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If you’ve been following my blog and newsletter in recent years, you might be wondering where I’ve been for the last year and a half.

I’ll start by saying that 2022 was a very tough year.

I lost both my parents in less than five months, and dealt with the deaths of some other close relatives shortly after that. My father died peacefully in July, and my mom had a horrific illness, suffered greatly, and died on Christmas Day.

Christmas will never be the same again.

Then, in 2023, life continued to happen. I dealt with grief, mental illness, physical illness, extended family problems, relationship problems, money problems, exhaustion, and a serious lack of motivation.

At times like these, I think about how nice it would be if once we’ve experienced such pain and loss, life would give us a bit of a breather and leave us alone to grieve, process, and recover.

But unfortunately, when it rains it pours, and it’s in these kinds of situations where Murphy’s Law tends to rear its ugly head.

That being said, how does one go on when life hits you like a train, and each time you think you can get up to your knees, you get hit and then fall back down again? And again. And again.

Fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones, as I was not alone and was not the sole breadwinner in the family. Because of this, even though life kept bringing me down, I was able to allow myself to grieve, and I gave myself time to breathe.

But despite everything I’ve endured, I’ve been very grateful for my knowledge of The Birkman Method, which has allowed me to better understand myself and be better equipped to deal with the massive amount of stress I’ve been experiencing.

The Birkman Method is basically a personality test, which can help you learn what makes you tick, especially in stressful situations, and these insights can help you learn how to cope with stress in a way that’s best for you.

With that in mind, I wanted to publish an article on the Birkman personality test for those of you who are dealing with stress, especially the kind of incredibly stressful circumstances I’ve had to endure.

So, if you’re looking to learn how to deal with stress, or you just want to learn more about Birkman assessments, then I hope you take the time to read this article.

What Is The Birkman Method?

Developed by psychologist Dr. Roger W. Birkman, The Birkman Method is a tool for evaluating your personality and perception, which uses a series of impartial assessments to identify your interpersonal style, which includes your personality traits, and underlying needs, interests, motivations, and stress behaviours.

Birkman assessments involve completing several questionnaires covering a wide range of topics, including self-perception, social perception, and occupational interests.

These assessments offer deep insights into your behaviour that you may not be aware of, such as the behaviours you tend to exhibit when you’re stressed and your needs aren’t being met.

Typically, the Birkman personality test is used to get to the root causes of issues between team members in a work environment and understand the kinds of behavioural changes required to solve those problems, but it can be used by individuals, as well.

The Birkman Method is distinct from other personality assessments like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or the DiSC assessment, as it’s a tool that not only focuses on what a person does but also why they do it, offering deeper insight into their motivational drives and the behaviours they exhibit while they’re under stress.

I’ve been using this method for many years now, and I’ve seen firsthand the results it offers for my clients and their teams.

But there’s also lots of research to back up the benefits of this method, too.

For example, an American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education study, which looked at how The Birkman Method could benefit instructors, found that “faculty members may feel better equipped to manage relationships and stress after receiving Birkman testing and training”.

If you want to learn more about The Birkman Method, as it pertains to the work environment, you can read my article on How to Build a Better Team Using The Birkman Method.

How I’ve Been Using The Birkman Method to Deal With Stress

As a leadership coach and HR consultant, The Birkman Method is one of the most vital tools I use for my business. But as I already mentioned, I’ve also used it for personal reasons, as well.

The insights it’s offered into my underlying needs, interests, motivations, and behaviours have been incredibly helpful to me over the years, especially over the last year and a half.

Needless to say, I’ve learned a lot about myself using this method. For example, according to the Birkman personality test, I need to be:

• Offered individual support
• Careful not to over-schedule
• Shown that I’m appreciated
• Allowed time for reflection
• Encouraged to express my feelings
• Given time to make complex or difficult decisions
• Given time to be alone or with just one or two others

What’s more, I’ve learned that if these needs aren’t met, I tend to be prone to several stress behaviours, including pessimism, withdrawing, feeling fatigued, becoming indecisive, finding it hard to act, ignoring social conventions, seeing the worst possibilities, and being overly sensitive to criticism.

All things considered, these insights into my underlying needs, motivations, and interests, and how I tend to act when I’m stressed out, have made dealing with stress much less difficult.

And through this deeper understanding of what makes me tick, as I was trying to come to terms with all the death, trauma, and tragedy surrounding me, I knew that the best things I could do were:

• Rest as much as I could when I could
• Focus on ensuring my needs were met
• Give myself time to reflect and process
• Allow myself to be a little selfish at times
• Share how I was feeling with a few of those close to me
• Cut my work schedule down to only what was necessary to maintain
• Withdraw from some business and personal groups that just weren’t right for me at the time

Furthermore, I decided I did not need to grow my business, and instead, I just took care of my existing clients and focused on their needs.

I was still available for all the important things in my life, including my family, work, and friends, I just gave myself a lot more leeway than normal.

But without what I’ve learned from The Birkman Method, I would have been much less equipped to deal with all that stress, and as a result, things could have turned out very differently.

In any case, through what I’ve learned about myself from The Birkman, not only do I have a much better understanding of my needs, motivations, and interests, and a higher capacity for coping with stress, but I also feel like I can now meet new challenges, both in my career and in my life.

How The Birkman Method Can Help You Cope With Stress

As it relates to coping with stress, The Birkman Method is all about understanding your needs, because when your needs aren’t being met, that’s when your stress behaviours tend to show.

But when you’ve taken the time to understand your needs, do whatever you can to ensure they’re being met, be aware of your stress behaviours and what triggers them, and ultimately, know why you feel and act the way you do when you’re stressed, then coping with stress is going to be a lot easier.

With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about how this method can help you be better equipped to deal with stress:

Understanding Your Stress Triggers

The Birkman goes far beyond basic personality assessments by providing detailed insights into what triggers your stress. And by understanding these triggers, you can be better prepared to anticipate and manage situations that are likely to cause stress.

What’s more, this awareness can help to inspire proactive measures that you can use to avoid or mitigate stressors before they escalate into more significant issues.

Improving Communication and Relationships

Effective communication is crucial for managing stress, especially in the workplace or in personal relationships.

That being said, Birkman assessments can help you understand your communication style and how it differs from others. By recognizing these differences, you can adapt your communication to reduce misunderstandings and conflicts, which are common sources of stress.

Furthermore, improved communication fosters better relationships, which can provide a support network during stressful times.

Enhancing Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence

Without a doubt, one of the most important benefits of The Birkman is how it can help you to gain greater self-awareness.

Because if you understand your behaviours, needs, and motivations, you can make more informed decisions about how to respond to stress.

This heightened self-awareness also contributes to emotional intelligence, which is essential for coping with stress effectively, as it allows for better regulation of emotional responses and enhances empathy and understanding in interactions with others.

Identifying and Leveraging Strengths

The Birkman Method can help you to identify and better understand your strengths and interests, and by focusing on these areas, you can build resilience to stress.

Engaging in activities that align with your strengths and interests can be incredibly satisfying and rejuvenating, which provides a counterbalance to stress.

Moreover, leveraging your strengths in challenging situations can lead to more effective problem-solving and a sense of accomplishment, which can also help mitigate feelings of stress.

Career Alignment and Job Satisfaction

Stress is often related to one’s professional life, especially when what you’re doing for a living doesn’t align with your values.

That being said, Birkman assessments can assist in reducing stress by helping to align your career choices with your interests, strengths, and preferred work styles.

Because when you work in a role that fits well with your personality and motivations, you’re likely to experience higher job satisfaction and lower job-related stress.

What’s more, understanding your ideal work environment can also allow you to create conditions in your current role that help to reduce stress.

Developing Coping Strategies

The Birkman Method not only identifies stressors but also suggests coping strategies based on your personality.

These strategies are tailored to be especially effective for you, as they align with your natural tendencies and preferences. For example, someone who thrives in social settings might find stress relief in team-based activities, while someone who prefers solitude might benefit more from quiet, reflective practices.

Facilitating Personal Growth and Change

The Birkman can also be a catalyst for personal growth and change.

By providing a comprehensive understanding of what makes you tick, it opens the door to self-improvement efforts that can help to reduce your overall stress levels.

Whether it’s through developing new skills, changing ineffective behaviours, or adjusting life goals, the insights provided by The Birkman Method can be instrumental in making changes that lead to a more balanced and less stressful life.