Are You Addicted to Anxiety?

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, His 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 :)

Next time you felt anxiety, guess what your brain did? Take action, but even faster.

And again. And again. And again.

There was no one there to tell you you’re getting reps in the wrong direction.

You lived into this way of being from 1,000s of small choices.

The problem lies in our reliance on anxiety as a guide for what to take action on next.

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.

How is that working out for you?

Just like I as a father needed to give my son healthy options, you need your Time Boss (that’s you 😉) 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 many that have gone through a Time Boss small group cohort and are now experiencing peace in their workday and progress on their highest priorities.

If this is you, please reach out. At a minimum I’d love to encourage you, give you some hope, and maybe help you get a quick win with your calendar.

If you want to take massive action on this, I’d welcome you to join a Time Boss cohort. You can grab more information here including a Downloadable Employee Reimbursement Template.