Take away my anxiety

I have an important presentation tomorrow morning. Prepared hard all week. It is late, time to go to bed. I set the alarm for early morning.

But what if it doesn’t ring? What if I don’t wake up? What if … ?
Oh great, now I can’t sleep. Getting anxious about the most trivial events, stops me from getting the most important thing I need for my presentation: sleep.

I am about to go out. Check the battery level of my mobile phone. Damn it. 16%. All of a
sudden, I start to panic.

Stressing out that you might be stressed out because of having no working phone!
People from last century would laugh at you. But anxiety has become a part and
parcel of everyday life for many of us these days.

Lord please please please, take away my anxiety

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

A Typical Micro-Stress

You have an important meeting at 10 AM. You can’t be late. You arrive much earlier but
don’t want to show that you are too needy, so you decide to kill time by doing something -
sitting for a coffee or hanging around in the lobby.

You keep checking time to make sure you are not missing it. At five minutes to 10, you
take the lift to go up. But now, the lift is late and all of a sudden everyone is stopping the lift
on every floor. Your stress level creeps up each time the lift stops. But, luckily, that turns out
to be okay, as you arrive just in time.

You enter the reception area. No one is there but a bell, you ring it. You grow more anxious
by the minute.

Photo by John Sekutowski on Unsplash

“Did they hear it? I might ring it again, but wouldn’t it be rude? What if they heard it and
they are on their way?” The inner chatter paces up.

A few minutes pass and no one shows up. You have no idea why. Maybe they did not hear
the bell. You ring it again. A few minutes later someone shows up. Finally!

She takes you to the meeting room. It is now 10:10; yet another coin for the anxiety bank.
You were on time, but do they know it, or do they think you were late?

This is how anxiety or nervousness forms within our minds.

What Can We Do to Overcome Anxiety?

Most of the time, it happens not by anything explicitly bad, but by the possibility of
something bad happening in the future, like the possibility of you being late or missing the
meeting. Hence, I call it stress about stress.

Some call it anxiety, nervousness or worry. Whatever you call it, it is not good for your
performance in the meeting. You are already on the back foot.

We are not alone. This Study shows that one in four Americans reported feeling stressed in
the last month and one in two has experienced a major stressful event in the last year.

Stress by itself is bad but Stress about Stress is even worse.

There are many things that we can do to reduce our stress and anxiety levels.

• We can practice actively focusing within ourselves and try to minimise anxious
  thoughts as they happen. With gradual practice, we can significantly decrease our
  levels of stress.

• We can take up regular meditation. A five to ten minutes of mind-calming silent time in the mornings and the evenings can do a lot in reducing anxiety.

• It is also a good idea to practice breathing exercises along with meditation. You can
  also have a meditation session before any event that is stressful for you.

• We can be more organised. We can prepare everything for the occasion that is
  making us nervous and we should be ready to give our best shot. Trying our best is
  all that matters.

• Above all, we must realise that stress is not based on what’s happening in reality. It is
  all your mind’s creation due to fear of failure. It is always about “what ifs”, and it is
  always bad for your actual performance.

However, there will always be some elements that are out of our control, mainly
environmental elements.

In the example above, let’s look at how reception areas are managed. The bell has no feedback system to say, “Hey, we heard you. Someone is coming. Take a seat and relax.”

I find some reception areas completely neglected, and some even look as if they are designed to confuse the visitor. Too many signs and notice boards aimed at staff, contractors, delivery people, and you, the poor visitor.

Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash

What Can Business Owners Do to Reduce the Stress of Their Visitors?

Business owners and office managers can pay a bit of attention to their reception space and operations.

By putting themselves in the shoes of their clientele, they can imagine what the needs are and how to present themselves to their visitors. Putting a pack of old magazines on a table is so last century!

You too as a business owner can adopt techniques to make your prospects be at ease while visiting your office.

• An inviting entrance, comfortable seating areas, bright colors, indoor plants - all these can also have a huge positive impact on your visitors.

• Remove unnecessary signs. A bit of marketing material is good, but avoid putting employee notices, delivery notices, or anything not relevant to the visitor there. (If you need to put a sign up, there is something wrong with your layout)

• Put water or coffee facilities there if it is feasible. IIt will give a feel that you really care.

• If there is any papers or magazines, it needs to be the latest issue.

• Avoid the Bell, the iPad, or the Phone. These are not welcoming!

At Aimee Blue, we have been thinking and observing the visitors for a long time. We talked to them to see what they wanted, what they liked and what not.

As a result, we came up with a suitable solution and a few tricks to keep visitors calm, relaxed, and entertained.

• For one, when they arrive, they hear a warm welcoming voice - the voice of Aimee - our AI assisted concierge, greeting them without any delay.

• Aimee recognises the visitor if she has already met them before, or knows through the calendar that they are coming. She welcomes them with their name. Their name is the sweetest word they know and they unconsciously love to hear it.

• Once she knows what they are there for, She give them feedback about what to expect next.

• If the visitors have to wait, she can also make sure that they are well attended. She never forgets to offer refreshments.

• She recognises, and deals with Delivery people too, faster than they expect.

Life at times can be stressful. This is very natural. However, most of the times we suffer from stress about stress that is completely unnatural and unnecessary. We should never let such unnecessary stressors destroy the precious moments of our lives.

If you are stressed out at home or work, do not ignore it. It won’t go away by itself. Take measures to calm down, organise your environment and take control of your mind.

Aimee was crafted with this very mission of making some aspect of our work life easier. She has been helping many businesses entertain their guests with ease and grace and aims to help thousands more.

If you are responsible for your office space, let Aimee help you and your guests to be free of stress.