Unexpected demands can arrive when your plate is already full. How do you manage overwhelm when an urgent assignment competes with existing deadlines?
Maya is a capable director who takes pride in delivering quality work. She and her team are working on two substantial projects she hopes to finish by late Friday afternoon.
Midmorning, her boss brings her another urgent assignment. “I need this ready for Monday’s meeting.”
“Let me review where we are with the other projects, and I’ll get back to you,” she replies.
After he leaves, Maya imagines her family weekend slipping away. Her stomach tightens, and tension gathers across her shoulders. “How am I going to finish all of this?”
Recognizing her stress response, Maya uses a familiar mental fitness strategy: box breathing. She breathes in gently for a count of four, pauses for four, breathes out for four, and pauses again for four, repeating the cycle until she feels steadier.
In the EQ-i 2.0 model of emotional intelligence from Multi-Health Systems (MHS), stress tolerance involves “coping with stressful or difficult situations and believing that one can manage or influence situations in a positive manner.”
Box breathing does not change the deadline, but it helps Maya ease the physical tension of her stress response. She notices her breathing becoming steadier, her shoulders relaxing, and the knot in her stomach loosening. With her thoughts feeling less rushed, she can examine the request, ask useful questions, and consider her options.
The situation may remain difficult, but Maya feels better prepared to respond. By practicing mental fitness strategies, she puts emotional intelligence into action, supporting her well-being as she navigates the demands of her work.
Personal Reflection
When unexpected demands arrive, what do you notice first in your body—and how does that affect your response?