5 Anxiety Exercises to help Boost Your Productivity
Are you familiar with that nagging feeling of worry and unease that creeps up on you while you are at work? Anxiety is a natural reaction when we are under pressure and overwhelmed, especially when working in isolation while running a farm.
Anxiety is worrying about events that may occur in the future. It’s something that everyone feels at some point in their lives, especially when under pressure. It can take many different forms, from general feelings of stress and overwhelm, to more specific fears such as performance anxiety.
It can be mild, such as feeling nervous about the weather, or severe and crippling, making it difficult to do everyday tasks and make financial decisions. Our brain can go into fight, flight, or freeze mode, causing us to react emotionally and be unable to cope when we would normally cope very well. In my Mental Health Chats YouTube interview with Tricia Maitland, she goes into great detail about ‘What Anxiety Feels Like’ and how our brain reacts when feeling anxious.
We aim to train our brains to be more positive and relaxed in overwhelming situations at work. As farmers, you could introduce exercises to help yourself be more productive and manage the overwhelm.
Here are 5 exercises that can help you when anxiety strikes:
1. Stop and breathe.
Our breath can become very shallow when we are feeling anxious. When this happens, we need to concentrate on our breathing to calm ourselves down and think clearly. Fenella Hemus talks us through a breathing exercise for anxiety on the Mental Health Chats YouTube and Podcast series on anxiety. You can practice these different breathing exercises and can include these exercises with your teams during meetings. Breathing exercises have many benefits, including helping you stay focused and grounded.
2. Stop and focus on the solution, not the problem.
Psychologists, Grant and O’Connor from the University of Sydney looked into the difference in outcomes when we focus on the problem compared to the solution. When we are feeling anxious, we tend to get fixated on the problem. But if we change our mindset and look for potential solutions, we are more likely to move forward and get positive outcomes.
3. Stop and change the scene.
Often we can feel in a rut when we are feeling anxious. Anxiety can have a significant impact on our mental health. When we are in a state of overwhelm, it can be helpful to encourage them to change the scene. This means taking a step back from the situation that is causing the anxiety and finding ways to calm and refocus the mind. It can mean physically removing oneself from the situation, such as taking a break, or finding a quiet space to practice breathing techniques or meditation. Taking intentional steps to reframe thoughts and perceptions about the situation can help calm down and think in a more composed manner.
4. Stop and focus exercise.
In order to significantly improve how you and your team can deal with anxiety, you need to focus on your senses— calming your body and composing your mind to think clearly. You may like to use of my 21-Day High-Intensity Neural Training (HINT) Programme when you are in a state of burden.
5. Stop and reassess the situation.
So often when we are anxious, we become stuck, only thinking from one perspective. If we look at the situation from a different angle, we can often find another solution that could work. Think about situations in new ways. This can also develop your confidence to deal with anxiety-inducing situations and improve your coping skills with anxiety.
Regardless of what strategies you use to combat anxiety, it is essential that you get support from your community. One suggestion is to reach out to a small group of farmers from your local area and meet up regularly to discuss your emotions and how you are coping. You may also like to follow emotional fitness exercises you can bring into your day for positive mental health. Here is the link to my book, Emotional Fitness: A to Z for Positive Mental Health, which outlines easy exercises to bring into your day.
Clare Davis, the CEO and Founder of Nova Associates, is a management and mental health trainer, coach, author, and facilitator who works with individuals and organisations to help them use their focus to bring out untapped potential in the workplace. Clare shows through real-world examples how the valuable skills that each person brings to your organisation can help your mission. To find out more about how you can manage anxiety within your team, schedule a free Strategy Call and let her assist you to bring positivity to your workplace.
Guest Blog by Clare Davis of NOVA Associates
