Coaching practices for How to Get Over Anxiety at Work

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Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

  • Even once the worst of it passes, I can’t get back into the room
  • My thoughts are racing in circles and I can’t think my way out of the spiral
  • My boss keeps checking in and hovering over my work, and it makes me feel untrusted
  • I always wait until I’m already in full panic to try to calm down, and by then it’s too far gone for anything to work
  • The anxiety hits in the middle of a meeting or while I’m standing in line, and I can’t exactly close my eyes and name what I smell in front of everyone

Practices that may help

  1. Engage with the present moment
    Once the edge comes off, redirect attention fully into an activity or your surroundings.
    The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
  2. Run the full 5-4-3-2-1 sequence
    Work through all five senses in order: 5 things seen, 4 heard, 3 touched, 2 smelled, 1 tasted.
    The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique
  3. Send proactive, brief status updates
    Update your manager on important work before they ask — in the format and frequency they actually want.
    Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss
  4. Use grounding before anxiety peaks, not after
    Start the technique at the first sign of anxiety — not once the wave is overwhelming.
    The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique
  5. Use a 30-second micro-grounding version for public settings
    In public or meetings, a single-sense version — three named things you can see — takes 30 seconds and shows nothing.
    The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique
  6. Rehearse the response before you need it
    Learn and practice the four steps in low-stakes moments so they are available under pressure.
    The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
  7. The Anxiety Toolkit, Made Practical
    A practical anxiety toolkit pulls together a handful of evidence-informed skills — grounding, breathing, interoceptive awareness, behavioral experiments, and balanced self-talk — so you have the right tool for the moment instead of one move for every situation. Several of these rest on solid clinical and experimental support. They are self-help skills for everyday stress and anxiety; for severe or persistent anxiety, use them alongside professional care.
  8. Reframe from "preventing catastrophe" to "coping with discomfort"
    Shift the goal of entering feared situations from preventing disaster to practicing tolerance.
    Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical
  9. Worry stimulus control: confine worry to a designated time
    Schedule a 20-minute daily "worry period" and postpone all worry outside it.
    Worry Exposure, Made Practical
  10. Build an avoidance hierarchy and work through it systematically
    List all the situations you avoid because of anxiety, from least to most frightening, then work up the list.
    Safety Behavior Fading, Made Practical

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