Project Stress vs. People Stress

Jobs in the creative industry tend to be pretty high stress. They involve complicated work, tight deadlines, and high pressure clients looking for results. As you spend time in the industry, you develop skills to handle the stress, learn tactics to help get work done, and gain perspective that every emergency isn’t yours. As you excel in the execution, there is a good chance you’ll be given the opportunity to lead people.

People stress is different. All the tricks you learned to navigate projects and deadlines simply don’t apply. I’ve spent plenty of time stewing over behavioral decisions made by those that report to me. If they miss the mark, I stress about it. How can I help them improve? How do I challenge them well? Did this have a negative impact on the organization? Will I be on the hook for this?

Acknowledging that the stress is different is key to you being able to respond well to it. You can start identifying this even if you aren’t leading people.