9 Top Tips For Dealing With Work Anxiety

Have you felt on edge lately? Irritable? Overwhelmed? …Are you procrastinating and missing deadlines? Then you might have work anxiety 😩…. I’ve got some top tips below to help combat the Sunday night dread…

But first, what causes work anxiety?

Reasons vary from person to person - but from my experience, they’re often split into two camps; internal (like lack of confidence or imposter syndrome, self-sabotaging) and external (conflict with clients, heavy workload, financial pressures).

Finding the root cause of your work anxiety can help you overcome it - some of the contributing factors usually include:

• Unclear goals or expectations 

• Disorganisation or inability to prioritise work

• Fear of losing clients

• A poor work-life balance, resulting in overwork and long hours 

• Conflicts or disagreements with clients

• Unrealistic deadlines or an unmanageable workload 

• Upcoming projects or work commitments you feel unprepared for 

• Lacking satisfaction from your work

• Struggling with general anxiety, which can make you more susceptible to workplace anxiety

What are the effects of work anxiety? 

No matter the cause, work anxiety can have wide-ranging effects that impact all aspects of your life. If you struggle with work anxiety, you may feel less confident, or start to suffer from imposter syndrome. Work anxiety can then also become a self-fulfilling prophecy, where you worry so much about missing deadlines you become unable to start a task, leading to missed deadlines. 

Other consequences of work anxiety include: 

• Poor performance

• Feeling isolated 

• Loss of productivity

• Lack of confidence/development of imposter syndrome 

• Lack of business growth

• lack of satisfaction from your work 

• Missed deadlines 

• Impacted personal life and/or mental health

9 Tips To Cope with Work Anxiety

If you’re struggling with work anxiety, the first thing to remember is that your anxiety is real. Part of dealing with it is simply recognising it, accepting it, and then focusing on a solution to eventually overcome what you’re feeling. 

1. Acknowledge your feelings

It’s not always easy to admit when you’re struggling (I should know!). Often, we push aside our feelings or allow ourselves to invalidate them. We tell ourselves we’re doing what we need to push through instead of validating our feelings of anxiety. Recognize that these thoughts are normal, and embrace them for what they are: thoughts. Then, you can begin to move toward a solution. 

2. Develop good time management

It’s common to feel overwhelmed in this constantly switched-on culture we now live in. Burnout is a real thing and it’s important we try and combat this before it starts: 

Here are a few of my favourites ways to manage your time:

• Time Blocking - to schedule a more productive day

• The Eisenhower Matrix - to prioritize your tasks 

• Grouping similar tasks - then saving small tasks to do in between meetings or in the evening

• "Eat The Frog" - Tackling your biggest / most dreaded tasks first, getting it out of the way 

• The Pomodoro Technique - to break work into manageable chunks 

3. Become more organised

Similar to feeling overwhelmed, being disorganised can take a toll on your ability to perform in your work. You’re more likely to miss deadlines or overlook important tasks. 

There are a lot of ways you can get organised at work and reduce work anxiety, including:

• Declutter your workspace

• Remove distractions and disable notifications on devices

• Find a work management system that works for you and has the ability to give you a birdseye view of your to do list

• Use your calendar to block out time for clients AND your business.

Often, work anxiety happens because you feel pressure to perform, but don’t know exactly what you need to get done. A good Project Management Tool, like Asana, can help. You’re able to take a birdseye view of all tasks & deadlines in one place meaning you can re-prioritize and reschedule work as needed.

4. Set (and stick to) clear boundaries

Setting—and sticking to—clear boundaries is essential to creating a work-free space during off-hours, which can help reduce work anxiety. Setting clear boundaries might look like this:

• Learning to say “no” to when you’re at capacity

• Taking time off to recharge

• Setting specific “on” and “off” hours and adhering to them 

• Snoozing notifications when you’re offline 

• Removing work applications from your personal phone or get a work only phone that lives in a draw when you're not working

5. Be realistic with deadlines 

A few ways to set realistic goals and deadlines include:

• Don’t overcommit and under deliver

• Delegate work to a VA or another team member - check out the virtual support I offer here

• Understand goals and responsibilities when working with multiple clients

• Set short-term goals to break down your larger objectives into digestible tasks

6. Delegate 

If you do the exact same thing, more than once - then you can outsource it. There are lots of things to consider before you outsource, but it’s totally worth it when you get it right. To set your team up for success, make sure they have all of the information they need to get the delegated task done correctly. A project management tool, like Asana, is a great way to monitor outstanding task and keep your team on track.

7. Schedule in some YOU time

A mental health day is exactly what it sounds like—a day to focus on your mental health. These are helpful if you're struggling with symptoms of burn out. Block out time in your calendar for you, not your business, but for you. Go to the cinema, take yourself out for lunch or visit the spa! It may feel indulgent but its worth spending the time and money before you're forced to take time off through ill health.

8. Practice calming techniques outside of work

These can often help ground you, they aren’t a cure for work anxiety, but they can provide much-needed relief when you feel overwhelmed. 

• Practice deep breathing exercises

• Go for a long walk

• Create a mindfulness practice

• Step away from your computer at regular intervals throughout the day

• Recognize, acknowledge, and validate your anxious thoughts

• If you are consumed with negitive thoughts, set aside some "worry time" to think about them

9. Know when to ask for more help

If you’ve tried our tips and still find yourself struggling with work anxiety (or find that your work anxiety is increasing), it might be time to ask for additional help. Unchecked, work anxiety can develop into more severe mental health concerns, such as generalized anxiety disorder or depression. 

Signs that your work anxiety might be evolving into a more serious health concern include:

• Your anxiety begins to impact your life and relationships outside of work

• Your coping mechanisms no longer provide relief from your anxiety

• You feel you need to take more time off than usual but don’t feel refreshed or re-motivated when returning to work

• Your work anxiety impacts your physical health

• You become unable to perform at work, including consistently missing deadlines or failing to complete tasks

Dealing with work anxiety can be difficult, but it’s not impossible. With the right tools and support, you’re on your way to facing—and, eventually, overcoming—your work worries, for good!