Stress Eating Oreos and Leadership

I was listening to a podcast today about emotional eating.

This is something I deal with. I tend to eat mindlessly right after the kids get home from school.

This is a stressful time of day for many parents. There’s A LOT going on. I’d describe it as a zombie apocalypse erupting in a circus during a hurricane.

Oreos are eaten.

I digress.

This concept of emotional eating spilled over into my business mind.

What’s the leadership version of stress eating??

What coping behaviors do we use when stressed at work?

· Micromanaging

· Avoidance

· Risk taking

Of course there’s a leadership equivalent. We bring the same brain that sends us into the **second row** of Oreos to work every day!!!

We don’t have a magical shield separating our 2 worlds.

We get triggered.

We cope with behaviors that probably aren’t moving the ball forward.

The behavioral tool for ending emotional eating is the same for managing emotional outbursts at work.

The key is to allow yourself to feel all the emotions fully.

Bad behaviors result when we attempt to hide or reduce normal emotions.

When we don’t want to feel something negative we seek comfort and safety by any means necessary. We leave chaos and destruction in our wake.

But…… you CAN fully experience the negative feelings. You can be nervous, scared, angry, disappointed, frustrated, etc.

It takes practice to feel an emotion all the way through without taking action.

But when practiced consistently, this is the super power for becoming a calm, poised and strategic leader.

In 1:1 coaching, we identify your coping behaviors and address the root cause. We learn new approaches and your coach holds you accountable.

What’s your leadership version of stress eating????