When anxiety makes it hard to do your jo

Here's exactly what to say to your boss if your worry spirals are causing problems.

- WORDS BY ANNA BORGES

Unless youre Director of Panic Attacks at Spiralling & Associates, your anxiety probably isn't a welcome visitor when it shows up in the workplace. It’s not easy to get your job done when your heart is racing or you're fending off a negative thought spiral — plus, added complications like irritability, indecision and lack of concentration can cause your productivity and interpersonal relationships to take a hit. What are you supposed to do when your anxiety interferes with your performance?

1 Keep an anxiety log.

Tracking when you're feeling anxious can give you some clue as to what's causing that reaction and help you notice patterns,” says Dr Marlynn Wei, a New York psychiatrist. Maybe the Sunday scaries come like clockwork or you notice that your stress goes up with each Teams ping. You can start to zero in on more effective and specific solutions for your needs (like a Sunday night routine or a focus extension to mute notifications, perhaps).

While there are apps and workbooks dedicated to anxiety-tracking, a regular ol’ notebook (or the notes app on your phone) is more than enough. What's important is that you can access your log quickly and easily. And it can be simple — record the time, your level of anxiety (a simple one to 10 scale works great) and a short note about what was happening when the feeling came up. If youre a ruminator, you can include specific anxious thoughts (say, “I'm going to lose my job!”) so you can identify common sources of stress — as well as negative thought patterns you fall into. Speaking of...

2 Interrupt those worry spirals ASAP.