By Sarah Lyman Kravits, LifeBound Director of Training and Certification | Jan 20, 2026

Many educators are familiar with what is often called the stress curve or Yerkes-Dodson law, originating in 1908 with research by Robert Yerkes and John Dodson, with further examination and reframing happening over time (learn more behind the psychology). The foundational idea is that not all stress is bad, and that generally, some amount of pressure is necessary to drive performance. Little to no stress means little to no motivation to move forward, and too much stress creates an overload of anxiety that hampers performance, but that "Goldilocks principle" amount of stress in the middle (sometimes called "eustress") is just right.

Like most constructs, the stress curve is not as static or universally applicable as one might like. Curves can change over time or in response to situations, and individual curves differ. Some students seem to need high stress to drive performance ("I perform best under pressure"), others go into high gear when stress seems low ("I have to do my homework as soon as it is assigned"). Students may have different bell curves for different content areas — going more quickly to stress overload for writing, for example, while performing well in math at a low anxiety part of the curve. Furthermore, students may be more or less responsive to academic stress depending on their life circumstances and how much pressure is coming from areas outside of school. 

With questions like these, coaches can help a student explore where the just-right amount of stress lies for a performance goal, and how to either reduce or increase pressure to get there:

• What task puts you into stress overload quickly? How can you break that task up into steps over time that feel more doable?
• What task do you avoid doing because it is uninteresting? How can you create a little productive pressure or reward to build your motivation?
• What type of work do you find gives you the just-right amount of stress that motivates you without paralyzing you? How might you create that condition with other assignments?
• What helps you breathe and keep moving when you hit a paralyzing level of stress?
• What helps you gear up when you feel little to no pressure?

LifeBound offers coaches an opportunity to explore their own productivity with a variety of coaching trainings that suit diverse needs.

• 3-Day Virtual Coaching: Next Class - February 23, 25, 27
• Self-Paced Coaching: Choose your own dates!
• Coaching Certification: - TODAY is the last day to register! Spring 2026 Cohort begins Jan 27

Explore which course is right for you at www.lifebound.com.

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