Energy Management for Anxious Achievers: A Neuroscience-Based Approach

High-performers with anxiety or professionals with ADHD may tend to push harder, work longer, and expect more - sound familiar?

Yet, here’s the web many get caught in: You work harder, longer… but you don’t seem to be any farther ahead than others around you.

Maybe you haven’t had a formal diagnosis, but you’ve had your suspicions. And after a long day, you feel exhausted. Plus, it feels like you’ve been going-going-going but haven’t actually been that productive. Talk about frustrating.

Well, you might be stuck in the vicious cycle called the anxiety-productivity paradox.

So, what does this mean?

Can you overcome it?

In short, yes! It often comes down to how you manage your energy. Let’s take a closer look.

What is The Anxiety-Productivity Paradox?

The anxiety-productivity paradox, sometimes called simply the productivity paradox, refers to how anxiety can both hinder but also help performance. Confusing, right?

Here’s what’s happening: Anxiety triggers your body’s stress response, releasing adrenaline and cortisol.

In short bursts, this can actually sharpen focus, boost alertness, and improve short-term performance—especially in high-stakes environments where deadlines are looming or decisions need to be made quickly.

But there’s a tipping point... when anxiety becomes chronic—as it often does for high-achievers and professionals with ADHD—it overwhelms the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the region responsible for planning, prioritizing, and decision-making.

And this can be especially tough when you already struggle in these areas (such as those with ADHD).

So, instead of fuelling motivation, the nervous system shifts into survival mode. And, thus, you might find yourself:

• Overthinking every decision
• Struggling to concentrate
• Burning through energy faster than you replenish it
• Cycling between hyperproductivity and crashes
  

Neuroscientists call this the Yerkes-Dodson Law—performance increases with moderate stress but drops sharply when stress surpasses your brain’s capacity to manage it. 

For anxious achievers, this often leads to a frustrating cycle, such as you pushing harder to “keep up,” only to feel more drained, more distracted, and less productive over time.

Yet, this is where energy management can play a vital role in ensuring you stay both productive and energized!

Related Article: Executive Functioning: Why It’s SO Important - Even If You Have Never Heard of It

The 4 Types of Energy & Anxiety’s Impact

Anxiety can take over our whole being, mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

In other words, it can end up draining all of our energy reserves, leaving us depleted and, well, still anxious. So, let’s first take a closer look at these four different energy reserves.

1. Physical Energy

Physical energy is driven by sleep, movement, nutrition, and rest. But anxiety constantly activates your stress response, flooding the body with cortisol and adrenaline. So, physically and over time, this can:

• Disrupt your sleep cycles
• Increase muscle tension and aches
• Drain your energy reserves faster than you can replenish them
  

For anxious achievers, this often creates a cycle where your body is wired but tired—you might feel constantly “on,” yet struggling to sustain focus and performance.

2. Emotional Energy

Emotional energy comes from your capacity to regulate feelings, build relationships, and maintain resilience under pressure. When anxiety spikes, your emotional bandwidth narrows. 

And even small setbacks can feel overwhelming in this emotionally heightened state. You might find yourself “overreacting” to things that you usually wouldn’t react to. You might also find yourself overly stimulated. This is a sure-fire sign you need emotional rest.

3. Mental Energy

Mental energy refers to your focus, creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making reserves. And yup, your prefrontal cortex is involved in these processes, making anxiety particularly problematic here.

Related Article: Mental Switching Fatigue: It’s Not Just Procrastination

4. Spiritual Energy

Spiritual energy is your meaning, alignment, and purpose. This is why staying connected to your “why” can make work feel meaningful and energizing. Yet, when anxiety takes over, the brain shifts into survival mode, narrowing your focus and making it harder to see beyond immediate demands.

But don’t panic; there’s hope to get things back on track, even for the high performers among us!

Neuroscience Trends: Techniques for Managing Your Energy

Managing your energy reserves means working with your brain to give it what it needs.

Interestingly, neuroscience shows that ADHD brains burn through dopamine and glucose faster. In turn, this can make energy swings more extreme and crashes even harder. Thus, managing these big changes is important to stability and focus.

So, start by figuring out which of your energy reserves are depleted. From there, refer to the points below to determine what you potentially could be doing better:

For low physical energy:

• Get morning light exposure to balance cortisol and increase serotonin.
• Do micro-movement snacks, such as walking for two minutes, doing a few minutes of stretching, performing jumping jacks, etc.
• Practicing deep breathing can also help regulate the stress response and activate your “rest-and-digest” mode, switching you out of a high-anxiety state.

For depleted emotional energy:

• Label how you feel. (ex: “I’m anxious,” “I’m worried about ___,” I feel overwhelmed)
• Socialize. Call a friend or ask a colleague if they’d be up for a lunchtime chat. Even a little bit can go a long way!
• Talk to a therapist. Find one that specializes in high-performance and ADHD populations.
• Do a brain dump. Write out all the emotions you feel and why you’re feeling them. Sometimes, just letting it off our chests helps a lot!

For decreased mental energy:

• Try the Pomodoro Method—25 minutes on and 5 or 15 minutes off.
• Work in 90-120-minute blocks, then take a short 15-minute break.
• Use time management tools, like planners, calendars, phone reminders, and sticky notes. This can help reduce decision fatigue and ensure you follow a plan rather than randomly working throughout the day.

For low spiritual energy:

• Define your why or purpose, especially when it comes to your work. When times are tough, make sure you have a way (such as a sticky note or hourly alarm) to remind you of this.
• Track your wins each day and celebrate them, even the small ones!

Elevating Your Mental Health, One Step At a Time

Don’t feel like you need to do all of the above either.

Be selective.

Start with one small helpful tip above, allowing it to move you in the right direction. For more personalized approaches, we recommend looking into ADHD coaching, as this can help you find strategies more suitable for your unique situation.

Read Next: What is Neurodivergent vs Neurotypical? Important Differences & What You Should Know

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio