• Menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

All in the Mind – Building Better People

Training Organisations in Resilience, Communication, Productivity

Header Right

You are here: Home / Blog / How to Avoid Anxiety’s Overwhelm

How to Avoid Anxiety’s Overwhelm

My client sat before me an absolute wreck. She felt beaten down. Her face was ashen and her eyes red and puffy. I could tell from these signs and her slumped posture that things weren’t going well.  I could see the anxiety and overwhelm written all over her.  It was time for a training on how to avoid anxiety.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

Anxiety OverwhelmThe menacing list of all of the things that were going wrong came oozing out of her like hot lava. There was an abusive client that had sworn at her and her staff, ridiculing them for their apparent lack of skill. The upcoming staff wages were due and a short list of current projects with no long term proposals in the future. The overdue invoices piled up. There was exhaustion, sickness and loss of hope. There was so much to do that even being at our coaching session was causing not avoiding anxiety.

Get a List

I had already started the list, so I asked, “What else?”

My client seemed confused by my question and rightfully so. I rarely ask my clients to continue to babble on about what’s going wrong. What I usually want to know is what actions are my clients taking and in what order and what system are they using.

This was different though.

“What else is pending? What else is about to topple down on top of you?” I clarified.

She continued to talk and I continued my list. When she was all talked out and the menacing ooze solidified, we had a list. It was a list not to overwhelm but to oversee. It was a list that was outside of her instead of inside her head. A manageable list. A list to look at not to be consumed by.

Get a Priority

I then asked her some strategic questions to get the list in a priority order. She was now sitting upright and alert. The colour had returned to her face and she was expressive. The mood had changed dramatically. We were getting somewhere.

How do you avoid anxiety?  Take a list of TO DOs and compare the first on the list to the 2nd, which is more important to get finished?  Whichever wins continues and gets compared to the 3rd item on the list.  Again ask, which is more important to get finished?  Whichever wins continues and gets compared to the 4th item on the list.  Again ask, which is more important to get finished?  Keep doing this with the winner continuing on until you have a clear top 3 and preferably top 5.

Schedule It

Once we had the priority order, I had her schedule herself for 3 appointments to tackle the top three things on the list and the ones that were causing the most anxiety. The sigh of relief was audible.

And then it was Champagne time! The weight had been lifted and she was back to her bouncy, energetic self.

  • She made the decisions she needed to make
  • The was a plan to tackle the minor decisions that were still pending
  • Her calendar was booked to get her 3 biggest issues off her plate
  • She booked more time to review the other items on the list and schedule them as appointments

The shadow towering over her was now gone and in its place light shining onto the small manageable pieces that were put into a system that worked.

Once again, life was good.

What about you? How do you avoid anxiety?  Take the Anxiety Questionnaire to discover your current level and see how you’re doing

  1. Get your thoughts out of your head & on to paper – oversee not overwhelm

  2. Prioritise

  3. Schedule your top 3 priorities immediately

  4. Keep scheduling appointments with yourself to plow through the list

  5. Learn to make decisions faster by practicing making decisions faster

 

About Lindley

As a certified NLP Trainer & the President of the NLP Association Singapore, I have shared my experiences with NLP to thousands of people around the world. NLP is my passion!

Previous Post: « 3 Confidence Killers
Next Post: Covid’s Lack of Leadership »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search by Category

  • Blog

Search by Tag

nlp NLP Singapore Overwhelm

Footer

Contact Lindley

+65 8387 3219
Or (just text “email please” and I will respond to you with my email address)
Or complete the form
 
Get in touch and let's chat...
 
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • (please check your spam/junk folder for replies)
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Site Footer

Copyright © 2019 All in the Mind Asia's Leading Provider of NLP Based Training
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
  • Individual Journeys
    • Individually Economic
    • Individually Business Class
    • Individually First Class
    • Back
  • Corporate Journeys
    • Corporate Economy
    • Corporate Business Class
    • Corporate First Class
    • Back