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When Quartz Science editor-in-chief Katie Palmer was in college, she studied anxious rats. The project consisted of studying the biological differences between two groups of rats that had been reared by temperament; the researchers separated them like babies from their mothers and classified them into groups based on whether they were crying or just relaxing. In the end, Palmer says, she didn’t find anything too remarkable.
On the contraryI say, because in the process she discovered an interesting management metaphor.
In the workplace, most of us can classify ourselves as anxious rats or cold rats. Anxious Rats worry about being about to get fired whenever their boss plans a face-to-face. They fight over small mistakes and stay awake at night wincing as they remember comments they made in meetings. Every project they work on – wedge of cheese, open dumpster, whole slice of pizza – is in their minds a secret referendum on whether they are in fact smart and competent.
Cold rats experience the same potential stressors at work, but react in markedly different ways. They accept that they will inevitably make mistakes, try to learn from them and move on. If anyone says their job is a garbage can, they know it’s a compliment because rats love garbage! They are sure of themselves with superiors, going so far as to sniff them instead of curling up in a corner. They enthusiastically suggest ideas during brainstorming sessions, but don’t take them too personally if things don’t work out. Cold rats are fun at office parties, and they don’t find karaoke bothersome at all.
Given the option, most people would probably prefer to relax. But we don’t necessarily have a choice. Our temperaments are shaped by genetic and environmental factors, and if we come from a line of anxious rats or if we grew up in a dysfunctional nest or were bullied in rat school, it makes sense. that we are inclined to tremble.
In addition, depending on the particulars of his situation, the anxiety may be fully justified. It’s understandable that in an age characterized by layoffs and business closings, not to mention the heartache caused by widespread disease, isolation and racial injustice, many rats feel nervous. We don’t know exactly what’s going wrong with our lives (there really are so many possibilities), so why not worry about every Zoom deadline and call, just to be really prepared?
Well, because it’s exhausting to think of it that way, and it doesn’t really help us avoid unemployment or other disasters. The trick for an anxious rat is to understand that while they cannot magically transform into a cold rat, they can undergo therapy and learn self-calming behaviors, such as meditation and journaling. , which will help the work feel less overwhelming.
Another lesson from anxious rats is a reminder that just participating in activities that make us happy can increase the cold, even in the face of stressful circumstances. A 2013 study published in the journal Neuroscience Letters first conditioned rats to associate a certain sound with mild shock. The researchers then tickled a group of rats (an activity proven to enjoy) once a day for two weeks before exposing them to sound, while another group received no tickling. The study found that the tickled rats were less stressed than the control group when they heard the frightening sound – a model, as Scientific American explained, of “how the good things in life might help alleviate the bad ones.” “.
So if you’re feeling anxious at work, follow the rats. Set aside time in your personal life for the things that tickle you – the positive experiences that protect you from life scenarios that are otherwise stressful. “Doing fun things” might seem like an obvious advice, but as anyone who suffers from anxiety knows, the worse we feel, the harder it can seem to get away from a scary situation and do things that we actually love.
My own advice, as a professional with a few anxious tendencies, is to observe the cold rats around you closely, just as a nervous aviator keeps a close watch on flight attendants when the plane encounters turbulence. Notice how the CEO’s messages don’t send them into a panic spiral; how they refuse to be intimidated by the prospect, for example, of taking the head of a famous Parisian restaurant.
By learning from their example, we can begin to question our own frightening accounts; to ask ourselves, “How would a cold rat react to this situation?” and act accordingly. Our brains, after all, are more malleable than you might think. Genetics aside, there is a cold rat in every anxious person.
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