“Stress mindset” self-check: Tips to optimize performance, mental health, and resilience

Did you know that stress can help bring out the best in you? It also can get in your way. Your “stress mindset” and your beliefs about stress can make all the difference in whether stress is helpful or harmful. 

Use HPRC’s self-check worksheet below to identify your stress mindset. Then use HPRC resources to help you or others use stress as a tool to optimize your performance on mission essential tasks (MET), well-being, health, and growth.

This is a great resource to use for yourself, your Soldiers, and family members to help guide discussions about how to optimize stress—and make it good for you!

Published on: July 28, 2022

Crum, A. J., Jamieson, J. P., & Akinola, M. (2020). Optimizing stress: An integrated intervention for regulating stress responses. Emotion, 20(1), 120–125. doi:10.1037/emo0000670

Crum, A. J., Salovey, P., & Achor, S. (2013). Rethinking stress: The role of mindsets in determining the stress response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), 716–733. doi:10.1037/a0031201

Jamieson, J. P., Nock, M. K., & Mendes, W. B. (2012). Mind over matter: Reappraising arousal improves cardiovascular and cognitive responses to stress. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(3), 417–422. doi:10.1037/a0025719

Keller, A., Litzelman, K., Wisk, L. E., Maddox, T., Cheng, E. R., Creswell, P. D., & Witt, W. P. (2012). Does the perception that stress affects health matter? The association with health and mortality. Health Psychology, 31(5), 677–684. doi:10.1037/a0026743

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