How I used technology to combat on-the-job anxiety
Thirty minutes into a public panel discussion, I squirmed in my seat at the head of the packed room. Something was wrong. I couldn’t put together a cohesive thought. I was stuttering, tripping over what would any other time be an effortless flow of words. I was having a crippling panic attack and it had nothing to do with the many rows of people sitting in front of me.
It had been a long week of traveling from city to city, creating and delivering presentations, managing an unceasing avalanche of emails and enduring countless sleepless nights to make it all happen. As soon as the presentation to the unsuspecting crowd was over, I hurriedly said my goodbyes and dashed to my hotel room that overlooked the dim Chicago skyline.
Despite the solitude, the severity of the panic attack grew stronger. The armchair I clenched was plush, but offered no comfort. It was like having the worst headache imaginable, but without any physical pain. I was literally paralyzed by anxiety.
My eyes fixed on a neon sign outside the window illuminating the night with the words “Rock Bottom.” I must be hallucinating, I thought. But there it was, hovering over the street announcing my emotions in a wide display of buzzing red. How apropos, I thought grimly.
In an effort to keep up with the 24-hour work cycle of the digital age, I had pushed myself far past the level of stress my body was capable of enduring. My ongoing anxiety was fueled by greasy fast food meals and a towering collection of 5-hour Energy bottles. I had ceased to take care of myself.
After that haunting day, I vowed to use the technology that brought on my stress to help relieve it. I was determined to thrive without compromising my workload.
First step: I stopped clinging to my phone from sunup to sundown in anticipation of work-related emails. Instead, I set up an IFTTT recipe that would send me a text message or ring my phone if my bosses emailed me. I also created a recipe for any email that contained words like “emergency” or “urgent.” After a lengthy experiment, I confirmed that I could rest without fear of missing an important message.
Soon after that, I would find my center every morning by meditating to the atmospheric sounds of the Marconi Union Pandora station. This was a major shift for a guy who can’t sit still for more than five minutes.
During work hours, I sent all my emails that weren’t time-sensitive in one attack, whether they reached my inbox 10 minutes or 10 hours prior. Sending responses too quickly to some people is a hint that your availability may be more open than it actually is. To counteract this line of thinking, I used Boomerang for Gmail to schedule an appropriate time in the future for the recipient to get the email.
When a day became inordinately stressful, I took advantage of our office’s empty meeting rooms for a quiet break. No laptop, no phone. Just me and the silence between the walls. Many companies use a calendaring system to schedule meeting rooms, which I used to my advantage. My coworkers rapping on the door to begin their slot became my natural timer.
To my surprise, my work didn’t falter by taking breaks. In fact, my productivity increased. Lesson learned: I was no good to anyone if I couldn’t be good to myself.
