Stress is a misconstrued concept in the workplace. Having too much stress is performance-hindering. Having too little is demotivating. There is an optimal level of arousal, called eustress. Distress is the anxiety-ridden feeling of being overwhelmed and exhausted. People experience this when their physical, mental, and emotional resources don’t meet their individual needs. Distress causes depression, anxiety, and negatively impacts performance. A common misconception is that no stress is a good thing. No stress causes demotivation and dissatisfaction. We need eustress. Eustress challenges us without diminishing our resources. It helps us grow psychologically (through building resilience, and autonomy), emotionally (through positive feelings regarding motivation, contentment, and inspiration), and physically (through motivation resulting in positive changes to our body). Eustress can be experienced in all aspects of your life, by setting challenging goals involving your interests. If you have an interest in music and want to learn an instrument, take up that challenge! If you don’t overextend yourself, it can be a rewarding and positive eustress experience. At work, eustress is achieved when your projects or goals are challenging but realistic. Take on projects that build on your existing strengths. To distinguish whether you are experiencing distress or eustress, ask yourself: “Is this a threat or a challenge to me?” To increase eustress and decrease distress, change your mindset. Emphasize the positives in any situation. Discover how it contributes to your personal growth, and acknowledge its challenges and feasibility. This mindset helps you welcome change, learn new skills and accomplish your goals. Set healthy challenges. Do not create an unrealistic workload. If a difficult workload is given to you, chunk it down and set smaller, more realistic checkpoints. Supervisors can promote eustress by setting realistic deadlines, giving ongoing appraisals, and exhibiting a calm reaction to difficult times. This is important because eustress is positively correlated with employee job satisfaction, less turnover and greater profits!