Your eyes open in the darkness of the night. The clock tells you it’s 4 a.m. You roll over and try to go back to sleep. But you can’t.
You suffer from a constant feeling of discomfort. Maybe it’s because of that pending interview or earnings report. Maybe it’s because of the big bang you’re hoping to close or the IPO you’ve been waiting for when the market opens. Maybe you can’t pinpoint the reason at all. . . which only adds to your anxiety.
You force yourself to relax, it works and tells you not think about the problem. Another part of your mind urges you to get up, use the pre-dawn hours, and get some work done. But you know that if you don’t go back to sleep, you’ll be on your feet before your first coffee break, by which time coffee will be completely useless. Your mind is racing and your heart is racing to keep up.
We’ve all experienced this—hopefully, not too often. There seems to be no cure for that constant fear and self-doubt that plagues us in the mornings. But we can take comfort in knowing that this situation is common enough to have its own name, a current entry in the Ethical Lexicon:
Uhtceare (uht·ce·a·re/ well-kih-a-ray) noun
A feeling of anxiety when you wake up suddenly before dawn.
An Old English word meaning, literally, morning careuhtceare is doubly dangerous because it robs us of the rest we need so much, and it adds to the anxiety that wakes us up with more anxiety because of not being able to sleep again. However, there may be a strategy to combat uhtceare with applications even during the day.
We are well aware of the classic symptoms of anxiety: rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, sweating, shaking, and jumping. But there is another common condition that shows all the same symptoms but is beneficial rather than harmful.
What’s going on? To be happy.
In a state of anxiety, your body produces cortisol to prepare you to jump into action. Trying to relieve yourself works against your body’s chemistry, increasing tension instead of eliminating it.
Looking forward feels exactly the same. By reframing your sense of fear as adventure or opportunity, you don’t remove the cause of the anxiety but transform it, turning it into a positive emotion rather than a negative one. According to HBS assistant professor Alison Wood Brooks, subjects who said to themselves: “I’m happy,” did about 20% better in public speaking, karaoke, and cognitive tests.
Anxiety and excitement are both natural responses to the approaching age of truth. The signals we hear are part of life’s background music that tells us to pay attention and be ready for each opportunity that awaits us around the next corner. How we process those signals determines which classical response we choose: fight, run, or snow.
So why do we seem so irrational in worrying? Usually, due to insecurity and lack of confidence. The underlying reason for feeling doubt or doubt can usually be traced to one of three different factors:
We don’t trust ourselves.Have we held ourselves accountable for preparing what we need to do? Without adequate planning and preparation, we may have good reason to question whether we have the necessary skills to succeed.
We don’t trust our resources. Do we have the training, tools, and support to get the job done? Expecting to do a job outside of our skill set or without adequate resources is a recipe for failure.
We don’t trust the system. Do we suspect that this game may have been cheated on us? When we step up to the plate, we need to expect a fair playing field. Fear of spitballs and dishonest referees will inevitably undermine our performance.
This is why a culture of behavior is essential to efficient performance. In a healthy work environment, employees from top to bottom have good reason to believe that they are well prepared and equipped to do their jobs, that good work will produce good results, that evaluations will be fair, and that co-workers will support and encourage. In such a situation, there is no reason to doubt ourselves or to fear failure, because we know from our experience that if we stumble along the way, others will quickly step forward to protect us from falling.
Culture reflects leadership. The team members be a teamthe players only when the coach, the manager, and the entire franchise share the same vision and commitment to turn that vision into reality.
Such culture generates positive and beneficial energy. You may still wake up at 4 am, but you won’t experience uhtceare. Instead of worry, your mind will be filled with joy as you look forward to a day of purpose, progress, and productivity.
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