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Anxiety is the Derivative of Overthinking the Future

Anxiety is the Derivative of Overthinking the Future
Have you ever felt that you have so many things running at the same time that you can't breathe? Your mind gets into a halt and suddenly you just want to ignore all the things that are happening and go play some GTA. I don't know about you but I have certainly been there many times. Although I keep learning about how to deal with it there is always a new situation that pushes out of your comfort zone. I haven't nailed this one and i might never fully get there but throughout the years I created strategies to deal with it.

ACT on it! Start with number 1

I have a very special moment in my life that I go back to whenever I am blocked by anxiety. I was a really good student but on my last years of high school i stopped going to classes and was living a typical teenager revolution. At the time I was doing Jazz school at the same time, had a band and thought our music was going to be known by everyone. I wasn't that good at music and got a bit bored of it... given I had been absent from classes my only choice was to study hard for final exams on my own. There were really thick books I had to read and I got into one of those cycles where you want to do it, you start panicking with the amount you have to do and ended up not doing it and punishing myself mentality for not doing it. My Godmother was worried about me and invited me for dinner, she gave me an advise that I keep using for myself after more than 20 years! "If you have a 500 pages book, start with page 1, stop thinking about the other 499." I remember telling her "but I only have 4 more days" and she kept telling me you if you read one you are already closer to your goal, stop whining and start reading. Mind blowing! I use it to myself now whenever I am blocked. If you do just one thing from all the things you have to do you will feel better and you will be closer to your goal, it doesn't matter how many you have to do.

Prioritize

My first reaction to the first signs of lack of air is to write down all that is bothering me. You won't be able to solve everything at once so choose the top, give it a timebox and breath and assume that you will get to the other ones when you get there. I typically create reminders on my calendar on timeboxs I create as this will keep me more at ease towards remembering myself of what I need to solve next. It doesn't mean you are dismissing the problems, means you have prioritized it. Manage the expectations of others around you on what is your priority. Once your alarm on calendar bips re-evaluate where you are and re rank.

Delegate

Is this something that only you can solve? When stress creeps in we tend to block and not see others as potential solutions. Unless you are critical for something find someone you can delegate to. When delegating you should schedule check ins and give clear expectations of what you want the person to deliver as well as when to finish otherwise you will be thinking about it and not accomplishing the main purpose: reducing anxiety.

Ask for help

If you are struggling tell it to people around you, tell you are struggling and ask for help. Help might come in many forms as everyone (peers) will be aware of it and will keep it in mind. Most likely someone else has been through a similar situation and can lead you to a solution or tell you where not to go or who to talk with.

Break it down

Software engineering design has teached me how to breakdown a problem into smaller ones and then iterate over it. I apply the same to management and in life really. If the problem is too big you will feel anxiety and you will see no way out. Decomposing it into smaller problems will help you meet results.

Don’t Overthink the Future

Even AlphaGo has a threshold of how many levels of depth should look ahead to evaluate results, too many levels equate to too much processing and memory that don't necessarily bring incremental value. If you keep looping scenarios on your head you are most likely overthinking it. Everything changes all the time so what is valid today might not be tomorrow which means whatever scenario you are trying to deal with will, most probably, no longer be valid in 2 months time. Ask yourself for how long should you account for. If this still doesn't work put it in bg and be aware of when it creeps in, emerge yourself on a totally different context before you think of it again (Salsa dancing works for me).

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