must be
completed and they tend to perhaps skip their
lunch or skip their work break and
they always feel that they can never succeed
at completing all the work that is sitting on their desk.
And so, the person with these feelings
of time urgency are
characteristic of the people we say are Type A and
they have a greater tendency to
respond to stress. Even though the work situation
may be the same, a Type B person will not feel
that stress pressure that a Type A person would feel.
Linda: I think by nature, I'm
a fairly high tension person if you want to categorize
it the typical Type A.
Paul: I tend to be
very obsessive, very
competitive,
very impatient.
Linda: So I think most of the stress
or a lot of the stress that I experience is probably self-
induced. There is certainly a certain amount of it
in the work place.
Paul: I
understood that it was related
to overwork
too much pressure at work but
I didn't really know what to do about it or if there was anything you could do
about it other than just making it through that period
of time that was a problem.
Linda: I've experienced chronic headaches
and migraines for probably close to 20
years.
Paul: It was a situation that was
I created purely on my own.
Linda: And there's lots of different parts
of your body that you can be tense in without even being aware
of it. And I didn't realize that until some of that started to go
away.
Paul: I never felt like I was going to fall apart in any way
because of the stress. I felt like I would
have just continued on the way I had been until I had the
proverbial heart attack.
Dr. Jensen: I think one of the things
we have to learn in the 90's, one of the really
important inner skills we have to acquire is the ability
to be aware. There are numerous ways
of becoming aware and one of the best is going through a
check list. And just seeing where you
are at now. Sometimes it takes somebody else to
shine the light for us to see it because we're not used
to looking in certain places.
Deepak: Eli, we're going to go through
a self test in a few moments. Can you tell us what it's about?
And what it will do for us?
Eli: Well, first of all,
just appreciate that stress is part of life. You
can't avoid stress in the work place. Stress
is you're going to have changes, you're going to deal
with time demands and job pressures. That's just part of work.
But there are certain personality characteristics that we
have that have been trained into us from the time we are children. We
learn from our parents, our school teachers. It's rewarded
by our employers. And these characteristics and
attitudes add to our overall stress levels.
Deepak: You mean
it's something we are doing to ourselves that contributes to the level
of stress that we're working under?
Eli: Yes. They've been able to determine that there are certain personality
characteristics that we have that add to our stress levels.
It's interesting how this was discovered.
A couple of cardiologist, Friedman and Rosenman, back
in the 1960s had their office
reupholstered. And the upholsterer came in and just made a chance comment
that most of the chairs were worn out
towards the front. And they found that this was unusual.
Where most chairs in most waiting rooms
were worn out towards the rear of the chair.
And apparently what had happened was they were noticing all these
people were sitting towards the edge of their chair, tight, and it was
just an insight that the doctors said well, maybe
the people who had suffered coronary heart
disease were unable to sit back comfortably
and it was that insight that led them to do a whole
exploration that recognized that there is a stress
prone personality that tends to get heart
disease but not only heart disease. These people
get 90% of all heart attacks.
It just raises one's overall stress levels and contributes to
stress related illnesses.
Deepak: Can you tell us more about
these characteristics?
Eli: Yes. And I think the best way to do it is through a questionnaire.
Deepak: So it's time for paper and pencil.
Eli: Yes.
And don't worry if you don't have paper and pencil handy. Just
follow along with us and I think you'll gain real insight.
<<1>>How Competitive are you?
On one side
you're not competitive. On the other side, you're highly competitive.
You have the numbers 1 to 7 between.
If you're absolutely not competitive, if you go out of your way to avoid
competitive situations, you're probably a 1 or a 2.
If you're extremely competitive, so competitive
when you play games with your children or grand children, you have to win all the time
you're a 7. Most of us fall somewhere between the
2 extremes.
So just take a moment and see where you rate
yourself and just put the number down you think best applies
to where you fit.
Next question.
<<2>>You don't mind leaving things temporarily
unfinished on one side. On the other, you must get
things finished once you've started.
So if you're comfortable operating on a number of different
projects that aren't finished that you have 5 or 6
books around the house that you are reading at the same time,
you're probably a 1 or a 2. If you're the kind
of person that has to finish something once you've started
you'll stay late Friday night at the office to finish
your assignment that's due on Tuesday, even though you have
time on Monday, just because you just want to get it
started.
You say you'll sleep better if you've finished it.
If you're one of those kinds of people, you're probably a 6 or a 7.
So take a moment and put down the number
that you think best represents where you fall between
the two extremes.
Next question.
<<3>>You're calm and unhurried about appointments
on one side. On the other side, you're never late for
appointments.
So, for example, if you're the kind of
person that leaves early and plans ahead and makes
sure you take account for all the traffic problems that
may occur and you generally arrive early at your appointments, you're
probably a 1 or a 2. And if you're never late
for appointments, time weighs heavily on you,
if you're, a 7 would be the kind of person that would
leave a car stuck in traffic as you walk the
last 200 meters to get to your appointment so you're not late.
Then you're a 7. Next question.
<<4>>You listen well, you let other finish speaking
on one side. And on the other side, you anticipate
others in conversation. You nod, you interrupt
you finish sentences for the other person.
Deepak: Excuse me Eli, sorry for interrupting but I have
a problem with this one because I would
rate highly on both ends because I do
let others finish speaking and I think I listen well but
on the other hand, I nod and do all those other things too.
Should I write myself in the middle?
Eli: Well, it's
a subjective decision of course. Perhaps though
you may want to take another position. How would your
spouse rate you on this?
Deepak: Hmm, does not listen well.
Eli: Then
you've got your answer. Next question.
<<5>>You're never in a hurry even when pressured on one
side. And on the other side, you're always in a hurry.
So, if you're a 1 or a 2, you're
a cool person, you're never in a rush, you'd make
a good bomb disposal expert. On the other side,
you're always on the go, you're at war with time.
Type As tend to be at war with time.
So just rate yourself on the scale of 1 to 7 and write down
the number that you think best represents where you fall.
Next question.
<<6>>You are able to wait calmly on one
side and you're uneasy when waiting on the other side.
If slow lineups in the bank
drive you to distraction, you're probably a 6
or a 7. Next question.
<<7>>You take things easy on one side.
And you're always going full speed ahead on the other
side. Now, for example,
after you finish a task, you decide to reward yourself
and take a little bit of time off, you're probably a 1 or a 2.
If on the other side, you're always going full speed ahead,
you finish one project and even before you finish it, you're
already thinking about the next project, you're probably a 6 or a 7.
<<8>> You take one thing at a time on one side
and you're always doing more than one thing at a time
on the other extreme. High achievers tend
to always want to do more and more in less and less
time. High achievers are the ones that read while they
eat, that are talking on their cellular phones as they drive to
work. So if you do more than one thing at a time, rate yourself
probably you're a 6 or a 7. Next question.
<<9>>You are slow and deliberate in speech
at the other extreme, you are vigorous and forceful
in speech. Use a lot of gestures, you speak loudly
you tend to dominate. Where do you think
you fall on that continuum? Next question.
<<10>>You're concerned with satisfying yourself, not others
The other end of the extreme, you want recognition
by others for a job well done.
So if you're
inner directed and you take your cues for success from how you
feel inside, you're probably down a 1 or a 2.
If you take your cues for success from what others say,
then you're probably a 6 or a 7.
Next question.
<<11>>You do things slowly
and the other extreme,
you do things fast. High achievers tend to walk
fast, read fast, sleep fast, work fast.
Everything is done quickly.
Next question.
<<12>>You're easy going,
you're hard driving.
That speaks for itself. Just rate yourself where you think you
fall between these two extremes.
Next question.
<<13>>You express feelings openly
and the other extreme, you hold
feelings in.
So if you can cry in a movie,
you're probably down towards 1 or 2.
And on the other extreme, you're the kind of
person that no one knows how you feel. You've just been passed
over for your promotion and no one knows how upset you are.
In fact, in all likelihood, you probably don't know how upset you are too.
Because high achievers on the whole don't have a lot of insight into
themselves. Next question.
<<14>>You have a large number of interests on one
side. And on the other you have few interests outside of your
work. So you're probably a 6 or a 7 if
your life is your work. If you think how could I possibly
waste time going to cultural events
or taking courses when I could really be out there, racking
up achievements. Next question.
<<15>>You're satisfied with your job on one side
and the other extreme, you're ambitious, you want quick
advancement on your job.
Deepak: Hmmm. Eli,
I've got a problem with this one in that, I'm satisfied
with the job I have now and yet I'm ambitious too.
I'd like to get ahead and do new
things. Where do you think I should rate myself?
Eli: That's a subjective rating. You're satisfied
with your work and you're ambitious. So maybe this is one that
you might want to put down as a 4.
Deepak: Sounds right. okay.
Eli: Next question.
<<16>>You never set down deadlines.
And the other extreme,you always set your own deadlines.
So on one side, you feel things will get done when they get done
maybe you're a 1 or a 2. The other extreme,
you set deadlines for yourself all the time. You need deadlines
to motivate you. Next question.
<<17>>If you feel limited responsibility
you feel you can take a day off work and you don't worry about it, things will just get done
is one side. On the other side,
you feel totally responsible. If you don't do it, it's just not
gonna get done. Next question.
<<18>>You never judge things in terms of numbers
and on the other extreme,
you always judge your performance in terms of numbers.
So on one side, you're more concerned with
quality rather than quantity
high achievers on the whole tend to be concerned with accomplishing
lots of things. The more you do, the better it is.
More concerned with quantity rather than quality.
Next question.
<<19>>You are casual about work on one side.
On the other side, you take your work very seriously.
So, if your attitude is
I'll do it tomorrow, you may be down as a
1 or a 2. On the other side, you take your
work very seriously. You work weekends, you take your work home in the
evenings, you work late. Just rate
yourself between these two extremes.
And the final question.
<<20>>You're not very
precise and on the other side, you're extremely
precise. In fact, a 7 is probably
a perfectionist.
Deepak: Should I add up my score now?
Eli: No. I would suggest do it later when you have more time. What I would
rather do right now is look at the implications of the scores.
If you scored over 80 on this test, you would
be classified as a Type A personality.
That's a stress creating, stress prone personality.
Tends to be characterized by having a high need to achieve.
Type As tend to be competitive, aggressive
at war with time, experience economic
insecurity.
And as a result of these characteristics
your stress levels are higher
than they should be. If you're over
110, you would be considered a Type A1.
That's an extreme Type A personality and Type A1s have
been described as walking time bombs.
If you scored between 60 and 79, that's the
mid point. That's a pretty balanced state. It's called a
Type AB and if you scored under 60
you are what is called a Type B personality
Type Bs are very rare and if you scored under 60,
stand up and give yourself a bow.
Deepak: While you were talking I added up my scores.
Eli: Type A?
Deepak: Yep. I got 109.
Another point and I would have been an A1. Is this test
accurate?
Eli: It's a subjective test. It's
self-scoring. I can't call it an accurate test but it's
an indicator test. To really
determine whether you're a Type A1 or a Type A2
you should be interviewed by an experienced interviewer
who could tell by the way you move and the way you talk where you fall
in the classification, on this continuum.
But it's really the points
of Type A personality I think you should take note
of. The extremes, the hard driving.
That sort of thing. Those are indicators for
you to be aware of those characteristics in
yourself.
Deepak: The characteristics of a Type A personality are those that
allow me to get ahead. They're the ones that pay my bills.
Eli: Well, it's interesting. Many people
think that these characteristics are absolutely necessary
for their work, for them to be
successful. And yet, a number of interesting studies have been
done that illustrate that Type As aren't
as effective as they like to think they are. In fact,
they find that Type As spin their wheels a great deal. They may
work hard, they may hard drive themselves, they may be
very ambitious but they spin their wheels a great deal and
the rubber doesn't meet the road as often as most Type As like to
believe.
In fact, that's one of the interesting
explanations for why the presidents of large
corporations often tend to be Type
Bs. The Type Bs seem to work smarter, not harder.
But the fact is, Type A personalities get
90% of all heart attacks. So we do have to take note.
We do have to become aware of these characteristics.
Our stress hormones are chronically elevated when we are
Type A personality.
Deepak: So I'm doomed to have a heart attack?
Eli: No. But you should be aware that these characteristics
the Type A characteristics really
raise your percentage of getting a heart
attack. But what I want to do is offer you
a tool, an approach that will enable you
to break out of the Type A personality
for long enough to rest and recuperate.
Deepak: Quick, quick! [laughter]
Eli: Every body needs to rest. And that's the missing ingredient
in the lives of Type As. In this culture, we're
very achievement oriented. It's go, go, go. Most of us
never really rest properly or efficiently.
What the relaxation response is all about is
it enables you to break out of the cycle of stress,
to rest and restore and replenish yourself
and it adds the balance in the life the Type
As really require for well being.
Deepak: All this is making me quite anxious because in the last few minutes,
you've told me that I'm likely to suffer a heart
attack, that I spin my wheels and that I'll never be president
of an organization. What else can go wrong?
Eli: Well, you just reminded me that
one of the other characteristics of the Type A personality
is that they come from insecurity.
So let me just ask you, just sit back comfortably
in your chair and I'll teach you a simple exercise to help you break
out of the stress. And for those of you at home,
you get much more out of this program by actually doing the
exercise with us rather than just watching.
So follow along with
us.
This exercise is done best
with the eyes closed so I advise you please to close
your eyes and people at home, close your eyes, get comfortable in your
chairs and just breathe normally.
Just be aware. Let your shoulders relax, let your jaw relax
and just allow your breath to happen naturally.
Breathing in and out through your nostrils. Just
normal breaths.
Just get in touch with the rhythm of
breathing. And just watch the air coming in
your nostrils. Notice the air cool as it comes in
and warm as it goes out. Keep your focus
at your nostrils. Noticing the air, cool as it comes in
warm as it goes out. If your mind
starts to wander away, catch it and bring it back
to the awareness of the air coming in
and going out of your nostrils.
Just focus
on that very simple exercise. Very
profound in its implications. Just observe.
Watch the air cool and warm.
And just see if you can notice which nostril
you're breathing in and out of. Most people don't realize
that they only breathe through one nostril at a time.
And every hour and a half or so, the nostrils shift.
So just be aware. Feel the air coming
in, going out. See if you can notice which nostril
you're breathing in and out of. Just observe.
If your mind wanders off, bring it back.
Stay focused.
That's what this exercise is all
about is just focusing the concentration
on one thing. In this case, watching the air coming in and going
out, noticing which nostril you're breathing in and out of
Stay with it
See if you can notice
where the breath changes direction. See if you can notice
where the inhalation turns and starts to become
an exhalation and where the exhalation
turns and starts to become an inhalation. Just stay focused
and watch your breath.
[music]
Noticing where the breath changes direction
Stay focused. You can do this
at a desk. You can do this lying in bed.
Now take a deep breath
hold it
exhale
[music]
and very
very slowly, little bit by little bit, slowly open
your eyes.
[music]
Welcome back.
Deepak: Yeah I feel
good. Not nearly so nervous about a heart
attack.
Eli: Again, this exercise can best
be done in a quiet space where you're not going to be
interrupted. Where you can sit down maybe for 5 minutes at first
and then build to 8 minutes and build to 10 minutes
Eventually 15, 20 minutes. Just helps
you to stay focused and
one of the best approaches
to turning on your body's relaxation
response is to focus your mind on one
thing.
Deepak: But it's so simple.
Eli: Who said it had to be difficult?
You have to do it. The bottom line is taking the
time out of your busy day to use
any of these techniques from each program. We're introducing you
to very simple techniques.
The important thing is to take the time and do it.
Deepak: And this is going to make me feel better?
Eli: You bet.
Deepak: And it's all I
need?
Eli: Well, it's one technique. I would advise
if you can work with some of the longer relaxation
exercises that we have in the home study package
that are 20, 25 minute audio cassettes that guide
you through a range of exercises that will help you to develop
a body awareness, a body knowledge of relaxation
and with that awareness, with that skill
that you develop, you'll be able to
access the relaxation response quite quickly with simple
short techniques like the one you've just learned.
Deepak: Well, you've convinced
me, Eli.
Eli: Experiment with it. If this
exercise doesn't work for you then try another exercise. It's
just really important to realize that we all need to learn to manage stress.
Deepak: Thanks very much, Eli.
Eli: A pleasure.
[Credits}
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Program Length: 26:50 min
About the Program:
Program 3 Working Better, looks at stress on the job, including how to deal with learned personality traits that may work against your own health, productivity and career effectiveness.