Offload work anxiety onto the page

It is 2am and the same work worries are doing laps. This is a controlled release, not a fix: spend five minutes dumping every stress onto the page without filtering, then sort what you wrote into what you can act on and what you cannot. You are not solving it tonight, you are getting it out of your body and onto paper so you can sleep.

This exercise is a controlled release. You are not solving anything yet. You are getting it out of your body and onto paper. Set a timer for 20 minutes.

Part 1, The Download (5 minutes, no filtering):
Write everything that is stressing you about work right now. Tasks, people, fears, resentments, embarrassments, uncertainties. Do not organise it. Just write.

Part 2, Sort it (10 minutes):
1. Look back at what you wrote. Circle anything that is within your control to change this week.
2. Put a box around anything that is real but outside your control.
3. Cross out anything that is a catastrophising story rather than a fact.

Part 3, Narrow down (5 minutes):
4. Of the circled items, what is the single most important thing to address?
5. What is one concrete action I can take on it before Friday?
6. What do I need to let go of, at least for today, to function well?

End by writing: "Right now I am doing enough."