The Anxious Achiever
Hypervigilance: When Everything Feels Like a Threat
Apr 16, 2025
Tanvi Gautam, an executive coach and managing director of Leadershift Inc., shares her insights on hypervigilance and its impact on high achievers. She discusses how this heightened alertness often stems from trauma and manifests in the workplace. Tanvi explores the detrimental effects on leadership and health, offering practical strategies for managing stress and improving interpersonal connections. She emphasizes self-compassion, adaptability, and the need for supportive environments to navigate anxiety and uncertainty effectively.
37:12
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Quick takeaways
- Hypervigilance, often driven by trauma, can negatively impact high achievers by distorting their perception of normal interactions as threats.
- Effective coaching for hypervigilance requires creating psychological safety and employing techniques like mindfulness to help clients manage anxiety.
Deep dives
Understanding Hypervigilance in the Workplace
Hypervigilance, while once a useful survival mechanism, can negatively impact high performers in stressful environments. Many professionals, such as lawyers, are trained to scan for threats, resulting in a heightened state of anxiety that affects their well-being and leadership capabilities. This constant state of alertness can lead to misinterpretations of situations, where individuals view normal interactions as potential threats, thereby increasing their stress levels. Acknowledging this pattern is crucial, as it allows individuals to recognize that their perceptions may not align with reality, leading to a cycle of unnecessary anxiety.
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