Tick-tock, tick-tock…
Each second pulses louder in your ears. You begin sweating and breathing very quickly, gasping for air… Your heart beats faster as your body prepares for a fight-or-flight response to perceived danger—the deadline. It is drawing nearer and nearer. Now, the deadline looms over you with all the weight of expectations. It’s no longer a date or time digit on your calendar but a living, breathing creature—a dreadful monster taking a grip on your throat and squeezing it slowly but persistently so that, eventually, you can’t breathe…
In fact, stress is a daily negative experience for 44% of employees in the global workplace. And high-pressure deadlines make it even worse. However, there are ways to resist your workplace anxiety and manage tasks with tight deadlines in a worry-free way. We can show you how.
But let’s first warn you against doing nothing and reaping the aftermath.
The Consequences of High-Pressure Deadlines and Work Anxiety
Deadlines are hands down the #1 stressor in the workplace. Nearly one-third of employees (30%) cite the deadline as the most prevalent cause of work-related stress.
When you’re anxious to complete the task, deliver the KPI result, or achieve the OKR goal (individually or as a team) on time, this tension impacts your psychological and physiological condition. It may result in:
• Low attention to detail
• Project mistakes
• Zero creativity or innovation
• Depression
• Or other mental and physical health concerns
“Wait,” you may argue, “how can workplace anxiety under deadline pressure possibly ruin my physical health?”
If not to mention chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, immune system suppression, cardiovascular problems, diabetes, weight fluctuations, or other issues that develop gradually over time, it can influence your physical state instantly. In fact, deadline-related stress can directly cause employee injuries in the workplace.
Just visualize the following scenario (it actually played out for one of my colleagues):
You work in the office. The task is due today. Your hands are shaking badly (a typical physiological reaction to stress), and you’re heading to the office kitchen to drink your nervousness up with coffee. Eventually, you spill hot water on yourself and get burned.
The result?
No physical ability to actually meet the deadline. No compensation (your work injury claim may be denied due to negligence). No strength to endure this anymore…
The only way out is to play the game of anticipation right now before the next episode happens: learn how to handle deadline stress at work in the future.
How to Manage Deadline Pressure and Minimize Anxiety in the Workplace
1. Don’t suppress it—talk/meditate/work it out
If suppressed, deadline anxiety can “poison” the whole team with a toxic work environment. Due to time-sensitive projects, everyone may feel tension and quarrel all the time or, on the contrary, “hide in their shells” without sharing what bothers them and supporting each other. In turn, this provokes communication and collaboration breakdowns.
The three helpful tactics to prevent that are:
• Conversation → Talk it out: Find a “stress buddy” in the workplace, a reliable colleague to discuss your apprehensions, and seek encouragement and support from each other. You can also check in on each other’s progress and swap anxiety-coping strategies.
• Meditation → Meditate it out: Practice mindfulness meditation sessions (take deep breaths, acknowledge the deadline stress, and repeat positive coping statements like “I am a capable person,” “or “I can finish this task in time.”)
• Exercise → Work it out: Take a short break to indulge in yoga or enjoy a couple of minutes of walking in nature.
On the company-wide level, Rodger Desai, CEO of Prove, advises business leaders to “Create a transparent and safe workplace atmosphere for employees to share about the pressure they experience and fight deadline anxiety while feeling the supportive shoulder of their colleagues. In addition, you may also offer employee wellness benefits they can use when such cases occur.”
For example:
Prove has an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with confidential support and professional advice on personal or work-related problems (to talk it out) and a Gympass subscription (to work it out), among other physical and mental health perks in the workplace.
Source: Prove
2. Demystify the fear with “worst-scenario” planning and backups
What if I fail to meet the deadline? What if I let down the team? What if…?
More often than not, the fear of failure fuels your deadline anxiety. You jump into the ocean of uncertainties like these and never dive out.
When high-pressure deadlines arrive and leave you with countless potential scenarios, Jonathan Feniak, General Counsel at LLC Attorney, recommends the following: “Think what might go off-track and where it all may lead you in the worst scenario. In most cases, these are financial, legal, and reputational repercussions for employees and businesses. This ‘worst-scenario’ practice not only demystifies the fear but also helps prepare a backup plan if needed and reduces workplace anxiety. It may even be a well-thought-out crisis plan.”
For example:
Suppose you are a sales team with a tight deadline. You have only several hours to resolve a customer service issue.
What can be the worst outcome if you miss this urgent deadline?
The cascading effect may include loss of trust, customer churn, reputation damage, lower profit… And let’s stop here.
What can be your backup plan?
Inform the customer as soon as you realize you won’t meet the deadline. Offer a temporary fix (whenever possible). Prepare a compensatory mechanism (a discount, refund, additional service, etc.).
3. Organize a mini-workation (or brainstormation!)
What’s that, and how can it help conquer deadline anxiety in the workplace?
Better put—out of the workplace.
Because a mini-workation is a short-term period of work + vacation outside of the job site. It traditionally lasts for a few days only. Within this timeframe, employees travel to a different location, away from office or home distractions when working remotely, and do tasks in a more relaxed environment. It’s like a short mental recharge and a break from the routine but without total unplugging from job responsibilities and deadlines.
Unlike vacations, mini-workations let employees balance work hours with rest.
For Reyansh Mestry, Head of Marketing at TopSource Worldwide, the greatest benefit of a mini-workation is a “scenery change.” It may be any place. Yet, he outlines the significance of choosing a nature-filled environment to create a more powerful soothing effect on deadline stress:
• Countryside farmhouse
• Uncrowded beach
• Riverbank bungalow
• Mountain lake chalet
• Woodland cabin
• Island retreat
Reyansh Mestry explains, “Stepping out of a work setting can help your team members refresh their minds and soothe the stress associated with oppressive deadlines. A new environment, especially if it’s natural like a forest or a beach, brings a spark of creativity and productivity into the team.” He also adds, “It can likewise be what I call a ‘brainstormation’ to share ideas in an informal atmosphere and relieve everyday pressure from work-related tasks.”
For example:
The CCO of TopSource Worldwide, Tom Green, spent some productive brainstorming time with the India-based team. Throughout the week, they brainstormed ideas and dived deep into discussions during regular team outings.
Source: Instagram
4. Become the captain of your to-do list
Taking full control and firmly holding the helm of your tasks is another surefire way to work effectively under pressure and meet all deadlines, even the most critical ones.
However, it presupposes embracing task management tactics as follows:
• SMART goal setting (set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound goals)
• Time blocking (divide your workday into blocks and allocate one time block to a cluster of similar tasks)
• The Pomodoro Technique (work in 25-minute intervals (Pomodoros), followed by five-minute breaks)
• Single-tasking (do only one task at a time)
• Prioritization (try the Eisenhower Matrix)
Source: Medium
You can test them all within Nimble’s intuitive work management platform, casting a zoomed-out view on your tasks: “In Progress,” “Done,” “Queued,” etc. Try Nimble for free!
If you operate in an Agile team, you’ll definitely need to gain these insights from Volodymyr Shchegel, VP of Engineering at MacKeeper, who introduced an Agile approach to teamwork as a web development team leader. He remarks, “In the Agile methodology specifically, you can turn to the ABC method to prioritize tasks: high (A), medium (B), and low (C) priority. This technique will make your team concentrate on what truly matters at a particular moment within a sprint. During my work experience at a number of software companies using Agile development, I’ve seen how task prioritization became the most successful buster of workplace anxiety for teams.”
By the way, with Nimble Agile, you can set task priorities, such as Low, Medium, High, and Critical, to tackle those tasks that require your immediate attention first and prevent last-minute rushes as deadlines approach.
5. Add a “fun” element to task completion
From a psycho-physiological perspective, merrymaking activities trigger the dopamine release closely linked to pleasure and motivation. This tiny molecule (but still a complex hormone and neurotransmitter) boosts job satisfaction and motivates employees. Once they feel more motivated, they regard tasks more positively and experience less deadline pressure in the workplace.
Moreover, happiness and positivity serve as coping mechanisms against stress, lowering mental fatigue while breaking the monotonous work style.
Let’s review several variants.
Idea #1. Themed task days
You may create a fun yet productive work environment with days and tasks dedicated to a particular theme. Grab these for inspiration:
• Space Exploration Day → Tasks are “space missions”
• Throwback Day (80s or 90s) → A retro theme
• Favorite Character Day → Characters from movies, comics, or books (Marvel vs. DC Day, Anime Day, Sherlock Holmes Day, Harry Potter Day, etc.)
Let’s take the Harry Potter theme. Employees can be sorted into “Houses” and earn points for completing tasks.
“If you have a company’s mascot,” notes Brooke Webber, Head of Marketing at Ninja Patches, “offer your team members to play the character to make task completion entertaining and exciting for them without feeling the pressure from deadlines. For instance, on some days, our marketers turn into Ninjas.”
And they indeed craft remarkable social media marketing campaigns while “trying on” that role.
Source: TikTok
Idea #2. After-task rewards
Why not spin the wheel (physical or digital) and win a reward for coping with a high-pressure deadline?
As a team leader, you can add a wheel-of-fortune activity to motivate your workers. Your team members will spin a digital or physical wheel and receive prizes like these: “Congrats! You won an extra coffee break,” or “Hey, hurray! You can leave earlier today!”
Source: PrizeWheel
Idea #3. Gamification
Alternatively, how about gamifying task completion?
You can easily gamify work by incorporating the following game mechanics into your projects and tasks:
• Points
• Levels
• Challenges
• Awards
• Badges, etc
By the way, every employee can earn a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Badge in Nimble.
A badge system like this is a perfect chance to recognize your workers’ efforts and hard work with a visible award.
Avoid Deadline Stress with Nimble
Don’t let work anxiety grab hold of you with its cold fingers on your throat ever again.
Navigate freely through the tightest deadlines with Nimble, a user-friendly task management tool. Prioritize easily, collaborate seamlessly, and stay ahead of the curve—all in one place. Just try it!