A Stressful Job Might Even Be Good For You

Now, I know you've got to be thinking, "Gary, what do you know about stressful jobs?" I guess you would be right about that. My job is hardly stressful and, at times, it's downright fun, so I'm out of the running on the stressful job scale. Still, the latest research shows that a stressful job can actually be good for some people.

It seems that, according to a study out of Indiana University, many people in high stress jobs are likely to make a lot of big decisions and maybe even take some risks that, in turn, energize them. It seems that it's not so much a matter of the stress as it is the challenge.

The report points out that the study is true, but only when it comes to people who feel they are in charge of their own jobs and have a certain amount of authority. More to the point, it seems that all that stress works for the good among top managers and business owners who feel they are in charge of their own professional fates. In fact, those people are 34% more likely to outlive people with less stressful jobs.

The other side of the picture is that all that stress can be very bad for you if you are a middle management type or just a working person with almost no personal investment in your job.

Not to pretend I know more than the people who made the study, but I think they are using the word "stress" when what they really want to call the situation is a "challenge". Let's face it: you can refer to your job as "stressful" and it's a negative thing, but if you look at your job as a challenge, you're more likely to be invigorated and think positively about it. Both those qualities have nothing to do with stress and everything to do with positive thinking. Again, that's just my opinion.