Reducing Anxiety In the Office

Even if you have a job you love, you will be stressed at work on occasion. Just as each office has different workers with different skills, the anxiety triggers for workers are as varied as the workers themselves. As a worker or manager, you will never completely eliminate workplace anxiety in yourself or your employees. But you can help reduce or relieve it with several simple steps.

Know Yourself and Your People

Recognizing what triggers anxiety in you or your staff is the most important step to reducing it. Not everybody is the same. We all have different talents and are stressed by different factors. Take stock in yourself. What ties your stomach in knots in the workplace? In what situations are your colleagues or employees uncomfortable? Knowledge is power, so know what triggers anxiety and to the best of your ability minimize those situations for yourself and your staff.

Communicate

Communication is the essential element to a healthy, productive relationship. Work relationships are no exception. If you are feeling anxiety, talk about it to your supervisor. Not in a complaining way, but rationally. Explain what makes you anxious and be solutions oriented. You may not be able to eliminate the duties that make you anxious, but talking about them may help reduce your anxiety and help you cope. If you notice someone is anxious, ask them why. It may be something unrelated to work, but if not, that person will most likely be able to explain why. There may be an underlying business problem they see that nobody else does. If they uncover that problem, a solution to it is more readily found.

Breathe and Walk

When anxious, a person’s heart rate increases and they hyperventilate. If you notice this happening, pause. Take a moment and take several deep breaths. Even if this is happening during a tense meeting, your pause will make people believe you are thinking about the issue and if you silently breathe deep, you’ll get the same results as if you did it audibly. Breath is essential to life and breathing deeply adds more oxygen to your bloodstream and makes tense muscles relax, relieving physical signs of anxiety. If possible, take a brisk walk, hopefully outdoors to clear your head for 5 minutes. That brief respite may be all you need to refocus on a solution to the issue instead of the anxiety it’s causing you.

Deal With the Issue Now

Breathing and taking a walk are not meant to avoid the problem, they are meant to alleviate the physical symptoms of stress. Ignoring the problems that cause anxiety is not the answer. That only allows problems to fester and cause greater anxiety. Dealing with them early on actually reduces their anxiety producing effects. If you are angry, then it is best to walk away for a moment until you can approach the situation or people that caused the anxiety and anger more rationally. But don’t wait too long. People may forget about the problem they caused and your efforts to correct the situation will be lost.

Remember, You’ve Seen This Movie Before

Most anxiety triggers probably have been with you for a long time. Remember how you dealt effectively with them in the past and put that plan into action. Or remember what you wished you had done and do it this time. Remembering the past challenges you overcame will diminish the anxiety and help you cope. If your anxiety is because of new duties, remember the times where you took on new duties in the past. Once you mastered them, the anxiety faded. And so it will this time. You are up to any challenge. Remember that, have a healthy dose of self-efficacy, and realize that you are bigger than any problem or anxiety that comes your way.