How Do I Deal With Anxiety? Part 4 - Dancing the 10 minute hop some more

Current troubles affect our mood and mindset - but not everyone wants to try therapy.

As an alternative, I’ve given you tips on how to lessen anxiety yourself. You will feel better at key times of day AND will get things done even when anxiety ‘paralyses’ you. We confuse anxiety with procrastination - an umbrella term for putting stuff off ‘til tomorrow. Once we realise that anxiety is the root cause, we can help ourselves by reducing it.

Last week I described ‘Doing the 10 Minute Hop’. Some of you may think this is mechanical and contrived. Think further: when you CANNOT get going on a project and the THOUGHT of it gives you a sick feeling in your stomach, it is easy to make an excuse and promise yourself that you will do it tomorrow. You procrastinate. INSTEAD try giving the 10 Minute Hop technique a try:

@ Hour 1 it will feel mechanical and even unhelpful, as you may still do nothing and feel worse. Try to at least THINK about the project for 10 minutes.

@ Hour 2 it may feel contrived, but typically you’ll find that you do do SOMETHING, even if it’s just reading ‘THAT email’.

@ Hour 3 is often the time you’ll typically get going A BIT and then a bit MORE.

@ Hour 4 you may think: ‘Why stop at 10 minutes?’ and you are on a roll. No longer mechanical. Well done!