Action Absorbs Anxiety

Jaburg Wilk
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Jaburg Wilk

Every professional knows the feeling. You’re staring at a complex negotiation, facing a high-stakes client meeting, or preparing for a board meeting that could make or break your company’s future. Anxiety creeps in like fog, clouding your judgment and freezing your decision-making process. But there is an antidote to professional anxiety – it’s purposeful action.

For me, practicing law breeds anxiety by its very nature. I’ve been trained to spot every possible risk, to anticipate every worst-case scenario, and to protect my clients from threats they haven’t even considered. This hypervigilance serves me well in crafting contracts and avoiding litigation landmines, but it can also trap me in endless cycles of analysis paralysis. When I ruminate on all the things that could go wrong, I’m not solving problems, I’m amplifying them. The longer I sit with uncertainty, the more my mind manufactures catastrophic outcomes that likely will never materialize.

Taking action, even imperfect action, immediately shifts your mental state from victim to agent. When I’m facing a particularly thorny legal issue, I’ve learned to start with the smallest possible step: making a phone call to opposing counsel, drafting a single paragraph of analysis, or simply organizing my materials. These micro-actions create momentum that builds on itself. Each small victory generates confidence, and confidence breeds clarity. Suddenly, the mountain of work ahead doesn’t seem insurmountable. Instead, it becomes a series of manageable tasks, each one bringing you closer to resolution.

The business world rewards decisive action over perfect preparation. While a younger or less experienced professional may get caught up in researching every possible angle before making a recommendation, seasoned professionals understand that clients and customers need solutions, not exhaustive academic treatises. The most successful professionals I know are those who can quickly assess a situation, identify the most likely scenarios, and recommend a course of action based on reasonable assumptions. They understand that waiting for perfect information is often a luxury they and their clients can’t afford, and that taking calculated risks with incomplete data is often better than taking no action at all.

The next time you find yourself paralyzed by professional anxiety, remember that action is both your compass and your engine. Start with what you can control today, even if it’s just scheduling a meeting or drafting an outline. Forward momentum has a way of clarifying complex situations and revealing solutions that weren’t apparent during periods of inaction. In the legal profession and business, those who act thoughtfully but decisively don’t just survive, they thrive. Those you serve don’t need you to be perfect; they need you to be effective. And effectiveness, more often than not, comes from embracing the truth that action absorbs anxiety.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations. Attorney Advertising.

© Jaburg Wilk

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