Read the passage carefully

1. Like many emergency responders, Nicholas Groom is used to stress at work. On the one hand, the stress can be helpful. “I find that when attending a serious incident, it helps me to maintain focus on the situation,” Nicholas Groom said. On the other hand, the work can be highly pressurized. “Too much stress can impair your ability to make decisions,” he adds. And Groom is not alone in his complicated relationship with stress.

2. Many people believe that there should be a balanced amount of stress. In other words, not too much stress so you’re not overwhelmed but not too little stress so you don’t feel unmotivated. After all, some anxiety is motivating; think of the adrenaline before a deadline or the excitement before a competition. Sports fans sometimes even talk about a “gene” in some athletes who seem to play best in the decisive final moments of a match. Furthermore, many psychologists claim that performance in many situations increases with stress up to a point. Of course, any stress can cause harm when it’s prolonged. To take just one example, a long-term high heart rate is linked to cardiovascular diseases. And additional stressors, such as financial pressures or psychiatric issues, clearly affect how beneficially someone can respond to stress.

3. So is there a way to harness stress to your advantage while being mindful of its detrimental long-term effects? One key factor is to avoid, whenever possible, the point when stress leads to mental and physical collapse. Crystal Wernicke, 30, has always used stress as a motivator. But juggling between parenting, a full-time job, a voluntary role and financial troubles at the same time became too much and eventually led to a two-month period of illness. Another factor is the presence of control. For those who feel powerless over their situation, stress is unlikely to be beneficial. But with some autonomy over stressful tasks, we are better able to convert that pressure into higher performance.

4. When it comes to stress and how it affects your performance, it’s helpful to recognize the variations in personality, type of stress and task that affect the level of pressure you are under, as well as understanding tools you can use to control and harness that stress. Ultimately, it’s not helpful to take a one-sided view, either demonizing or glorifying stress. As James C Quick, a management professor at the University of Texas, sums up: “Stress can be the kiss of death as well as the spice of life.”

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