How to Cope with the Anxiety of Unplanned Meetings
This is the Mindset for Life podcast, a place for personal stories, coaching, neuroscience and my favorite positive psychology tools to master life, relationships and work. I'm your host. Bethanie Hansen. In today's episode, we'll focus on leadership, teaching, or coaching situations where you need to host a meeting and can't really get the agenda together. This can happen when those attending need to contribute information or to collaborate. It's at these times we might feel intense anxiety, because we can't plan or prepare very effectively. And yet, these can also be some of the more collaborative and generative moments.

Read on for an episode summary, action items from the episode, and a summary outline. A transcript is available in the podcast player tool. And, if today is the right time for you to work with a coach, the contact form is available on this page.
Episode Summary:
In today's episode, we'll cover the importance of planning in leadership and collaboration, emphasizing the neuroscience behind the need for structure to reduce anxiety. I'll share an experience of leading a meeting without a clear agenda and how co-creation led to successful outcomes. You'll gain seven strategies to manage anxiety, including box breathing, journaling, social support, visualization, mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, and physical exercise. We'll talk about the benefits of each method in calming the mind and body, enabling you to approach unstructured or unplanned meetings with confidence that leads to effective collaboration and leadership.
Action Items:
After listening to today's podcast, you might consider these action steps to make and sustain your personal or professional changes:

Try box breathing technique to calm anxiety.
Explore journaling to process thoughts and feelings before a meeting.
Reach out to a friend or colleague for social support before a meeting.
Practice visualization and positive imagery to imagine a successful meeting.
Incorporate mindfulness or meditation practices to stay present.
Consider using cognitive behavioral coaching to challenge negative thought patterns.
Engage in physical exercise to release endorphins and reduce anxiety.

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Episode Highlights:

Collaborative Leadership and Planning Meetings

Bethanie introduces the podcast, focusing on collaboration and leadership in various settings, emphasizes the importance of planning meetings and having a clear agenda to reduce anxiety.
Bethanie explains the neuroscience behind the need for complete answers and the fear of starting without all details, discusses how the brain's pattern recognition and prediction mechanisms can trigger anxiety when not all information is available.

Addressing Anxiety and Planning Without Detailed Agendas

Bethanie shares her experience of leading a meeting without a clear agenda and how co-creation led to successful outcomes.
She highlights the balance between leadership and collaboration in achieving meeting goals.
Bethanie provides strategies to address anxiety, such as self-talk, relaxation techniques, and box breathing.
She explains box breathing in detail, emphasizing its effectiveness in calming the brain and reducing anxiety.

Journaling, Social Support, and Visualization Techniques

Bethanie suggests journaling as a way to process thoughts and feelings, reducing anxiety and opening up to collaboration.
She recommends seeking social support from a non-involved person to feel understood and less anxious.
Visualization and positive imagery are discussed as tools to imagine positive outcomes and reduce anxiety.
Bethanie mentions mindfulness and meditation as methods to stay present and reduce anxiety, including guided meditation and progressive muscle relaxation.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Physical Exercise