Good Stress, Bad Stress: An Indispensable Guide to Identifying and Managing Your Stress [Paperback]

Barry Lenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 2002

Stress! It's become a universal condition, the most pervasive psychological ailment in our society, and a contender for the most widespread health problem of any kind. But all stress is not created equal. Good stress and bad stress have been called the yin and yang of modern work life. Arguably, good stress (a less formal name for what researchers call "challenge" stress) is the kind that motivates and excites and yields good results on the job or at home. Bad stress (what researchers call "hindrance" stress) diminishes one's performance and manifests itself in career dissatisfaction, deteriorating health, and procrastination. Now, in Good Stress, Bad Stress, Barry Lenson clearly maps the differences between the two types of stress and offers strategies and action plans for getting rid of the bad stress and focusing on making the most of good stress.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Lenson (coauthor, Simple Steps: Ten Things You Can Do To Create an Exceptional Life) posits that stress is a constant and misunderstood force in everyone's life and that certain "good" stresses challenge us in positive ways. "Without good stress," he writes, "you and I could never move to a higher plane of accomplishment and joy that can make us and our lives exceptional." Lenson's seven rules help readers discern which pressures are good and which are bad. The various chapters (e.g., "Reducing Daily Stresses at Work") keep the tone positive, though their brevity means that topics are treated more substantially elsewhere. This book will complement more results-oriented works like Eve Adamson's sensible The Everything Stress Management Book. Seasoned self-help readers won't find anything radically new here, but newcomers to stress management will find encouragement and solid concepts. A good bargain; purchase as needed.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A clear new voice articulating the realities of stress...and what we can do to make stress work for us." -- Dr. Arthur Caliandro, Senior Minister, Marble Collegiate Church, New York

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569245290
• ISBN-13: 978-1569245293
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,820,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Health, Mind & Body > Self-Help > Stress Management

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A really different, very useful, way of looking at stress, May 23, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Good Stress, Bad Stress: An Indispensable Guide to Identifying and Managing Your Stress (Paperback)

A friend recommended this book to me, and lent me a copy, or I might never have been incined to open it up. What a surprise. It is really exciting, offering a very different way to look at stress than many books that offer cookie-cutter advice on deep breathing, meditating and other symptomatic remedies for stress.
Lenson's idea is to fully accept the scientific findings that there are good stresses in life (the ones that excite us, energize us, let us try new things and boost our immune systems) as well as the bad stresses we all know about(those that break us down and do us physical damage). He offers a self-test that helps uncover hidden areas of stress in life. Then he gives focused advice on identifying the good stresses among them and using them to get into flow, improve our relationships, perform better and achieve more. Finally, he offers advice on how to minimize the damage done by bad stresses, such as illnesses, dead-end jobs, problems that won't go away. You come away from every chapter with some new ideas to put into practice.
I recommend this book highly. It presents a really different, original and practical way of dealiing with stress. I'd give it five stars.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lenson's book thoughtful, encouraging and compelling reading, July 8, 2002

By 

Michael Wilensky (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Stress, Bad Stress: An Indispensable Guide to Identifying and Managing Your Stress (Paperback)

Gave me a new appreciation of good stress and how to use it to the max. Contains a complete stress assessment inventory, allowing the reader to learn what specific things are stressors in his/her life. The book encourages us to think about how we've handled stress in the past and use those successes to meet current and future challenges. Specific exercises and suggestions are presented - ready to use!

There's a lot of insight and wisdom in the book, e.g., there's an "... unspoken belief that through worrying, you will be able to control the outcome of what is about to happen to you. You think you are planning ... but in reality you are obsessing." (p. 133)

Lenson makes us feel better about ourselves when we are enduring bad stress. The book is concise, inviting and easy to read. The situational examples are compelling, and sometimes even amusing - this is a book everyone can identify with, understand and benefit from.