Nate’s Notes 131: Modupe Akinola | Stop Passing Your Stress on to Everyone Else

What a great message Modupe shared: Please stop passing your stress on to everybody else.

We have so much control over how we experience life, and it’s within our control to find ways to manage stress so that it doesn’t negatively affect others.

For Modupe, she does this by checking in with herself. And if she’s stressed, she thinks about changes she can make in her day to reduce her stress, whether it’s doing less or calling a friend. But everyone is different. Some people need to take a break while others need external support.

And I love the story Modupe shared about her mother, and how the simple phrase, “I’m busy right now, Mom, but I’ll call you this weekend” has changed their relationship.

In summary, if you are stressed, pause, figure out why, and then ask yourself, “What do I need right now?”

It’s a simple idea. Please take it seriously.

Modupe Akinola Bio:

Modupe Akinola is a business professor at Columbia Business School, and coach to Chris Hemsworth in the documentary Limitless. Prior to pursuing a career in academia, Modupe worked at Bain & Company and Merrill Lynch.

Modupe examines how organizational environments- characterized by deadlines, multi-tasking, and other attributes such as having low status- can engender stress, and how this stress can have spill-over effects on performance.

Her work has been covered in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, WIRED, Scientific American, Forbes, The Economist, and The Huffington Post.

Modupe earned her undergraduate degree, MBA, and PhD from Harvard.