Do You Have Enough Stress?

Last night, I was watching a rerun episode of  "The Big Bang Theory" show. In this episode, Sheldon concluded that he needs some "productive anxiety" in his life to boost his performance in order to solve a scientific issue he was having difficulties with. He explained his needs to his friends as follows:
"According to a classic psychological experiment by Yerkes and Dodson, in order to maximize performance, one must create a state of productive anxiety. So I’d like to ask you all to do something for me. Keep me on my toes. Just throw me off my game. Essentially, go out of your way to make my life miserable"

While the objective of the show is to make us laugh, the Yerkes and Dodson Law is real. To explain it in few words, I am borrowing the below paragraph from The ExaminedExistence website:
"The Yerkes-Dodson law states that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal (stress), but only up to a point. When the level of arousal (stress) becomes too high, performance decreases".

I guess internal auditors are lucky! They have access to endless sources of stress, at all levels, from all stakeholders! So, next time management or the audit committee gives you a hard time, convince yourself that this is a blessing in disguise. They are only trying to boost your performance!


The concept of productive anxiety resonates with me. I would like to think that my best performance is achieved when I am under pressure and stressed out! It simply stimulates my brain and forces me to leave my comfort zone!

Do you have enough stress? If not, create some "calculated" stress in your life!

These are my thoughts, please share yours!