It’s a simple equation: low level of control = high stress. The financial services industry is being hit by a tornado of change. How much control do you have in a tornado? None!

Understandably, survival is at the forefront of many reps’ minds. Increasing and often unreasonable client expectations continue to rise. Technology is changing daily. A torrent of ads and information on the Internet are causing many clients to question their reps–even when they’ve been satisfied with their service in the past. Staff members, family and friends are forever asking for more time with you.

Can you avoid getting sucked up and spit out of this stress tornado?

Yes, it is possible to live above the unrelenting change and stress of the industry. Although it takes a lot to find a quiet space when 300-mile-an-hour winds are howling right outside your door, surrendering to the storm is not an option either! The following solutions for the Five Factors of Stress will give you strategies to survive—and even thrive—in today’s challenging climate.

Stress Solutions:

"Resistance is futile." The more an idea or person is resisted, the more energy is lost without any positive result. Give yourself permission to

acknowledge that you will rarely have ‘everything done’. Let go of the pent-up energy that goes into rationalizing your hours and pace. Then share your frustrations, challenges, and successes with your family members so they have the opportunity to develop empathy, offer insights, support or much-needed levity. Be honest and vulnerable. Yes, that actually reduces stress, instead of increasing it!

Develop a support team of others in the industry. Your peers can offer new ideas, alternatives, brain-storming opportunities and encouragement when the going gets tough.

Focus on immediate issues (concerns specific to your clients and your business) rather than global ones (the insane pace and change of the industry as a whole). Focus on what you can act on.

Make yourself accountable to changing what you can. Using a coach can be a valuable asset here.

Stress Solutions:

There are no short cuts to paperwork beyond good systems. The best solution is organization. Systems that are consistently maintained make the difference between chaos and efficiency.

Hire additional staff to create and maintain paper systems, which will allow you to do what you do best: work directly with clients.

Stress Solutions:

Take time to educate your clients. In the first presentation I heard from Jim Cannon, he talked about managing client expectations. That skill is still essential. How do you manage your client(s) perceptions of the market and how it impacts them? Tell clients what they should expect to see happen in the market. When they are informed, they will not call with fake fires to put out.

Create proactive systems. Many reps send quarterly letters explaining market activity in language that their clients can understand. Direct phone calls, portfolio reviews and periodic e-mails lower clients’ stress levels and therefore, yours.

Design a system of service for handling client fires.

Stress Solution:

Taking time for yourself will always be difficult but necessary. The Number One solution for self-care is to be intentional about it. There will never be extra time for exercise, so take 30 minutes anyway. If you need to do it in 10-minute increments, do it that way. You don’t need to sweat—just move. Physical exercise relieves more built-up stress than you can imagine. If you intend to enjoy your life after work, both today and in your future, exercise/activity needs to be a part of your work plan.

Stress Factor 5: Changing seasons of life for family and career continues to pull you in different directions.

Stress Solutions:

The first safety recommendation for an oncoming tornado is to find safe shelter—a refuge to weather out the storm (pun intended). Develop healthy diversions. A friend who is a psychologist uses his hobby of flying as his method of escape. Do you have a mental or physical refuge to escape and short-circuit your stress? When changes are swirling around you, where do you go to sort through your decisions? My mental get away is a pier in Door County, WI, with a beautiful view of the lake. It’s a place that reminds me to slow down. Find a mental escape refuge and go there to regroup frequently throughout the week.

Multiply your time by getting creative. Finding time with your family will require flexibility on your part and theirs (especially if you have teens and/or your spouse or partner has a full-time, demanding career). The harsh truth is that this valuable time will pass quickly, so be intentional about who you want to spend your hours with—and where.

Vacations should be mandatory. You need a vacation from your problems! Because technology allows us to work around the clock anywhere in the world doesn’t mean we should. Vacations renew, rejuvenate and recharge you, but only if you can leave the storm behind.

A tornado’s strength is measured and rated after it hits, unlike a hurricane whose intensity is rated before it strikes land. Minimize the stress damage in your life and business created by the rapid and challenging changes within the industry by actively applying these stress solutions.