Why Anxiety Feels Productive, But Isn't

My son had sugar for the first time on his 1st birthday. His brain made a magical, powerful and TRAGIC connection.

Eating sugar = makes me feel good

Seems innocent enough. He saw a cookie, cookies are yummy, he ate the cookie. And he felt good.

Would I be a good father if I let him just eat sugar all the time, and end up with an addiction? Of course not. I made sure he had healthy options instead, and made sure he wasn’t surrounded by endless sugar to tempt him.

Anxiety in your workday is just like sugar. The first time you felt anxiety about something, then took some action to resolve that anxiety, your brain made a magical, powerful and TRAGIC connection.

Taking action in response to anxiety = reduction in anxiety.

Seems innocent enough. And even logical, right? If your house is on fire, you might feel a bit of anxiety, and you should do something about that :)

The next time you felt anxiety, guess what your brain did? Take action, but even faster. And again. And again. And again. You began to rely on anxiety as a guide for what to take action on next. You lived into this way of being from 1,000s of small choices.

 The modern workday is rife with sources of anxiety. Deadlines, emails, phone calls, interruptions. Heck, you can pick from your choice of anxiety. We tell ourselves that we’ll work on the things that actually make progress on our goals just as soon as these items that create anxiety are taken care of. But they are actually infinite. In fact, if you were to get to the bottom of that list, you might not actually know what to do with yourself, or how to focus, because anxiety has become your true north. 

 Just like I as a father needed to give my son healthy options, you need your Time Boss (that’s you BTW) to prioritize your work and give you important but not urgent items to work on, that don’t by definition create anxiety.

And just like I needed to ensure he wasn’t surrounded by endless sugar to tempt him, you need your Time Boss to carve out space for you to work on those important not urgent items.You can’t make anxiety- producing items go away, but you can manage them.

If this sounds impossible to break free from anxiety, I can promise you it’s possible. I’m living proof, as are the hundreds of leaders that have gone through the Time Boss Weekly Framework and are now experiencing peace in their workday and progress on their highest priorities.