How Super Achievers Make the Most of Their Anxiety

Dealing with Anxiety

 Mary Hemingway

Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.” 

Into

In these times of unprecedented threats of uncertainty and change, the presence of anxiety is a virtual certainty.


It can come from an isolated event , or become layer upon layer of multiple events. 


 We can be sure that everyone suffers from some form of stress or anxiety throughout our lives. 


The severity may change and the frequency may change, but we all will be faced with it at one time or another. 

Dealing with Stress

How Super Achievers Make The Most of Their Anxiety

Many successful Super Achievers that I know have learned some strategies to make anxiety work in their favor. 


They realize that learning how to embrace and deal with anxiety is a healthy sign of growth. 


Adjusting your mindset to adopt a more positive outlook on life helps combat stress and anxiety, along with the overall goal of  maintaining a healthy lifestyle.


The following are the points to equip you with some solid tools to help you turn anxiety into a manageable source of strength. 


 Let's get started. 

1

Analyze The Situation 

Girl Analyzing

The first step is to analyze the situation. You can begin by answering these probing questions to help you get to the source that triggers your anxious responses.


  • Is the situation an isolated set of circumstances that can be immediately addressed?
  • Is this a hypothetical possibility that has not happened yet?
  • Is the hypothetical possibility a real probability or unlikely to ever actually occur?
  • Can the situation be resolved now?
  • Can the situation be repeated?


Answering these question will give you an opportunity to evaluate the facts surrounding the feelings of anxiety.

2

Recognize The Warning Signs

Recognize the Situation

Does anxiety boldly annonce it's attack on you before it arrives?  Not always. Probably never. Most times, it creeps upon you undetected. 


How do we know we've got it? 


Here are some signs to watch for: 


  • A sharp increase or decrease in appetite.
  • A growing reliance on alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, or drugs.
  • Insomnia or trouble remaining asleep.
  • Mood swings marked by shorter tempers.
  • Feeling easily distracted and putting off major decisions.
  • Feeling engulfed by things that seem beyond your control


Look for these symptoms or other unusual ones that signal stress and anxiety.  

3

Allow Yourself To Feel Anxious At First

Feeling Stress
It may seem counter-intuitive, but stay with me for a second. 


Instead of instantly stressing about being anxious, allow yourself to feel the anxiety at first. 


Avoid bracing yourself against stress, when you feel it building up inside, let it flow through you freely. 


Anxiety is an emotion. It will not last forever. It is temporary. Accept it for what it is and let it wash over you.  


Stay calm during this process by doing this: 


  • Breath deeply and slowly with full inhales and exhales
  • Count your breaths to focus your attention on the here and now
  • Take ten breaths and repeat this same process if needed. 


Doing this will keep you centered and ready to take the next step.

4

Adopt A Neutral Attitude

Detached

As you remain in a state of calm, adopt a neutral attitude about what is happening to you. 


After allowing yourself to ride out the first wave of anxiety, imagine yourself as a scientist or doctor to get some perspective and objectively look at the situation.


Detach yourself so that you can take a look at what's happening as if you were looking at the situation through a microscope. 


Sort through the facts like a scientist with a professional curiosity.

5

Resolve The Situation If You Can 

Solve problems

Now it's time to do some work. The goal is to resolve the situation when you can. 


Start by writing down every single thing you can possibly do to deal with the circumstances that triggers your anxiety. 


Address those aspects that you are able to directly influence. 


From your list, choose the most practical actions that you can take. When you are finished, put an action plan together. 


Then implement your plan immediately.

6

Accept The Unresolvable

Accept the Impossible

Some circumstances don't have an immediate resolution. When faced with this scenario, learn to live with by embracing the fact that some things are just beyond your control. 


Accept the unresolvable and allow yourself to feel the negative feelings associated with it. Once those initial feelings pass, you can accept the factors at face value. 


Remember these important points: 


  • Don't waste time trying to come up with solutions that cannot be resolved 100% to your liking
  • Concentrate on executing actionable steps you can take to improve your situation
  • Learn to laugh at circumstances and at yourself to add a little levity whenever appropriate
  • Counteract the negative feelings with positive ones

7

Schedule A Daily “Worry Session"

Worry Session

Schedule a daily "Worry Session" to deal with persistent anxiety and stress. 


Having a daily "Worry Session"  means setting aside a portion of each day to face items that are producing stress in your life. Making this a daily habit allows you to handle stresses in small chunks instead of feeling overwhelmed. 


A daily worry session looks like this:


  1. Devote 15 to 20 minutes a day at the same time of the day to look at your worries. 
  2. Jot down triggers that are happening so that you can address them. 
  3. Keep a journal where you can commit your troubles to writing. Put everything on the table. 
  4. Create a list of steps that you can take to resolve the issues. 
  5. Working out solutions increases your problem solving skills, and will allow you to apply those skills in the moment where you need an immediate solution.

8

Concentrate On The Present 

Concentrate

The overwhelming part of anxiety mounts when you are wrestling with the past and anticipate issues that may come in the future. 


When that happens, change your focus. Concentrate your inner thoughts on the present. Center your attention on what is happening now and what you can do to improve your situation now. 


Slow down, breathe deeply, and expend your senses to note your environment. Close your eyes, if necessary, and focus on the sounds, smells, and feeling you're experiencing in this moment.  

9

Quit Thinking In Absolutes

black and white thinking

Sometimes chronic recurring issues can distort your outlook on the expected outcomes. This view may not be a realistic perception of what is actually happening. But we take a black and white conclusion about it. 


Quit thinking in absolutes because it can biase our point of view that presents us from objectively seeing what is really happening. 


To insure a more balance point to view: 


  • Treat each situation as an isolated incident instead of an inseparable link in an unbreakable chain of events doomed to repeat itself. 
  • Break each situation down into its separate components and analyze each one. 
  • Avoid assuming the worst. Broaden your perspective and look at both sides of the equation. 

10

Give Yourself A Break

Frustration

In stressful situations it's easy to blame ourselves for the things that are happening. Know that you are not responsible for the actions of other people's choices. 


Give yourself a break sometimes. Don't try to live your life with a code of unbreakable rules that don't allow any flexibility. Give yourself room to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. 


When you do make a mistake, treat it as one single action, and not a reflection of the definition of who you are.  

Conclusion

Conclusion

If you are living on this earth, you will experience anxiety in one form or another. 


Learning a good method to diagnose it, analyze it, and come up with practical solutions to managing it is what this article covers. 


There are warning signs of the onset of stress that we can use to recognize when to take appropriate actions. 


Putting together action plans for the things we can implement immediately, and incorporating a daily "worry session" helps fight the overwhelm of mitigating stress and anxiety. 


Focusing in the present moment keeps you dealing with the immediate needs, and giving yourself the freedom to make mistakes keeps you growing even better everyday. 


Hopefully you can use this valuable information to help you make anxiety work to your advantage.


The "Super Achiever"  that you are will depend on it.  


Question?

What method of reducing anxiety is working best for you? 

(Leave a comment below.) 


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Thank You


Hope it helps you in some way. 

Please post a comment below, and let me know what you think. 

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