“If it wasn't for this anxiety, I would be operating at 100%,” said one of my clients, a business owner with over 200 staff.

 

She recognised it was holding her back from performing at her highest level and even enjoying her success.

 

Anxiety is not about what's happening in our work or life, it's what's happening in our head.

 

Here are the telltale signs that anxiety is impacting your work:  

1. You catastrophise

 

Whether it's a health issue, business challenge, or anything else, you may notice that you zero in on a problem, have it on replay in your mind, and anticipate the worst.

 

For example, a month of cash-flow issues, and all of a sudden you’re worried that the business will tank and go broke. Although your rational brain knows it’s highly unlikely when you’re stuck in this mental loop, even the most outrageous scenarios seem believable.

 

This kind of thinking undermines performance.

 

2. You find it hard to concentrate

 

You may notice you have shiny object syndrome where you switch from task to task without completing the first. This is often due to the fact that you don't have the mental energy or capacity to do deep work over a long period of time.

 

If your mind is busy with anxiety, there isn't a lot of room for productive and high-performance thinking.

 

I like to track how many hours a day of deep work I do a day, it's a great way to see my level of concentration.

 

3. Overwhelmed

 

Your to-do list is long and it all seems like a priority.  

 

For most of my high-achieving clients, they work on multiple tasks a day. They feel over-stretched and they get less done and deadlines are missed.

 

I've had clients feel so overwhelmed that they freeze, they can't do anything and need to take a nap.

 

The quickest way to complete a task is to have 100% focus on it.

 

If your mind is focused on 4 tasks,  you only have 25% focus to give one thing.

 

With only 25% focus it will take you longer to complete, cause more stress as the deadline is pushed out and you'll lose momentum.

 

Prioritise your tasks to focus on the ones that will achieve the greatest proportion of your results (80/20 rule).

 

In the book ‘The One Thing' there is a ‘focusing question' that can help you prioritise, “What's the one thing I can do, such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary?”

Anxiety is one of the biggest barriers to high performance and being your best in all areas. It can be overcome with habits, coaching, and nutritional psychology.