I've struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember. (then even further)

My mother always tells me several stories about when I was a little kid.

Anytime we went to a show or movie, I spent the entire time asking my parents how long it would last and what we were doing next.

On the surface it seems like an impatient kid, but 25 years later and it all makes sense.

I was already stressing about not knowing our exact plan for the day. I'm sure some of you reading this experienced the same thing.

The good news is we're not alone.

There’s 301 million people worldwide with anxiety, myself included

And today (by request of a fellow subscriber :) we are breaking down the best strategies that I've learned over the past 6 years to overcome anxiety.

Let's dive in.

Mental Strategies

Control Exercise

The control exercise is my favorite by a mile. Whenever you find yourself worrying or overthinking, grab a piece of paper and do the following:

1. Write out everything you are thinking about

2. Circle the ones that you can control

3. Only focus on doing those things

It seems simple because it is. Anxiety can actually be a good thing if it's used in the right direction. And the best way to find direction, is by focusing only on those things we can control.

Inverse Exercise

This is a simple inner dialogue technique.

Instead of repeating negative thoughts or situations in your head, simply repeat the inverse of it:

"Nothing good ever happens to me"
"Good things are happening to me"

Everything in life has an equal chance of happening (good or bad) but people tend to only focus on the negative, so we see it more often.

But just reminding yourself about the positive potential can make all the difference.

Cognitive Distortions

Cognitive distortions are irrational thought patterns that cause us to perceive reality inaccurately.

• Black and white thinking (polarization)

• Metal filtering

• Jumping to Conclusions

These are about recognition.

If you are someone that often thinks in extremes (everything is right, or everything is wrong)… you most likely suffer from polarization

Simply knowing about and researching these distortions can start to repair your thought patterns.

This is a great article with a list of 10 distortions that you can learn about.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

What we focus on is what we notice.

If you're only looking for the negative, trust me you will find it.

But the opposite is also true:

Look for the positive and you will consistently find it.

This is can also be referred to as manifesting.

Physical Strategies

Now, I want to share three physical strategies that have helped me reduce the overal impact of anxiety on my life.

Double inhale

Dr. Huberman taught me this one:

Double inhale and exhale for a few breathes immediately lowers anxiety levels on a biological level.

To do it, simply take a deep inhale then right when you think you can't inhale anymore, take another quick inhale.

Then, exhale long and slow through your mouth.

This immediately lowers CO2 in the brain which decreases real symptoms of anxiety. (I highly recommend using this one anytime you feel anxious)

Daily Exercise

It's cliche but true: daily exercise will improve your mental health.

I personally do daily walks and strength training, and I noticed that once I go 3 or more days without exercise: I am a ball of anxiety.

You can start with as little as a 10 minute walk and after a few weeks you'll notice a difference in your mental state.

The goal here is consistency so do whatever works best for you.

Diet

The last one is a simple diet change:

Cut out as much sugar as possible and double your protein intake.

I could go full science nerd and give you all the chemical reasons for this but I'll spare you the science lesson.

Just trust me on this, you will feel 10x better if you remove sugar and double your protein.

Some Parting Wisdom

You will do better next time, and then even better the time after that.

The most vital secret about anxiety is that it never “goes away”, it just gets easier:

• easier to spot

• easier to control

• easier to prevent

It’s like a muscle, the more we flex our strategies, the better we get at them, and the more effective they are.

The important thing to remember is that everyone is different and some strategies will work better for you than others

So try a bunch of them, note which ones are most effective and practice those as often as you can