Dr. Bonnie Hayden Cheng studies how anxiety can be useful for us at work. That’s right: anxiety has something to offer! It can be useful. If you’re anxious about layoffs as we head into the end of the year (and who isn’t in this economy?) take heart:

You can use your anxiety to do great work. Research shows when you get adept at learning how to manage and use your emotions, you can use your anxiety to create forward looking, strategic plans. Another key part of anxiety is that it makes you more alert: hypervigilance. You don't want hypervigilance to become part of your daily existence, because it's very draining. But when you're in a situation that requires deep attention to detail, that requires that concentration and that focused energy – you can channel your hypervigilance into productive work.

Ramp up your performance when it’s crucial. Layoff anxiety is anticipatory, “It's not reactive, meaning it's worrying about something that hasn't happened.” When things are uncertain and feel scary, anxiety can spiral and you can convince yourself that something horrible is lurking just around the corner.

But: you can apply this anticipatory anxiety to your work. “Job insecurity is a situation characterized by high uncertainty. This can actually intensify motivated action. A salient example of this is the tenure system at academic institutions; job insecurity is a driver of high performance for pre-tenure faculty.” 

There is a knife’s edge between helpful anxiety and harmful anxiety. How much do you dwell on possible future disasters? When you catastrophize and formulate worst case scenarios, you slide into harmful anxiety. My advice, after years of battling this myself: Try to stay in the present, and stay busy.

Watch yourself: You might reach for old habits

Our reactions to anxiety become habits, a default system of managing anxiety. Sometimes these habits are adaptive and helpful (see above). But sometimes our habits aren’t great. We may avoid things that make us anxious, or turn to junk food, shopping and substances. Bonnie explains these as “ineffective strategies that have developed over time as a result of a pattern of reactions and habits that have either demotivated or caused us to disengage.”

If you’re feeling layoff anxiety, notice when you’re tempted to dive into that old habit that seems to make your anxiety go away temporarily, even if it makes you feel 100% worse in the morning! (That's me and an entire box of See's chocolates).

If you’re regressing to old habits or behaviors, start by noticing it. Then give yourself some compassion.

Hang in there!

Morra

PS. If you want more, check out my interview with Dr. Kristin Neff, where she offers some self-compassion exercises for when you’re feeling both anxious and self-blaming!