The hidden struggle of workplace anxiety: how to identify and manage it

When you wake up and dread going to work, or if you are working from home and you don’t want to switch on your laptop, you may be suffering from workplace anxiety.  

A form of stress that is related to your job, colleagues, or work environment that, without a doubt, hinders your performance, happiness, and health.

This can cause depression about your tasks and deadlines and nervousness about interacting with your boss and colleagues, which can lead to burnout, tension, and coming up with excuses rather than solutions.

Persistent worry can cause mistakes, missing deadlines, and physical symptoms such as stomach problems, sleep issues, over- or under-eating, and so forth.  

A risky cycle. High-pressure environments, especially sales roles, toxic cultures, uncertainty about job security, and having oversold your skills will elevate and trigger your anxiety. Workplace anxiety becomes less when the threat disappears.

This means that your anxiety may not be constant. For example, you have reached your sales target, the stress lessens, and you give yourself a break, but come next quarter, the stress starts again. While reading this article, perhaps also self-assess if you are in the right job and how it affects your health and family life.

Work-related anxiety often feels uncontrollable and debilitating. Dealing with it on the job is not easy, but you need to get it under control. When you start adopting self-sabotaging behaviours and habit-forming manners such as missing strategic meetings on purpose, steering away from one-on-ones with our boss, avoiding clients and not being present, it is time to step up.

But if you realise that your stress is constant, overwhelming, and prevents you from living your life, it could be an anxiety disorder, and you may need to reach out to amental health professional. The good news is you are not powerless. You can learn how to cope with work stress and even make those emotions work in your favour.

But you must focus on what is under your control: you.

Here are a couple of healthy ways to take control of anxiety at work:Understanding your triggers in the workplace translates into you learning what sets off your anxiety symptoms.

When you acknowledge and understand and identify what causes your anxiety, you can take steps to mitigate the stress or, better yet, avoid the trigger altogether. A clever trick to identify anxiety triggers is to keep a journal and document when you start to feel anxious.

This reframes your mind.  It cultivates your awareness and helps you stay mentally sharp. Take the time to identify your bad habits and negative behaviors that have become second nature, and you may find that you are creating much of your own stress.

This is true mindfulness. Knowing that the way you feel (your anxiety) is a direct result of the choices you make. You choose to be in a state of anxiety or to take control of your emotions. Change your mental story by shifting your physical state through breathing, taking breaks, and practising mindfulness.

Move from fear to solutions. Anxiety often comes from the stories you tell yourself. Shift your focus from what you fear (''What if I don’t make the target?'') to solutions (''What can I do right now?'').

When you feel anxiety, tell yourself that you arelikely believing a foolish thought. Take a slow, deep breath to break the pattern. Research suggests that you have 90 seconds to identify, process, and dismiss unnecessary fear before it takes over. Look at the word “fear” as an acronym. False Evidence Appearing Real.

Take actionable breaks: Do not sit in tension. Go for a quick walk, listen to music, take five deep breaths, breathe out, and repeat. When your mind is unbalanced, so is your body. Whenyour mind is inflamed with fear, hostility, depression, anxiety, judgment, resentment, or procrastination, your body becomes inflamed.

When your mind is at peace, your body, so to speak, relaxes and heals because the mind is quiet. This means that knowing this (awareness) and having a healthy attitude toward your anxiety triggers can keep you going and lead to a more productive and happy work life.

Setting micro-goals will help you manage anxiety at work, and your job will become easier when you break your goals down into bite-sized pieces so you don't overwhelm yourself. Ifyou’re doing business development, it may be better to source three good clients, build relationships, and make a killing instead of trying to service all the clients on the list. Be realistic and honest with yourself about what you can achieve.

Also, make it a habit to celebrate small wins: recognise and share your accomplishments, no matter how small. It will reinforce positive feelings and motivate you. Seeking clarification and asking for help at work can significantly reduce your anxiety.

Don’t guess what you need to do. Ask questions until you are crystal clear on your goals. Understanding the “why” behind your tasks and the steps to take to reach your goals willbecome key to coping with stress. It’s better to seek help or guidance than struggle with a task for extended periods (causing anxiety) as opposed to trying to figure out everything on your own. Asking for help is as good as offering help.

Make it a habit. This way, you help others as well. People are more willing to help than you may think. Turning anxiety into eustress (positive, motivating stress) is a cognitive way of shifting your perception of a situation from a threat to a challenge.

Both anxiety and excitement are high-arousal states with similar physiological symptoms (faster heartbeat, sweaty palms); the difference between debilitating distress and empowering eustress lies in your interpretation and response. In other words, you choose your reality based on your perception.

By reframing situations, such as not viewing difficult tasks as a threat to your competence (distress), see them as an opportunity to shine (eustress).  Anxiety often causes paralysis and lethargy, while eustress propels you into action. Taking the first step, even a small one, can shift your mindset from fear to flow.

Henry Bantjez consults companies on workplace readiness, leadership, change, and talent management and offers counselling and life coaching that deal with anxiety and other challenging situations at work.