10 Things the Most Successful People Do to Stay Calm

"90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control." 

-- Travis Bradberry, TalentSmart

TalentSmart surveyed over 1 million people to find out what the most successful people do to stay calm under stress. You can read the full article at Forbes. Bradberry's research concludes that we need some stress in our lives. Just make sure those stressful episodes don't last too long.

Long periods of stress lead to mental, emotional, and physical problems. Short periods of stress help us to perform at our best.

Copyright (c) Forbes

Here are 10 things the best of the best do to remain in control when stress threatens to hang around too long....

10 Stress-Management Habits of Successful People

1. They appreciate what they have. Successful people understand that gratitude improves their mood and energizes them. Biologically, gratitude has ben shown to decrease the stress hormone cortisol by 23%.
2. They avoid asking "What if?" Worrying is a natural human response. But don't let your worry get out of hand by dreaming up all the many ways something could possibly go wrong. Refocus your thoughts on fixing the problem. You have limited energy. Use it to improve the situation, not on the worrying.
3. They stay positive. Successful people actively redirect their negative thoughts to positive ones. This limits the havoc stress can cause by keeping it intermittent.
4. They disconnect. Make time for yourself. Turn the phone off. Ignore e-mails and texts for a while. Successful people protect time for their own peace of mind.
5. They limit their caffeine intake. Caffeine causes a prolonged adrenaline spike. This launches the fight-or-flight response and puts emotions in command of reason.
6. They sleep. I am an avid fan of sleep science. What better, more natural way to recharge your brain and body? Sleep quantity and quality can affect mood, focus, health, and our ability to handle stress.
7. They squash negative self-talk. Everyone does this. Super successful people catch themselves when they do it, and they switch gears right away, like pros.
8. They reframe their perspective. When you feel like "everything" is going wrong, challenge that idea. Take 5 minutes to write a list of what is going wrong in your life. You'll quickly realize that the list is much shorter than you thought, and it certainly doesn't include "everything."  This list-taking exercise is also a good time to write down what you are grateful for.
9. They breathe. You can see that the habits successful people embrace to keep stress intermittent in their lives uses both mental and physical tactics. Research has shown that when people take a few minutes to clear their mind and spend a few minutes concentrating on their breathing, thinking about the inhale, thinking about the exhale, stress levels drop.
10. They use their support system. Successful people know how to reach out for help.
11. BONUS: Exercise! Nothing takes my mind off the day's problems like my martial arts class. Unlike running on a treadmill or eliptical machine, where your mind has nothing to do but wander, martial arts requires my attention. Nothing has helped me disconnect, breathe, and reframe my perspective better than martial arts.