Daniel Steiner: partner in Stikeman Elliott's corporate and securities groups
Daniel Steiner vividly remembers his early career years when work stress was the dominant force in his life.
“When things were going crazy at work, I would be so completely consumed and stressed out, I would think about it constantly – to the detriment of a lot of other people and things I should have been thinking about as well,” he said.
But Steiner said his take on stress – and how to manage it – has shifted radically since his late wife's illness and death from cancer in 2005 left him a single dad of two at the age of 34.
“Immediately your priorities tend to get refocused.”
For Steiner, those priorities became family and health.
“Work's important, but if something was really bad at work, it pales in comparison to somebody being in the hospital.”
Steiner said that realization has changed the weight he gives to workday problems.
“Any time there's competing demands or someone's upset about something or someone has lost their cool and directed it in my direction, I'll be very responsive and it might bug me for a little while, but I won't let it totally faze me.”
Steiner added that stress management became particularly crucial in the wake of his wife's death, as he juggled a vastly expanded parenting role with full-time work responsibilities.
How does he keep stress at bay?
“Organization is key.”
Steiner said a few times a year, he creates a detailed diagram of his children's movements, which he thinks of as “air traffic control.” The diagram, he said, details which caregiver – between Steiner, the kids' nanny and extended family – will handle each school pickup and drop-off and each activity and play date. The diagrams, he said, are on each caregiver's fridge.
Steiner said he's also reorganized his days so that he's home earlier and can see his children before bed, and then can finish his workday from home, where necessary.
But Steiner said principally he fights stress by keeping his eyes squarely on his priorities. “As long as you've got your health and your family, the rest tends to work out,” he said. “Once you realize that, you generally don't get stressed about a lot of stuff that you otherwise might get stressed about.”
