Managing Your Anxiety

Make anxiety work for you.

Work is stressful: We race to meet deadlines. We extend ourselves to return favors for colleagues. We set ambitious goals for ourselves and our teams. We measure ourselves against metrics, our competitors, and sometimes, our colleagues. Some of us even go beyond tangible metrics to internalize stress and fear of missing the mark—ruminating over presentations that didn't go according to plan, imagining worst-case scenarios, or standing frozen, paralyzed by perfectionism. But hypervigilance, worry, and catastrophizing don't have to hold you back at work. When channeled thoughtfully, anxiety can motivate us to be more resourceful, productive, and creative. It can break down barriers and create new bonds with our colleagues.

Managing Your Anxiety will help you distinguish stress from anxiety, learn what anxiety looks like for you, understand it, and respond to it with self-compassion at work. With the latest psychological research and practical advice from leading experts, you'll learn how to recognize how your anxiety manifests itself; manage it in small, day-to-day moments and in more challenging times; experiment and find a mindfulness practice that works for you; and build a support infrastructure to help you manage your anxiety over the long term.


  1. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leading with Purpose : (featuring "Creating a Purpose-Driven Organization" by Robert E. Quinn and Anjan V. Thakor)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Adam Grant, Ranjay Gulati, Julie Battilana, Michael E. Porter

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  2. Being Your Best Collection (6 Books) (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series)

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  3. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Employee Engagement

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  4. People Skills for a Virtual World Collection

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  5. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership, Updated and Expanded (featuring "Begin with Trust" by Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss)

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  6. The Year in Tech, 2026 : The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Scott D. Anthony, Amy Webb, José Parra-Moyano, Christina Shim

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  7. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself, Updated and Expanded (featuring "How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton M. Christensen)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Peter F. Drucker, Amy Gallo, Amy Jen Sue, Clayton M. Christensen

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  8. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy, Updated and Expanded (featuring "The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy" by Michael E. Porter)

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  9. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing People, Updated and Expanded (featuring "Are You a Good Boss--or a Great One?" by Linda A. Hill and Kent Lineback)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Daniel Goleman, Linda A. Hill, Tsedal Neeley, Marcus Buckingham

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  11. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Change Management, Updated and Expanded (featuring "Leading Change" by John P. Kotter)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, John P. Kotter, Frances Frei, Vijay Govindarajan, Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez

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  12. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Emotional Intelligence, Updated and Expanded (featuring "What Makes a Leader" by Daniel Goleman)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

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