The Anxious Achiever

3 Uncover Your Triggers and Tells

Let’s face it: Anxiety is weird. It’s inconsistent and often makes no sense. What one person experiences as threatening another barely registers, and it’s not uncommon for seemingly contradictory anxiety responses to exist in the same person. I’ve talked to so many leaders who have no problem delivering a keynote speech before thousands, but suffer panic attacks over the mere thought of dinner-party small talk. Others find high-contact jobs invigorating but decompensate when they’re alone, feeling intense bouts of anxiety or depression; still others thrive alone and become drained, anxious, and depressed from lots of face time. Even people we traditionally think of as brave—skydivers, cliff jumpers, fearless ...