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Anxious people often live in a constant state of high arousal. Small stressors can easily push them over the edge.
Some stress is predictable; it's a case of when it will occur, not if.
Generic types include forgetting, losing information, or an item breaking. You don't know specifically what will break, but something will eventually. It happens to everyone.
When predictable stressors happen, strategies aid anxious people in coping, providing a chance to excel. Here are five categories of strategies.
1. Memory aids
I never remember my car's motor oil type. When topping it off, I keep the empty bottle and a searchable photo in Google Photos.
If handed a business card, instruction sheet, or prescription, I take a photo as a record, in case I lose the physical paper.
2. Back-ups
Back-ups are a general category of stress-saver that can take many forms:
- Extras of items that run out or break.
- Duplicates of items you misplace (so that you don't have to hunt for the item when you're rushed or stressed.)
- Spares for content production during busy periods, for example, your monthly newsletter.
- Generic extras for gifting.
- Back-up plans, like booking one flight earlier than needed for an important international connection. If your flight gets canceled or very delayed, another flight will allow you to make your connection.
3. Note-taking
Note-taking is an underrated skill. For example, if you tweak a recipe to your taste, write down what you did. Another example: I recently had a colonoscopy that I need to repeat in five years. Since I won't remember that far into the future, I wrote notes of how I prepared. I won't need to reinvent the wheel next time.
Note-taking can help you from repeating your mistakes, like adding too much seasoning to a dish.
You can also take notes about how you arrived at important insights and solutions, for instance, if asking others for advice resulted in you having your own insight, even if their specific advice wasn't right for you.
4. Create a generic system for novel tasks
By novel tasks, I mean tasks you haven't done before. When you record strategies that have worked for you—for solving problems and getting things done—you can incorporate these when you create a generic system.
It's especially important to have a generic system for novel tasks if you tend to avoid or ruminate, both of which are common habits among people who are anxious or depressed.
Both note-taking and creating a system for novel tasks improve knowledge transfer—applying learning from one domain to another, enhancing resilience and problem-solving confidence.
Here, knowledge transfer is applying learning from one domain to another, like using a grocery shopping strategy for managing your finances or a work task.
5. Routines for when (and how) you work on improving your systems
People often act like the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. For example, you spend 30 minutes searching your house for an item you need today, rather than creating a system to avoid losing it.
If this is you, create a routine for when and how you improve your systems. Routines help reduce the willpower needed to do anything.
Attempting to create all these systems at once would be overwhelming. Pick one small sub-suggestion that would benefit you and give it a try.
While these ideas aren't deeply psychological, they are low-hanging fruit to reduce your stress. This will give you increased mental bandwidth to deal with unpredictable stressors and help you feel competent and in control.
A specific advantage of these strategies is that they are especially beneficial when you are already stressed or rushed. For example, you need to top up your car oil before a road trip. These are also helpful if you need to reduce your mental load to help you cope with life because of a clinical problem like depression.
Which idea do you think would help you most?
