Career Success--Dealing With Anxiety

This is Chapter Seven in the Career Success series.

Recently I have been in settings which range from face to face with experienced leaders to discussions with undergraduate and graduate students who are concerned about moving into the world of employment. These various groups, especially in the questions and comments sections of our sessions, share a huge common element. Anxiety about the future characterizes much of what is offered and much of what is asked.

To start, a touch of anxiety is healthy because it is a motivator to discover more. This discovery, if it carries an "open to the new" tone, is very beneficial when opportunities and choices arrive. Such discovery work, both online and in conversation, gets us ready to engage new opportunities.

The downside of a period of uncertainty is worry can set in. Worry is a symptom of anxious concern about the future. Sometimes this anxiety comes from the desire to move more quickly beyond the uncertainty when doing so is out of our personal control.

Anxiety, and especially its negative symptom worry, seem to often be caused by a sometimes unrealistic human desire to have certainty through OUR control of circumstances which will never be fully within our control. We might conclude an impossible desire, slated to be unmet in the short run, is causing the wasted energy consumed when the anxiety level leads not to discovery action but to worry.

Who should do what by when? This key question can help us thread our way through this very human condition.

First, we each need to notice when our responses to mild or moderate anxiety are positive. Discovery online and through conversation have already been noted. One of the consequences of discovery is it interrupts the tendency to worry. Worry can lead to obsessive thoughts about things not currently within our control.

Examples--A student is seeking an internship so they can experience the world of work in their field of study. A second student is seeking full time employment. For our third example, an experienced person is seeking to do more professionally either within the current employer or beyond the current employer.

For each of these examples, a first wise step is to take inventory. Students often undervalue experiences they've already had and are having. Experienced employees and leaders often focus too much on the task knowledge they have while undervaluing skill sets such as learning motivation, relationship motivation, and bias for action motivation.

Framework for Inventory

These elements can help the inventory. They are expressed in question form.

What have I experienced? Of these experiences, which gave me more satisfaction? Please don't overlook non-career experiences.

An Example--Where you an athlete? Are you satisfied and pleased when in competition with others? Or is your athletic experience most satisfying because of the teamwork aspect, with competitiveness somewhat less important? The answers to these last two questions can lead you to competitive work or to teamwork. Know in which of these you thrive.

Another Example--Have you traveled? Was your satisfaction stronger in planning, in being there, or in reliving the memories? All of the above? Was your satisfaction strongest when realizing you could combine travel and your career? Here you discover your strengths, with the last strength being the synergy found in combining the elements of travel and career, which others might not think to do.

After Inventory Comes Planning and Action with Purpose

What have I accomplished? In which career direction do I seek to move next? Please note the word NEXT. This is because we add next goals as we move through our careers and our lives.

What skills do I already have? What skills do I need to build in this next career phase? Here we are building next career goals. Discovery will help a great deal here. Be sure discussion with trusted thought partners is included here. There is personal growth both when we explain our thinking to others who don't judge and when we hear their reactions. Our thought partners' more valuable responses will avoid judgment and "should" statements (for example, "You should not pursue a new career step). Instead, the thought partner's most valuable tool is inquiry.

These questions, and others, each individual should generate and WRITE DOWN, The act of writing down helps us return to the notes when obsessive thought patterns start to develop. Otherwise, obsessive, recursive thoughts can overwhelm the actions of discovery.

Teach yourself through practice to interrupt anxious, worrying, recursive, obsessive thoughts. A great way to interrupt this dysfunctional waste of time in thought is to build a gratitude list or start a gratitude journal. This form of self affirmation can build confidence, especially in discovery conversations while "interviewing for information" as a precursor to employment opportunity search.

Ask others to help you build this gratitude list. Skill endorsements on LinkedIn are an example of how others see your skills. Discussions with those whose inputs you value can help here as well.

There is a reason we can all cultivate "thought partners". We help each other get better by strengthening each other's strengths. Your energy is much better spent strengthening your strengths rather than trying to shore up perceived weaknesses.

I wonder where the foolishness of the concept of the "well-rounded person" comes from! This concept seems to me, especially in team environments of today, to lead to nothing greater than "lowest common denominator" outcomes.

Let's strengthen our strengths and leave room for others to apply THEIR complimentary strengths. We need well rounded TEAMS. There is much less need for well rounded individuals. To gain confidence and interrupt worry, strengthen your strengths! Note the value of increased focus and reduced anxiety which results.

The Big Picture

There are times in our lives when approaching changes need to be anticipated so we can prepare. Internship time, graduation, and the need to again grow professionally while working are three examples we're exploring. What happens in between these more complex times?

Before the internship is needed or the need for post-graduation is upon us, we go through our own growth times, perhaps with slightly less intense anxiety. Why? Because, whether studying or working, somewhat more of what we face we can control or influence. Many human beings we crave more certainty rather than less.

A physical image which can help here is to imagine a staircase. The part we may touch with our toe is called the riser. The part upon which we place the bottom of our shoe is called the tread.

The tread represents the times in our lives when we can control or influence more of what we face professionally. Second year and third year students can "get into the groove" with even new subjects. Second year in a formerly new job can bring less anxiety. Years four and five in the same job with little skill and knowledge growth can cause the anxiety associated with no personal skill growth.

The riser indicates times of less control, less influence, less certainty and the need for more gratitude, experience inventory, satisfaction discovery/inventory, goal setting, and especially more discovery.

It is as though the staircase describes the times in our careers when we are mastering what we do (the tread), and then building again to do more (the riser). There is a time to embrace each, including the greater uncertainty of the riser stage.