1:01
Hello there gorgeous. And welcome back to another episode of the powerhouse Revolution podcast. Guys, thank you so much for all of your love on my podcast, it is growing exponentially at the moment. And I am so so grateful for every single person who has shared this podcast with a friend or left a review. And I just want to read out a lovely review that I received there a couple of weeks back, and it’s from CID789, who says I cannot recommend loose this podcast highly enough practical and actionable takeaways to help you succeed in work and life. I was nodding along as it felt like she was speaking directly to me with some of the her insights, get listening, you won’t regret it. Thank you so so much. I wish I knew your name. You have no idea what reviews do for this podcast that basically tells apple and Spotify and all those platforms that actually this podcast is worth listening. And if they think it’s worth listening, they’ll push it to more people. So if you haven’t already left a review, all you need to do is go into Apple podcasts, click on the show itself and then scroll down. Like there’ll be a few episodes, maybe like six episodes, just keep scrolling down to the bottom. And you’ll see a section where you can leave a five star review. And also you can write a review right underneath that, I would so appreciate it on Spotify, you can’t write a review, but you can just go in and rate the show and give it a five star review. Please do that for me, I will be so so grateful. Because I want us to grow this podcast and you can be part of the journey. So today we are going to talk all about work related anxiety. And the reason I chose this topic for this week is that I was with a client there a couple of weeks back who was feeling really anxious about work. So she was kind of at my I’m gonna say she was at like an associate director level. And she was a people pleaser, like many of us are and she was kind of finding herself feeling really anxious over at work related tasks. So she go in in the morning to try and get ahead and this one particular morning she went in because there was lots of stuff going on. And there was a team member who was waiting at her desk for her at like 730 in the morning. And she said she just couldn’t turn him away because he was there and he was looking for her support. But this was kind of constantly happening. And it was kind of making her feel anxious because she couldn’t get on top of her workload and she wasn’t speaking up a meeting. So today, I really want to kind of go through some of the things that you can do. If you do feel anxious about work. It really is just a type of anxiety that comes from work related stressors like deadlines, workload, maybe even job insecurity with everything that’s happening right now in the tech world. And it can be really challenging to cope with what there are strategies that can help and in this episode, I’ll be discussing some practical tips as always, to help you. So the first thing really we want to do is we need to really talk about what exactly is work related anxiety and how does it affect us. So, according to a study by the American Institute of Stress, work related stress is the leading cause of stress in the US with 80% of workers experiencing stress on the job. Now this is true for anyone I meet as well as stress, work related stress is a huge problem. But it can manifest in a variety of different ways. So you might feel overwhelmed, you might have difficulty concentrating. Or you might even experience physical symptoms such as maybe headaches or stomach aches. Like a lot of my clients would tell me they get knot in their stomach or a pain in their chest or I know for me anxiety always manifests in my chest, I kind of feel this kind of not even tightness, but I feel this cold air. It’s really strange. But it manifests in people in different ways that might be your shoulders. But if your body is experiencing those things, it’s just you need to pay attention to what your mind is telling your body. So research has shown that job insecurity is actually one of the most common causes of work related anxiety and But in my experience, a lot of work related anxiety that I would see would be to do with not being seen as being good enough having impostor syndrome, and feeling like you need to conform to the corporates way. And sometimes you can even lose a lot of yourself when you work for a big multinational. So, you know, I saw grateful, especially in Ireland, there are so many multinational corporations in our in our company in our country, which brings a whole lot of revenue into our into our little island of Ireland. But also corporations have to struggle to be very, very structured. And they have to have policies, they have to have guidelines, they have to, you know, bring their teams along to their mission and their vision, to deliver for their customers and to deliver for their shareholders. But I know when I worked in the corporate world, I lost a bit of my identity, and gave it to the corporate identity. So I became kind of brainwashed. And I know it sounds really bad, because I actually had a great experience, to be honest, I loved actually working in the in the pharmaceutical industry, but I became brainwashed into their way of thinking, and because I wasn’t maybe being true to myself and my values. And who I really was, this caused me a lot of stress. So some other common triggers of work related anxiety. You know, I was reading another one, let me just see what was that one it was the it was, again, I think, was the American Psychological Association. They found in their study that this top sources of stress or workload are people issues. So I know a lot of you most of you listening are leaders. And I hear time and time again, you know, people management is the most difficult part of the job, it’s, you know, you’re dealing with different personalities, you’re dealing with conflict, or you’re not, which is even worse, which is a lot of the work I do and the work that I do with them. Women, when I work in my programs, or my masterminds, we look at how to handle these issues. Because these are skills you’re not taught in school, or sometimes you might go to a lovely training, but you don’t embody it, you don’t implement it. So you forget. So it’s really, really important that you know, you as a leader that you don’t allow this, this fear or this anxiety around, you know, tackling conflict to hold you back, because that is your job as a leader. And no matter what happens in the world, or where you work, you’re always going to have to be able to manage conflict. So it’s super important to be able to find a way to use the tools and strategies that I teach for sure, anyway, can support you. So if you are feeling anxious at work, what can you actually do to manage work related anxiety.
7:39
So there’s tons of different strategies, but I’m going to share just five strategies right now that can help you if you are struggling with work related anxiety or stress. So if you’re multitasking, come back to me.
7:53
The first strategy is, my famous line is you have got to set your boundaries, one of the most important things you can do for yourself, and for the people around you is to set your boundaries. So what does set and boundaries actually mean? So it means learning to say no to tasks that are either way outside of your remit or your workload, and setting rigs in a realistic expectations with your boss or your colleagues about how you want to be treated. Okay. So I am not saying that you become one of those rigid people that we’ve all had reporting to us that has a job description and doesn’t want to deviate from it. I am not suggesting that you can’t help all of the people all of the time. So if you didn’t hear that, I’m gonna say it again. You can’t help all of the people all of the time, you’ve got to fill your own cup first. Okay? You need to teach people how to treat you. So I recorded a full podcast episode on the ultimate guide to setting boundaries way back in episode number two, so definitely go check that one out after this one, because it’s really important. But setting boundaries can be really difficult to do. Because it does require massive mindset shifts around your own identity and self worth first. So when I work with my one to one clients on this area, you know, it’s very easy for me to tell you to go and set boundaries. But when you work with me one to one or even in my masterminds, or in my trainings when moreso in my masterminds actually and in my one to one setting, it’s more private, we can really help you to understand why you’re afraid to set boundaries, what fears are holding you back, how you might reframe your mindset around your boundaries and how we can build your self belief and your self worth so that you realize that you get to decide what you do with your time. You get to decide for the most part anyway, where you choose to focus your attention. Because if you’re listening to this, I’m imagining you that you’re in a senior leadership role. So your job is to be that driver of change that is to set the vision for your day. Parliament or your region, or whatever area you’re working in, in your bid in the business, right. So if you’re too busy in the weeds, which is something I hear all the time, too much in the detail, you have no time to be strategic. And then you beat yourself up for not being strategic, right. So if you want more time for strategic thinking, if you want more time, just an spaciousness like, this is my new favorite word, spaciousness to just be. And to just think the only way you will ever get that is if you set your boundaries. So if you do need some help working on your boundaries, it’s on on your confidence and on your self belief and on your leadership skills. Absolutely. Please give me a shout, you can email me at hello at Lucy garland.com or DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn and we can have a chat, I would love to help you. It’s literally one of my favorite things to work on with people. It is not selfish to set boundaries, it is necessary. And you will actually what happens is you end up being more respected. And you end up with more confidence. And as well, you’re going to end up with more time to do the things you love. Like getting outside I hear all the time from the ladies in my mastermind, we we do this thing on a Friday where we celebrate weekly wins. And one of the things that all the ladies who are from director level to executive level that are in the group, one of the things that they all want is more exercise or more me time, and we hold each other accountable. And I promise you like it is so so possible for you. So again, if you want any information on joining my mastermind, I would love to chat with you again, you can email me at hello at Lucy garden.com. Or you can DM me on Instagram or in LinkedIn. And I can tell you all the juicy details about what goes down in our private group on in our sessions with our guest experts and everything. So setting boundaries really well right, it really is the way forward. So that’s the first thing you want to do if you want to reduce work related stress and anxiety.
11:59
The second thing that I would recommend is practicing self care. Now this self care word is still so fluffy. Sometimes I can be a bit allergic but I don’t know how else to say is but you’ve got to fill your cup. And filling your cup does not mean filling your cup with more more on your to do list or, you know taken on more workload like you have got to nourish your mind, you have got to give your mind space, you have got to nourish your body with good food, you have got to take care of your mind. You need to take care of your mental health and your physical health, get your sleep. And I know again, this is like read it can be a real challenge, which is why a lot of women I work with this is where we focus because you don’t currently maybe have the mindset that this is possible. But I am telling you it is so and it’s not only possible, I have helped hundreds and hundreds of women to actually do this. So I promise you, women who are at like SVP level C level should completely change how they view themselves, what they’re capable of. And what always ends up happening, ironically, which I love in most parents is actually when they set boundaries and take better care of themselves. More opportunities come their way. So the opposite actually happens. So in the self care piece, right? What do I mean by I suppose taking care of your mental health, really things like relaxation techniques, like just even breathwork, right, just deep breathing, just taken a minute or two in the day or even 30 seconds. Actually, that’s just do it. Now, if you’re not driving, just take a second, wherever you are, I want you to ensure safe and just stop what you’re doing. Stop. And I want you just to close your eyes or just cast your eyes down for just a minute. And just drop your shoulders. Relax your jaw. Just breathe. Just pay attention to your breath. So feel the temperature of the air as it enters your nostrils. Just breathe normally, and just exhale. And just imagine yourself breathing in positive, light energy and exhaling any tension or stress you’re holding on to. So even just by practicing something as simple as what I’ve just done with you now, you can do that any time that can really, really help. So mindfulness is another thing like mindfulness and meditation is something I swear by. And I know that a lot of women that come to me they’re so busy they’re in this trap of the hamster wheel and on the treadmill that they don’t have time for this but it’s actually you’re just killing yourself like you I had a Fiona Brennan from the positive or the positive habits. She’s an author. She’s amazing. If you don’t follow her, go follow her. And she came into my mastermind group because I have guest guest experts on every month for different areas first Leadership and work life balance and fun and health and everything to try to support all of the women leaders that are in the group. And we want to talk about like just the power of like just pausing, just literally pausing and just taking a few minutes just just to be with yourself. So, so important. So the other thing with self care then is obviously, regular exercise. So exercise is super for reducing work related stress, anxiety. And there was a study published, I can’t remember who they actually found that employees who engage in regular exercise reported lower levels of work related anxiety and improved overall wellbeing. So why is that? So we are energetic beings, I always say that to you. And I want you to really connect when I tell you that we are made of energy. So when something is happening around you, you are literally absorbing that energy. So if there’s a lot of negative things that are happening around you, you are absorbing that negative energy into your body, and then you’re actually magnifying is an amplifying it by your thoughts. And then that manifests that energy like twists and turns in your body and it manifests as stress in your shoulders, your neck, your back your stomach, you might get headaches, so the only way you can release that energy is by movement, okay? Otherwise, it just sits there. So even things like going for a brisk walk or jumping up and down the trampoline or boxing, like if you have boxing gloves at home, like my, my nephew has a boxing bag in his house and even just moving your body or if you don’t have that you can do what’s called shamanic shaking, which is where you shake off your body to just release that energy and even grant and let sounds come out. So so, so powerful to help you to do that. The other thing you can do, then the third thing I’d recommend, then is seek support. Like guys, this is what I’m here for.
16:49
If you are finding, you know, if you are ready to take action. And if you you know, we’re not coming with any kind of childhood trauma or anything like that. I’m not a therapist, I don’t work through that. But what I can do is I can support you to, to take back control of your time to take back control of your life, what I can’t do is change other people. So if you’re multitasking, come back to me, some people that come to me, will spend time, you know, I suppose focusing on other people and what they’re doing wrong. But that’s the biggest mistake anyone can make. I’ve done it myself, you cannot change other people, you can only change yourself. But what happens then is that when you change others around you change. So if you are finding it difficult to manage, work and manage the anxiety and the stress that comes with it, please seek out this reach out for support. Absolutely reach out to me this is I love working with women on this area. Because a lot of the time I’m teaching you the skills and tools, you don’t have to be able to cope with this, I teach you strategies to manage your workload, I teach you how to set boundaries I teach you and not only teach, but I support you and help hold you accountable to push yourself out of your comfort zone to think differently to give you tools that you need to be able to get the best from your team without squeezing them. So you have more time. So there’s tons of stuff. So you don’t have to do this alone, you absolutely don’t. So please, you know, reach out to me again, hello@lusignan.com or on Instagram or on LinkedIn, we link it in the show notes or wherever you’re listening to the podcast, I would I’m this is what I do. This is my baby. But if you’re not ready for that step with me absolutely just reach out to a friend or family member or even, you know, a lot of your companies will have employee assistance programs where you can speak to a therapist. So again, it just depends on what you need. Definitely, definitely reach out for some support. And if you’re not sure, you might be thinking, Well, how do I know if I need to work with you and see you or if I need the therapist? I’m so messed up. That’s how I used to think. And I have recorded a podcast episode, episode number 22. called Do you need a coach a therapist or a mentor? So go and check that out because I break down exactly the role of a coach, the role of a therapist and the role of a mentor. And I explain in a lot more detail exactly kind of what I do. But if you have any questions, of course, please just don’t be afraid to reach out like life is too short to struggle.
19:14
The fourth strategy, then that I would recommend you do to manage work related anxiety and stress is to prioritize. So prioritizing your tasks is going to just help you get so organized. And it really does reduce feelings of overwhelm. So make your to do list and prioritize your tasks based on their importance and their deadline. So this will help you to stay more focused and it’ll just help you to feel more more in control. So a lot of people excuse me find it difficult to prioritize because they believe believe that everything is a priority. But everything can be a priority. You might be a priority for your company, but you’re only one person right? So you’ve got to be able to kind of come up out of the weeds Get strategic, look at the business goals, look at the big picture. If you’re not clear, you need to get seek that clarification. But be ready to know I suppose your I suppose your capacity in a sense. And just because you’re if you’re at like I work with a lot of women who will be our VP level or SVP level, just because you’re at that level in an organization does not mean that you have to dedicate your entire life to that company. Because what’s like, unless you, you love it, and you’re not stressed, and there’s no anxiety. And that’s all cool if that’s what you want. Amazing. But if you’re feeling stressed, or your work life balance is out of sync, and you’re lonely, and you miss friends, and you wish you had more time to exercise, but the company has taken your time. The only way you ever change that is by taking back control. The only way you ever change that is by making a decision, that you’re worth it, that you deserve more. And I have I was thinking of a client of mine that she was at. Yeah, I think she’s like an executive vice president like it’s all mixed up with you all and all their different titles. And, and she was working like 70 hour weeks and crazy hours on, you know different time zones and things like that. And she was so afraid to step back because she had this imposter syndrome that a lot of women would struggle with and men too. And she really didn’t want to step back because she was afraid that, you know, her team would drop the ball or that her boss would think she was incompetent. But what ended up happening is she completely burned herself out. And she had to take the time away. And you know, we did a lot of work together and things like that as well. And she went back with a newfound confidence and new boundaries, fresh perspective, a lot more trust for her team. And literally what ended up happening was she was sought out for a promotion to divisional president as she loosens the reins. So if that’s not evidence to support the fact that when you take care of yourself, magic things happen. I really don’t know what it is.
21:59
And then just before I leave your goal that the fifth thing I would say when it comes to managing stress and anxiety at work is to take regular breaks. So I know a lot of you block out your lunch break, but you don’t bother taking them. And again, I’m going back to Fiona Brandon, when she came in to talk to my mastermind group, I asked her that question like, look, a lot of the ladies here were, you know, they block out the lunch because she was saying, oh, block out time in your calendar and I was gone. Yeah, they do that don’t take it. She said something that was really profound. And she said, like, you wouldn’t treat a dog like that. You wouldn’t not give a dog a break. And I thought, well, that really was profound. Because sometimes we work ourselves to the bone. Like what’s it all for, you’ve got to get disciplined with yourself, to be able to pull yourself away and realize that you’re not as important as you think. And I’m saying that with compassion and kindness. I had a client there a couple of weeks ago who had worked for her company for 20 years and was made redundant. She had given her life to this company. And all of a sudden, she’s gone. I have another client who was told she was made redundant last week. So don’t fool yourself into thinking that you know you’re doing it for the company and that it’s going to reward you it may not. So you’ve got to take breaks. And actually, there’s lots and lots of research out there that supports the fact that the most there was a there was a study of like the top 500 CEOs, if I recall correctly, and they take breaks every 37 minutes, 37 minutes. Now I know that might not be possible for you. But even if you were to try to have 55 minute meetings and just have five minutes to just do a bit of breath work in between, even if you took half an hour for lunch and hold your eyes out for a walk right? Get yourself a partner in crime that will help hold you accountable. And that will really really help you as well. So just to recap on the five strategies, number one, set your boundaries. And again, I will be super happy to work with you in any of this because I absolutely love it. And I have tons of tools and processes I can take you through that will absolutely help you their practice self care, like just take care of yourself. seek out support. So again, be me or a friend or family member or even your EIP service. Please don’t do this alone. Number four, prioritize your workload, learn how to prioritize, and I recorded a full podcast episode number 60 on my method on how to prioritize like a CEO. So definitely go check that out. There’s a free guide with that and everything that gives you my powerhouse prioritization matrix, please, please go and download that it will really really help you. And number five take breaks. So that is it for this week’s episode. If you enjoyed it, I highly recommend that straightaway you go and you listen to episode number two, episode number 22 and even episode number 32, which is all on how to manage worry. I think those three will be super, super useful for you. So look, I know this is difficult. I really, really do. But I want you to know above all things that you are not alone in your struggles and change. is possible with the right mindset with the right strategy and with the right support. So if you need support in this area, if you have been struggling on your own working long hours for a long time and you are tired of missing out on things, you’re tired of beating yourself up, you’re tired of second guessing your decisions. You’re tired of other people not playing ball with you. Please reach out to me because I have so much I can support you with there. Okay, so again, email me hello and Lucy garland.com with the words just powerhouse or even just DM me on Instagram on LinkedIn. Just DM me the word powerhouse. And I will know exactly what that means if you don’t know how to start the conversation. So that is it for this week’s episode. If you have any suggestions for future episodes, please reach out. I love hearing from you, like genuinely absolutely love it. So please reach out. I’d love to know how we can support you on the podcast. And if you enjoyed this and found it valuable, like I asked you at the start, please go into Spotify and click that five star ratings or go into Apple podcasts and write me a short regroup review. I will read it out on the podcast next time I will always read out your views every now and again. So it would be cool. I could give you a shout out and you can hear me mention your name and all your words that you say about the podcast. It will be amazing for me and also I would love to give you a shout out. So that is it for this week’s episode. I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful rest of your day. Take care and I’ll talk to you again soon.
