What you need to know about 'microstress'

According to Cross and Dillion, microstress occurs with "brief, frequent moments of everyday tension that accumulate and impede us even though we don't register them."

While some stress is triggered by significant anxiety-producing events, the drivers of microstress can be harder to identify because they are typically woven into our daily lives — often leading to "days that exhaust you extraordinarily without any particular reason why," Cross and Dillion note. 

"There's no traumatic event or unpleasant encounter that stands out, no urgent work deadline or health issue weighing on you, nothing hovering in the background that you failed to take care of at home," they add. "Yet you feel anxious or beaten down just the same, and perhaps worse, you have no idea why."

In their recent research, Cross and Dillion conducted in-depth interviews with 300 high performers working at a range of companies. Their research helped them discover the invisible toll of microstress.

Initially, they set out to determine how high performers build and sustain networks, but they soon noticed that many of these employees "felt on the verge of burnout, suffering from a constant pulse of difficulties that few of them had recognized."

Many people fail to recognize microstress because they choose to ignore small stressors and move forward. Still, the authors note that these events often have "a subtle impact on our workday in terms of distraction or mood."

"Our brains are wired to respond to conventional forms of stress; they can identify the threat and use the extra oomph of our fight-or-flight mechanisms to deal with the impact," they write. "But microstresses are too fleeting to register, especially for successful people who have learned to routinely overcome obstacles."

Joel Salinas, a behavioral neurologist at  New York University's Grossman School of Medicine, noted that microstress can still take a significant toll. "Imagine wind eroding a mountain," Salinas said. "It's not the same as a big TNT explosion that punches a hole in a mountain, but over time—if the wind never stops—it has the potential to slowly whittle the entire mountain down to a nub."

3 strategies to combat 'microstress'

In their research, Cross and Dillion noticed that some of the high performers they evaluated were much better at coping with microstress than others. According to Cross and Dillion, these "Ten Percenters" do three things differently.

1. Avoid interactions that cause microstress

Overall, these individuals are better at avoiding interactions that generate microstress, regardless of whether they recognize the dynamic.

"Ten Percenters are more likely to shape these interactions by dealing with simmering disagreements head-on or by limiting such contacts," Cross and Dillion note.

For example, if a friend tends to overindulge while drinking, the Ten Percenters are more likely to suggest an alternative activity, like going to the movies. "They take charge, in other words, rather than let inertia extend the source of microstress," the authors note.

2. Do not contribute to others' microstress

These individuals are also mindful about not contributing to conditions that cause microstress for others.

"Think about what happens—to both of you—when you push your child too hard on their grades and it comes back in the form of a rebellious attitude," the authors write. "Or the stress you may create as a manager by unnecessarily shifting expectations. Stopping this cycle helps to prevent microstress from boomeranging back on us."

3. Nurture a variety of connections

Cross and Dillion also found that these individuals typically understand how to tame microstress by fostering connections with a variety of social groups, instead of primarily focusing on close friends and family who are often more likely to be a source of tension.

"These groups create diversity in people's worlds, which helps them to see and think about their lives from many angles," Cross and Dillion write. "It keeps our Ten Percenters from getting mired in the weeds of inconsequential stresses." (Cross/Dillion, Wall Street Journal, 4/21)

Model healthy habits for your team 

Learn how to proactively manage stress and model healthy habits for your team with this infographic on effective stress management strategies for leaders.