hack your anxiety

I wrote this during a week when I’d done the most cold outreach I’ve ever managed in my life. One morning, I woke up with an unfamiliar, almost overwhelming sense of anxiety - not something I usually associate with my work. I sat down, pen in hand, to figure out what was going on. This is what came out.

While this was written with sales in mind, the more I reflect on it, the more I realize it applies to life in general. I hope you find it helpful.

Note: Anxiety could be a medical condition and could seriously interfere with one's life. Please contact your healthcare provider if that’s the case.

hack your anxiety

Starting with the basics: Am I eating well, exercising, sleeping enough, meditating, journaling, talking to friends? Yes. I’m working full speed too. Yet there's this persistent whisper that I'm not focused on what truly matters. I find myself taking these little... escapes. More breaks than necessary, but instead of genuine rest, I'm lost in the infinite scroll of social media. The air starts to feel heavy. My leg won’t stop bouncing. My thoughts spiral into noise, all over the place. I work on multiple tasks simultaneously, but each receives only a fraction of my attention, and focus. Something’s off. What is it that I’m avoiding?

Is it something personal? No, I don’t think so, no. Everything feels to be going well on that front. Is it about work? It somehow feels like it. Looking at the previous days, I’ve done so much work, yet somehow can’t say I’ve moved the needle.

Well, there’s no wonder. I've been avoiding the essential while diving deep into the comfortable, and the bill for this little game of escapism has arrived. Ok, now that this is out of the way, what’s next?

Well, they say action cures anxiety. Sometimes the action is physical - go for a walk, lift heavy things, scream into the void. Physical action could also be a form of escapism on its own. In this case, it’s the mental work. Why is there anxiety creeping in?

Anxiety feeds on inaction, particularly when we avoid the tasks that really matter. But where does inaction come from? Often we blame it on lack of motivation, which is frankly nonsense - no one feels motivated 100% of the time. Discipline is the name of the game. Yet there's another factor at play: lack of results. This one stings, especially when you've invested significant effort into something and still don't see progress.

This creates a frustrating cycle: you work hard but don't see results, which makes it harder to keep working, which leads to fewer results.

Why aren’t there results? Two main reasons:

Controllables:

• The approach might be wrong (time to adjust).
• Haven’t done enough - either in volume or in persistence.

Uncontrollables:

• Someone else’s mood.
• The weather.
• The mysterious whims of the universe.

Since we can't influence the uncontrollable factors, let's focus on what we can change. The tricky part is finding the right balance between approach and effort. You need to figure out if your method works (hard) and then put in enough consistent work (harder). Here’s the catch-22: you can’t really know if the approach is right without enough data, and you can’t get the data without putting in the effort.

So how should you go about it? Go back to your original framework to action:

Set a hypothesis

Begin with a statement you want to test by running one or two simple experiments. For example: “Small business owners struggle to keep their accounting books in order but find professional accounting services too costly.”

Experiment

Pick a few things to test. A/B them if you like - whether it’s messaging, your audience, the format, or something else. Try as many as you can until something clicks. Write down every experiment. Trust me, it’s worth the effort. Not documenting is how you end up wondering, Why did I stop doing that? I feel like it was working out! (Yes, this is also how people end up texting their exes. Don’t be that person.)

Set a benchmark.

If there’s an industry standard, use it. If not, make your own. For example: “I’ll cold outreach 55 people with this message,” or “I’ll send this pitch to 20 clients with XYZ profile.”

Write down the results.

Record everything. Turn your findings into percentages. Compare them against your benchmark. You’ll be amazed at how much you think you know - and how much you actually don’t.

This is relevant not only for sales, it’s also about recognizing my own patterns. When something feels off, there’s usually a reason. Did I reach for my phone first thing, letting others’ thoughts take over? Did I mindlessly scroll before bed? Have I moved today or stayed glued to my laptop? Have I paused for even five minutes to sit with my thoughts? The patterns are there, I just need to notice them. And when I do, the cause of that heavy feeling becomes clear.

This covers the quantitative side. Now, let’s dive into the qualitative.

You’ll often hear LinkedIn business influencers, many of whom have never actually started a business, preaching about “creating value.” Honestly, I can’t stand it. “Creating value” is vague, subjective, and often requires people to change behaviors or systems they’re already comfortable with. In some cases, creating value in one area can even take away from another, especially when resources are limited or unintended consequences come into play.

Instead of obsessing over abstract concepts like "value creation," focus on understanding people. What keeps them awake at night? What are their daily challenges? What matters to them?

I know - it can feel overwhelming to care about others' problems when you're dealing with your own. But here's something we don't talk about enough: few things are more satisfying than using your skills to solve someone else's problem. We're all wired to want to contribute meaningfully and be appreciated for it. The catch? You can't contribute effectively if you don't understand what people actually need. And you won't understand unless you ask questions and truly listen.

Getting out of your own head and into someone else's world takes effort. It starts with genuine interest. Ask yourself:

• Do I like this person?
• Do I resonate with this person?
• Do I think what they’re doing is interesting?
• Would I want to work with or for them?

Maybe the answer is no - and that’s okay. It just means they’re not your people, or perhaps the industry itself doesn’t light you up. The goal is to find people you truly admire - those you find interesting, inspiring, smart, and genuinely exciting to engage with. People you want to talk to on a daily basis because, spoiler alert, your clients are going to be exactly those people.

Before reaching out to someone, do your research (tastefully). Study their content, social media presence, interviews, and what others say about their work. Use this knowledge to connect authentically. If you admire their work, tell them specifically why - but only if you mean it.

If they don’t respond, don’t take it personally. People are busy, often dealing with a lot more than you can see. But if someone does offer you their time, appreciate it - they’re under no obligation, and you have no idea what else might be happening in their life.

The more you connect with people who share similar challenges, the clearer it becomes: their frustrations and problems are often strikingly similar; they just describe them differently. Over time, you’ll learn to connect on a deeper level, and that connection might just help you figure out how to genuinely make their lives better.

But it all starts with an action. And action cures anxiety.

Speak to you soon,

A.