Work anxiety can significantly affect your quality of life and leave you miserably counting down the minutes until you clock out. Anxiety affects everything from your quality of work, relationships with supervisors and colleagues, and overall performance at work. Good news is you’re not alone!
Symptoms of anxiety can make life challenging, but here at Peak Brains Centers, we have first-hand experience of all that comes with anxiety, including the stress you or some of your employees feel when they step foot in the office. Together, we can figure out how to manage anxiety through neurofeedback and the other methods listed here.
What Workplace Anxiety Looks Like
Many employees believe that dealing with difficult people and deadlines are the main source of work-related stress. Whenever a conflict occurs in the workplace, it elicits different reactions. Some employees love the drama, while some would prefer hiding under their workspaces until the conflict is resolved.
Lack of effective communication at your workspace causes quite a bit of anxiety. When several employees are visibly affected by anxiety, stress levels almost feel contagious. Eventually, these anxious employees begin to miss work which impacts the entire company. In some cases, the work environment becomes toxic as coworkers start to vent or gossip rather than work together in a team to solve problems.
Eventually, anxious employees avoid performance meetings, take frequent caffeine or smoke breaks, prefer zero face-to-face communication with superiors and work in isolation. Moreover, they wait to speak up until they are filled with anger and anxiety, which can lead to physical symptoms like:
- Sweaty hands and palms
- Sleep troubles
- Spasm
- Palpitations
- Fear of losing control
If this sounds like you or your work environment, here are seven ways managing your anxiety at work can help improve workplace performance and your outlook on the environment in the office.
7 Tips for Managing Your Anxiety At Work
The most important aspect here is to examine your behavior and then identify your problems of the job. This will provide you with solutions about your mental state. Let’s talk about a few simple practices that can help you handle your anxiety and negativity:
1. Engage In Personal Conversations
Misinterpreting text messages and emails can have adverse effects. Anxiety starts kicking in when there is a difficult situation over written communication. It’s always a good idea to back up with a personal conversation in person or over a phone call. This can give you clarity and at times, an immediate resolution. Additionally, talking to a person directly ensures you’re managing your anxiety by not letting your imagination run wild.
2. Build Trust with Colleagues
Get to know everyone’s name and their responsibilities. If you can’t remember someone’s name, don’t be shy to ask again. Get to know your fellow workmates and try to understand how they prefer to communicate. Building a solid one-on-one relationship at the office with colleagues makes it easier to address problems should there ever be tension between you and another colleague.
3. Avoid Triangles
One of many unhealthy ways of managing your anxiety at work is triangling – AKA gossiping about a third person and criticizing someone behind their back. This might provide you with entertainment or temporary instant relief, but it only builds up stress and negativity. Try not to indulge in such unhealthy activities as doing so will raise your stress levels and lead to overall negativity. The best approach is to reach out to the individual directly and communicate the facts.
4. Use Neutral Language
Disagreements in the workplace are pretty normal but learning how to manage them is the key. Some employees leave others left out because they have different points of views. Disagreements can be well managed if your statement sounds like, “Here is what I believe we should do,” at the start and ends with, “What do you think about it?” This neutral language and inclusivity make the other employees feel valued.
5. Switch Off After Work
We understand that working in a competitive environment is sometimes downright stressful. Therefore, do everything you can to avoid taking your work home. This is especially true over the weekends and on holidays, as it will just cause more anxiety. The best thing for managing your anxiety about work is to switch off and avoid emails or texts after working hours.
6. Seek Professional Help
This is a viable option for many employees. Workplaces can connect you to mental health resources or employee assistance programs to help you manage anxiety. Talking about your problems to a counselor or clinical psychologist can improve your mental state and prove to be beneficial, especially for your performance at work.
7. Develop a Personal Wellness Plan
If you are getting eight hours of sleep at night, exercising, engaging in social activities, and eating healthy, you are most likely to experience less anxiety. So, take some time to develop a wellness plan that works for you. Taking care of yourself and your own needs first will help you manage your stress and workplace anxiety.
Neurofeedback for Anxiety Works!
We all experience stress and pressure at work. Anxiety is present in our daily life to some extent but it doesn’t have to interfere with our profession, right? If you feel like you need help managing your anxiety at work or in your overall life, Peak Brains Center is always here to serve you because we believe in “A better brain for a better you.”
Contact us at (765) 667-9720 for a free consultation with us. Let’s find a solution for your anxiety, depression, and brain fog!
Photo by Joice Kelly on Unsplash