nerdleader

Recently a friend and coworker said something koanic to me. He said – and I am paraphrasing – that managers are some of the most insecure people he knows, and it makes it frustrating to deal with them and accomplish the right objectives. They fear losing their jobs and/or derailing their careers, and this fear makes them make suboptimal choices.

There is a lot of insight and truth in that statement, is there not? Having skin in the game is crucial to making good decisions, but it also means so often gravitating to the status quo due to our natural risk aversion. We have invested much in ourselves, our teams, and our careers, and we seek to maximize the return on our investment throughout our lives. Missteps can have out-sized consequences due to the way that work is fundamentally part of the human condition.

As leaders we have a tremendous load on our shoulders, and it is so common that this leads to anxiety and insecurity that an entire industry exists to help us cope with it. Let us look at three of the most important learnings I have had on the topic, which you can use to regain perspective and make healthy decisions. For starters, emphasize self-care and the mind-body connection with how you eat, sleep, and exercise. Next, be mindful and live in the moment. Lastly, remember to “trust the process” – for some of us it might be faith in a higher power, but for others, remember the investments you have made and the time that it takes to build something amazing.

Our body is not an afterthought in our lives. We do not need to be athletes or bodybuilders to enjoy health but being healthy both removes health-related worries as well as enhances mental performance. The two best aspects of health to work on to deal with anxiety are sleep and exercise. I never understood the pride within corporate America over how a leader could function with little sleep each night – make sure you get at least 6-8 hours of sleep a night to make sure your hormones and metabolism are working optimally.

Besides the very many longevity and quality outcomes from having a good exercise routine, you can also help regulate stress hormones, and plain tire yourself out, by getting enough exercise. What is enough? Try to ensure you get the bare minimum of exercise each week – 3x 30 minutes – but try to get at least 30 minutes each and every day. I admit, exercise can be terminally boring, but there are many options available to you. I personally do strength training, and I also go through periods where I am focusing on martial arts. They key is to sweat and to put your body through its paces.

One of the ways my anxiety manifests is middle of the night circular worrying. I go back and forth between various topics in my head – which always seem outsized and frightening at night – and this wakes me up / keeps me up overnight. To help combat this I have been meditating over the past few years as well as focusing on mindfulness. There are many resources on mindfulness on the internet so I will not dive deeply on what exactly it is, but let me say that when we focus on the current moment and appreciate it for what it is, without judgement, we find ourselves fretting less and worrying less about the future. We have been telling each other to “stop and smell the roses” for ages, and mindfulness is about doing just that.

Lastly, have faith that things will turn out for the best. Perhaps you “give it up to God”, or perhaps you simply have patience to thoughtfully see things through. Whatever the case is, you must allow things to progress and take the time they need to take. Despite seeing recently that part of success is being successful within a timetable, I have always believed that success does not have a deadline, so please let out some of the pressure. There are a million platitudes that come to mind – “a watched pot never boils”, “all good things come to those who wait”, etc., but key to this is the idea that you do not have to worry and fret at every moment. By being planful and allowing events to unfold with appropriate guidance, you avoid panicking and you avoid worrying over things that are not in your control.

Taken together, you can enhance your problem solving and decision making by changing your relationship with stress and anxiety. Use your body and get enough sleep to improve your mind/body connection and lessen stress’s impact. Be mindful and live in the moment to put your thoughts and surroundings into perspective. And trust the process – you have invested in yourself and/or your faith, so place your confidence in them.