Work Anxiety

[GrayEm]

I have got myself into a bit of a vicious cycle at work. I am anxious that I cannot concentrate with work this then means it is harder for me to concentrate which fuels the anxiety. So it goes on. Today I stared at a spreadsheet for nearly 2 hours. Anybody got any useful strategies to deal with this?

[KatyCee]

Hi GrayEm,

I've definitely been in this position before! It can be so hard to pull yourself out of the cycle and get your mind fully focused on a task when you feel like your brain won't engage.

What I tried doing is, rather than putting loads of pressure on myself to do a perfect and thorough job first time round (because this just made my concentration go even further out the window!) is I just imagined the work task wasn't something all that important - just a draft or a rough idea. Do the job roughly - type in the information straight off the top of your head, or if it involves calculation, go with the first figure you obtain from keying it into a calculator.

Once you've done your 'rough' task, take a quick break - maybe make a cup of coffee or just go to the toilet. Take some deep breaths, free your mind a bit...

...then come back to your draft and tidy up the work. Double-check anything you need to and if it's a written piece just check it flows nicely Often you'll find you did a pretty damn good job in the first place when you were only putting half your mind to the task!

I hope this helps you and best wishes

Katy xx

[Regalbirdy]

hi GreyEm

I can relate to what you are saying.

Every day I was trying to do all my work perfectly, which in reality is almost impossible and was causing me a lot of anxiety. As far as written documents were concerned, in the end I had to tell myself that it was acceptable to produce work that was just good enough, rather than perfect. It did take the pressure off a bit. Interestingly my boss never noticed the difference!

When the anxiety and concentration levels got really bad I took myself off to the loo and did some tai chi/qigong breathing exercises until I felt a bit better.

I worked in a very noisy office and at one point I resorted to using earplugs to drown out chatter from colleagues so that I could concentrate. I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing this as it can make you too antisocial and it got annoying when I needed to use the telephone. It did help me get those reports done though!

I also signed up for work based counselling. A lot of organisations have it and I found it very helpful.

[darkcamel]

got this today and get it probably every other day.

My coping mechanism is to break down the task into easier bite size chunks, so it doesnt seem so daunting. If you can take small steps, you can see yourself making progress.

When its really bad i try a meditation app on my phone called Relax lite (free on Android) - chills me out before a hard day.

Or if I just cant do something, I try and do something easier, then come back to it, so at least Ive got my brain working rather than starting in first gear!

All the best

[GrayEm]

Thanks for all your replies. Definitely some things to work on. I did have a slightly better day today. My anxiety usually comes in the form of adrenaline in the pit of my stomach.