Many people reach success by deliberately being their own worst critic and obsessively double-checking their work or by pushing their feelings aside. This strategy is seductive because it does work, at least up to a certain point. The problems arise once you advance beyond school and early career stages. The higher you climb, the more complex projects and issues in your life become. Meanwhile, you may have become so good at putting your emotions aside in certain situations that it’s hard to reconnect with them. This is when the old tools no longer suffice. The "somewhat OCD" tendencies we pride ourselves on, or rather, the “Nervous Energy” we possess, can become mismanaged and lead us down a rabbit hole of excessive self-criticism, anxiety, and pessimism. In Nervous Energy, Dr. Chloe Carmichael outlines nine tools with step-by-step instructions that can help you harness your nervous energy in order to live a more productive and fulfilling life. If managed correctly, the energy that some people label as anxiety can actually be a source of stimulation, productivity, and fulfillment-and Dr. Chloe Carmichael has tried and tested methods for making this happen. If you've ever felt a sense of excess energy that you didn't quite know how to direct or felt that your creativity and motivation was being drained by constant analysis paralysis, Nervous Energy is for you.
