Does it sound like I suffer from workplace performance anxiety, how can I treat it?

You might benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy or dialectical behavioral therapy to combat the anxiety. Yes, therapy is covered by insurance. What you’re experiencing is a heightened reaction to normal situations. Simply put, you’re making a mountain out of a molehill. There’s something in your makeup that learned to react to situations the way you are. You can unlearn it, but it takes time. Seek therapy.

I had a similar fear of losing my job , being homeless, and having my stuff chucked on the street. I feared disobeying my boss. I went on disability and my anxiety triggers are under control. I suggest applying for therapy and going on disability for a couple of months.

@RedDeerGuy1 I don’t even have many bills to worry about because I live with my parents but I’m trying to get a new car and move to an apartment with my boyfriend. What treatment helped you professional/non professional? I think if I just did my job with my eyes closed and knew it all I would be fine but it’s so much to learn and so much work. Probably the most challenging job I’ve had so far.

@chelle21689 The way beyond that anxiety is to have 9 months emergency fund in case you lose your job. You can only buy what you truly need and put the rest in a bank savings account until you have $15,000 or 9 months expenses that you would have if you moved out on your own. What helped for me was going on disability and getting ant-anxiety medication. Don’t get trapped into spending everything you make every paycheck to paycheck. You can Google living as a minimalist and saving money. When you have enough money saved up then you can make demands of your employer and ask for concessions / perks / raises.

@chelle21689 to me it goes a be beyond that. I have $40,000 saved so ts not a worry right now. My worry is failing and not knowing what to do with my life. If I was laid off and fired then I must suck at this job then what…

@chelle21689 Look at losing your job as a blessing. Your boss fires you when you don’t fit. The boss is doing what you should of done sooner. You have time to find out where you belong. If you lose your job it is a step up and you can cross “that Job” off the list and move to another sector. If you play it safe you will never grow or be promoted. I play it safe, and I am progressing very slowly. I’ve been on disability in Canada for 15 years now. I’m finally getting ready for adventure and risk.

Its like dating its good to know early that you are incompatible. Best not to hold on and instead of controlling yourself and others for someone, or some job, that you should get rid of. Get rid of a job as soon as you can find something better. Don’t force yourself into a mold that you don’t want. You can have two jobs and swing from job to job until you find the one. You do need to eat but with knowing yourself and having extra you can risk going into another field and find that dream career. Sometimes after 3 months , or in your case three years, the anxiety goes away with workplace competence, and mastery.

I like all of @RedDeerGuy1‘s input, I think he learned something this past week.
My background includes being on the leading edge of a new systems in the company and having to train 12 people with varying backgrounds (not always in the area we were working). I was always on edge and pushing (my choice included double shifts). I went to internationally recognized classes and took certification exams, that were included in my annual appraisal. The reason I was pushing was my previous department was completely eliminated, I wasn’t afraid of failure but ha no other choice of jobs.

Do the best you can, become the Expert which means learning:
HOW?
WHY ?
WHAT’S THE IMPACT?
WHAT ARE DEPARTMENTAL POLICIES / PROCEDURES?
WHO IS THE CUSTOMER?
and many more….

See if the trainer can find you a mentor (advisor that is not your supervisor but has executive contacts and connections)

Because of your concerns about failing, I would suggest that you ask your trainer what the consequences are – not just the personal consequences to you, but the organizational consequences in terms of money lost due to mistakes or incomplete work, people having to complete or redo work that was submitted in an incomplete state, etc.

You’ll probably find in an office setting that most of the consequences aren’t really very dire, AND you’ll find which ones can be. In construction, for example, leaving some production work undone for a time can cause some schedule disruption, but that should not be life-threatening or costly unless it’s allowed to persist, or the incomplete work gets hidden or covered up by other assemblies, and so forth. However, neglecting to complete proper setups can kill people, and since that’s work that only the employee checks – there are not usually quality inspectors checking on your assembly of a scaffold in progress for example, or looking to see that you’ve tied off your safety line every single time that you work at height – then those are things that can have absolutely dire consequences, to the worker and to others in the area. Starting machinery prematurely can be deadly. So those things cannot be done incompletely, improperly, or ignored. Submitting a timesheet a day late? That’s not often a problem, even if Payroll squawks about it.

Your trainer should be able to help you with this kind of “evaluation of priorities”, which is vital for any employee to know in any job. Some mistakes will get people badly injured or killed. Some can cause extensive property damage. Some will cost the company a lot of money in lost business. Some will get people fired. And some will just annoy people a little bit. You see the difference. It’s up to you at this point to learn how to set priorities in your area – and then you’ll be able to build on that knowledge into other areas, too.

As you build up confidence in your ability to perform tasks, then you can work on “doing the same thing, only better”, or faster, or in combination with other things, etc. Your big thing now, I think, is to learn to set priorities on all of the various tasks that you perform. That should go a long way toward alleviating your concerns, as you can start to develop a checklist – which you might even want to write down for a time until it becomes more automatic: “first this – always this, then the other thing – because that’s important, and after all of that, some other stuff – when there’s time” and so forth.

@tropical_willie and @cwotus thanks. I’ll do that because I also came across something I wasn’t sure about so I’ll ask about the affected outcome. Also I need more clarification on what she meant by having things done in time sensitive with benefits and paperwork. Because payroll runs differently for each classification (bi-weekly/monthly) and sometimes people turn in their papers late no matter how hard we bug them.

I also find that when I’m at work is when I’m less stressed…odd I know. I think because I have the chance to make it right and be better and be present facing the fear. I find usually weekends is when I ponder work and if I’m doing good enough.

I think maybe a hobby would help get mind off things. I’ll seek treatment if it doesn’t get better in a few months. Talking does help though.

I think working on being present and in-the-moment would help.

If you really want to think about work during your non-working hours, set an amount of time to think about it, get a notebook and pen, set a timer and write down your thoughts until the timer goes off. Then spend a few more minutes reading what you wrote and maybe deciding on some action items. Finally, close your notebook and go on with your day.

Setting boundaries and being fully present will help, both in and out of work.

I feel better this week..at least for now… Because I’ve been learning and understanding more. Despite mistakes I’ve been making I wouldn’t say they’re stupid but smart mistakes that have been helping me learn. I guess I’m really hard on myself if I mess up something. Thanks people!
P.S. It did help clarifying the time sensitive thing you guys advised me to ask. Also the consequences if I did this or that, etc.