You should set goals beyond reach so you always have something to live for.Ted Turner

I’ve been working with IT talents for more than twenty years. By helping them develop uniqueness in their area, I came across many not so technical but ordinary human/everyday/life questions. I have found that success greatly depends on how people handle their everyday challenges, which have nothing to do with technical skills and the job. Many of them struggle with issues like procrastination, time management, difficult communication with customers, collaboration and teamwork challenges, problems focusing on one thing at a time versus multitasking and not achieving results they would like to achieve, and finally, handling stress.

The most common and difficult question for many people is: “How can I handle stress?” I am trying to help them find answers and take action –first, I ask them to describe one occasion when they were most stressed and how they knew it was stress? How did they feel? How did their body respond? They have to listen to themselves and recognise what the word stress means to them. And then I tell them my story – how I handled a stressful event. Telling them a personal story is intended to illustrate how someone succeeded in a similar situation. Sometimes this is enough. If not, I use other techniques, which I will go into detail about another time.

EXAMPLE FROM MY PERSONAL STORY

A young software developer asked me the other day:

QUESTION: How do you handle stress?

MY ANSWER: “Well, like an engineer. I need structure – tools, a plan, and above all, a goal. Sometimes I ask a mentor, a guide, or a coach to help me. It depends on the goal I set.”