The power of anxiety cannot be understated. And therefore, it is important for us to combat our anxieties as they arise, whenever they arise, and no matter how freaked out we may be by them. When we do not manage our anxiety, our anxiety takes over. It consumes our thinking, our time, and our emotional real estate. It owns us rather than the other way around.
When we allow our anxieties to grow unchecked we end up slowing down because:
- we are afraid
- we are doubtful
- we are not thinking as clearly as when we aren't feeling anxious and get mired in unhelpful thoughts
So, what to do. Develop a different type of relationship with your anxiety. Instead of having your anxiety take the lead in your actions and decisions, calm your anxiety instead. How? By determining what action you will take and under what conditions. When you determine how you will do your feared task and follow up with action on that task, your anxiety will go down. Essentially, the Anxiety Reduction Equation I propose is:
STRUCTURE + ACTION = ANXIETY REDUCTION
To Procrastinators, this equation may seem a far-away option. You may be the kind of Procrastinator who has difficulty managing time and therefore has problem creating STRUCTURE. Or you may be the type of Procrastinator who volunteers for too many projects and gets overwhelmed by having too much ACTION to take care of. Knowing that Procrastinators may struggle with balancing the factors of STRUCTURE and ACTION, I encourage you to consider finding one part of your feared work which would take 15 minutes to complete or which you could work on for 15 minutes. That part would be the proposed ACTION. Then commit with yourself to a starting time and situation to provide the STRUCTURE. I often suggest to my clients they start the next day, the first thing in the morning, even before brushing their teeth. Doing the feared activity first thing tends to clear the way for work to begin. Interfering thoughts don't have as much time to filter in. Don't be discouraged by the idea that 15 minutes of work will not be enough. Fifteen minutes of meaningful work on a feared project can be tremendously helpful in relieving anxiety. Once you start to plan your work based on the Anxiety Reduction Equation, you will see how different variations on the Equation play out. For instance, if you schedule too much ACTION, you will likely find an escalation in your ANXIETY ensues. Similarly, if you have the best of intentions, but no STRUCTURE to getting those fulfilled, your ANXIETY will likely increase.
It is in our best interests to arrive at a workable, flexible interplay among what we have to do, how we will do it, and how much anxiety we will tolerate in the process. Try the 15-minute work experiment and enjoy the results!
How might the Anxiety Reduction Equation apply in your life? How might you use it first thing tomorrow morning? If you have any questions about the Equation or stories to share, please leave a reply below.
