EP 244: Managing Anxiety As An Entrepreneur With Supernova Collective Creator Jo Casey

Published: Oct. 17, 2019, 7:03 a.m.

b'The Nitty-Gritty:\\n\\n\\n\\n* How coach and business strategist Jo Casey manages her anxiety as an entrepreneur* The situation that revealed just how big an impact anxiety had on how she ran her business* How setting clearer boundaries and doubling her rates helped to get back on track* Why she\\u2019s simplified her business as a way of managing her anxiety* The positive results she\\u2019s seen by making her anxiety conscious and working to manage it productively\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWait, my anxiety isn\\u2019t normal?\\n\\n\\n\\nWe were driving along Interstate 90 somewhere between Chicago and Minneapolis on the hottest day of the summer.\\n\\n\\n\\nSean asked me, \\u201cCan you remember a time when you didn\\u2019t feel anxious?\\u201d\\n\\n\\n\\nI paused. I thought. I looked back over the key periods of my life.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\u201cWell, no. I can\\u2019t remember a time I didn\\u2019t feel anxious,\\u201d I finally responded.\\n\\n\\n\\nHonestly, I was surprised.\\n\\n\\n\\nYou see, I\\u2019ve spent my whole adolescent and adult life being hyper-aware of my history of depression. Even when I\\u2019m feeling good, I\\u2019m on the look out for the warning signs.\\n\\n\\n\\nI realize that might sound a bit anxious all on its own\\u2014but looking for the warning signs has allowed me to get help before things got really bad a numbers of times.\\n\\n\\n\\nI\\u2019ve spent the last 7 years or so fairly free of depressive episodes and generally considered my mental health to be strong.\\n\\n\\n\\nSo this realization that anxiety\\u2014that tight feeling in my chest, the lump at the pit of my stomach, the prickly skin, the whirling mind, the foreboding sense that at any moment things could all fall apart\\u2026\\n\\n\\n\\nThat realization that anxiety has always been with me and\\u2014get this\\u2014that it isn\\u2019t normal? **It was a shock.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAs I started to examine the impact anxiety has had on me, I couldn\\u2019t help but see its presence all over my business.\\n\\n\\n\\nNow, here\\u2019s the thing. You might be surprised to learn just how big an impact anxiety has had on me and my business over the years.\\n\\n\\n\\nYou probably don\\u2019t think of me as someone who struggles to make decisions or take action. You don\\u2019t think of me as someone nervous about stepping out of the shadows or making big moves.\\n\\n\\n\\nBut there is a whole category of anxiety that often presents in high-performers\\u2014the achievers, the doers, the make stuff happen people. It\\u2019s called High Functioning Anxiety.\\n\\n\\n\\nSimply put, High Functioning Anxiety is the constant sense that everything will fall apart around you if you\\u2019re not performing at your highest capacity all the time. It\\u2019s mix of overdoing, overthinking, and over-achieving.\\n\\n\\n\\nAnd listener? I would not be surprised if that sounds familiar to you.\\n\\n\\n\\nI learned about High Functioning Anxiety from one of Yellow House Media\\u2019s podcasting clients, Nancy Jane Smith, and her show The Happier Approach.\\n\\n\\n\\nEver since I heard the concept, I can recognize my anxiety everywhere. I feel it when the hotel shuttle bus is making me late for my flight. I feel it when I receive an invitation to a party I\\u2019m expected to attend but don\\u2019t have the right outfit for. I feel it every time I hit send on an email or realize I\\u2019ve made a typo in a sales page. I feel it when I\\u2019m obsessing on a client situation or setting big goals for the business.'