Don’t Let Your Emotions Get In The Way Of Your Productivity
If you struggle with anxiety, you’re probably all too familiar with waves of overwhelming feelings that never seem to give up. When left untreated, those emotions and anxious thoughts can build and get in the way of our productivity. This can cause a big problem for people with high functioning anxiety (HFA), who value productiveness and getting things done despite the anxiety they feel.
A very common response I see to this is to hide those feelings or ignore them completely either because we don’t want to deal with the situation or we’re scared to just feel. Bottling up emotions can eventually lead us to lose control over our abilities to keep them suppressed.
What we should do instead is recognize that emotions are not positive or negative, they are just biological responses to the world around us. When we learn emotional control we are better able to control our emotions in a way that encourages productivity.
How Emotions Get In The Way Of Productivity
Emotions get in the way of our productivity when we don’t give ourselves permission to acknowledge them, instead we get stuck over analyzing and judging the way we feel.
Let’s use an example. My boss said something to me that makes me really angry--rather than just recognizing how I’m feeling, I get stuck in analyzing whether or not my anger is an appropriate response to what my boss said. I go chat with a co-worker and tell her why I’m angry and she agrees with me which just makes me angrier.
Despite what my coworker said to me, my inner critic (I call this voice a Monger) starts in about how I should be grateful I have a job, I shouldn’t be angry, and I’m just a privileged spoiled brat. My inner critic/Monger makes me anxious so I seek another coworker's advice to help me sort through my feelings. I once again explain the situation and my co-worker agrees with me, too. She sparks my feelings even more and we end up spending 30 minutes together just beating up on our boss.
The emotions we feel aren’t the problem, it’s our response and action to the emotion. Too often we respond to the feeling by engaging in more drama and help to justify that it’s ok to feel a certain way. This is a huge waste of time. In the moment, your feelings may feel justified, but what did you really get out of that experience?
How To Control Emotions And Feelings
Emotional control is not about suppressing and controlling feelings so we don’t feel them anymore. It’s about understanding yourself and your emotions and learning how to cope with them in a way that is healthy and not harmful to your productivity.
One way we can do this is when our emotions cause us to act out or make impulsive decisions that have negative repercussions. I always encourage clients to give themselves time to calm down, reflect, and do a full-body movement. Moving our body helps get us out of our heads where we spend too much time judging whether our emotions are ok to feel or not and building a case for either side. Give yourself some time to process your emotions, then later, you can analyze what really happened and see it for what it is.
Let’s refer to the example I gave previously. When I run off my emotions and let them impact how I react, I could do or say something to my boss or coworker that I would regret later. After taking some time to reflect, I can see if they were right or not to criticize me and then decide from there what steps I want to take. If they were right, then I chalk it up to my boss doing their job and I just need to accept the criticism. Or maybe this is the 3rd time they criticized me in a really harsh way so I need to take action and either have a conversation with my boss or find another job.
Taking the time to reflect on our emotions and decisions helps us clear our head to make the best decision we can in the moment. Sometimes even that decision won’t be right, and that’s okay. The important thing to remember is emotional control allows you to make space for your emotions and deal with them in a healthy way, rather than suppressing them and pretending they don’t exist.
Learn How To Control Your Emotions With An Anxiety Coach
It takes reflection, patience, and self loyalty to find the source of your anxiety and figure out a plan to work through it. All of this process is about honoring your reaction to the world around you and building a loyalty with yourself so that over time this process becomes more like a healthy habit and less of a battle.
If you are someone who struggles with controlling feelings and emotions as a result of HFA and desperately wants to learn how you can work through them, then set up a free consultation with me today.
My coaching services offer a one-on-one approach and are tailored to your specific needs. I also have a self-guided course that covers emotional identification skills for those struggling with overwhelming feelings. Check out my course or my services to learn more about managing your emotions and productivity.