When properly managed, stress can serve as a key to successful job performance. This book explores the link between pressure and performance in schools. It shows how to recognize stress as both a facilitator and debilitator of effective performance. Chapter 1 serves as a personal stress checkup. Chapter 2 explores the myths of administrative stress and identifies personal stress traps for principals. The third chapter outlines action plans for converting stress into useful energy. The ways in which stress affects performance are explained in the fourth chapter. Strategies for overcoming "rustout," a situation in which one's skills are underemployed, are described in chapter 5. Chapter 6 presents coping techniques for situations of burnout, in which one is overemployed. Ways to maintain a high level of productivity and to sustain the competitive edge are discussed in chapter 7. Eight tables, 8 figures, and 18 exercises are included. The resource section contains a secretarial stress index and a secretary-principal stressors profile. (LMI)