8 Professional Tips for Managing Anger

While at work, you’re expected to remain professional at all times which means keeping your anger under control is vital. Unfortunately, this isn’t always easy to do. Be it annoying colleagues or infuriating customers, managing your anger can seem like an impossible task sometimes.

If you find yourself struggling to manage your anger, here are a few things you can do.

#1. Take a Time Out and Breathe

A lot of the time, taking a break is the best way for you to reign in your anger and get things back under control. When you feel your anger start to grow, take a moment to step away and get control of your thoughts. Let people know you need a moment and don’t be ashamed to walk away.

While you’re taking your time out, practice controlled breathing. Find a YouTube video or watch a clock and try to even out your breathing pattern. Anger can prevent you from thinking rationally, but deep, controlled breathing techniques can help you relax.

Fortunately, there are a number of different ways to practice controlled breathing, so feel free to try out different tactics until you find one that works well for you.

#2. Think of Possible Solutions

While you take your time out, acknowledge what’s making you angry and try to come up with solutions to resolving it. Some problems will be bigger than others, but it’s important to recognize possible solutions no matter how big or small the problem is.

If the problem is that your coworker always leaves their dirty mug in the sink, you could either ask them to clean it or avoid going into the breakroom. Is a client not calling you back? Drop them an email and leave one last voice message. Let them get back to you and try to push them out of your mind.

#3. Join a Support Group

Managing your anger is difficult and sometimes it can be hard to do on your own. When you join a support group, though, you don’t have to do it on your own. Instead, you get help from individuals that also struggle with anger management, but that are all trying to get better.

With technology these days, you don’t necessarily have to find an in-person support group. If you don’t have the time to go somewhere every week, finding an online group is a great second option. You may even be able to find free support options and classes after a bit of looking.

#4. Express Your Anger With ‘I’ Statements

When you get angry, accusing other people becomes your first reaction. By using ‘I’ statements, however, you can help prevent the situation from getting worse. Accusing others will only escalate the problem and do the exact opposite of helping to calm down your anger.

When you first start trying to use ‘I’ statements, it’s going to be hard. It won’t come naturally and that’s okay. This is one of the first steps to managing your anger in a respectful way that won’t upset the person you’re talking with. After a while, it will get easier to use ‘I’ statements when angry, but everyone has to start somewhere. This is simply one of the first steps.

#5. Exercise

Studies have shown that regular exercise does help manage anger. While going for a run in the middle of a meeting isn’t exactly possible, it could be a good option for when you’re in a different situation.

If you know you have a meeting with someone who makes you angry, going for exercise or a run beforehand can help curb the problem before it arises. This isn’t to say that you won’t get angry anyway, but it can give you some time to work through your thoughts before the meeting and help you feel more in control.

#6. Visualize Yourself Calm

There’s a lot to say about visualizing yourself handling something in a calm manner. Visualizing yourself staying calm and handling a situation calmly can actually help you keep your anger in check.

Imagine yourself somewhere relaxing or even practice some relaxation methods. By visualizing yourself staying calm or imagining somewhere relaxing, your attention is shifted from whatever is angering you. You make a mental shift towards being relaxed and when you focus back on the task at hand, you’ve already dispelled some of your initial anger.

#7. Use Humor

This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but using humor to release tension or lighten the mood can help dispel anger. It’s important to note that we’re not talking about sarcasm, here. Unlike humor, sarcasm can make the situation worse or lead to misunderstandings. It’s better to stick with jokes.

Humor works because it’s a form of laughter therapy, one of the best ways of stress relief and therefore anger. More and more people are turning to laughter therapy as a way to cope with their stress and anger, so why not give it a shot yourself?

#8. Know What’s Angering You

If you don’t know what’s making you angry, how can you begin to resolve your anger? Even though it’s at the bottom of the list, knowing what makes you angry is vital in managing your anger.

Perhaps you have certain triggers, perhaps your anger is a bit more random. Whatever the case, take some time to figure out what makes you angry. Knowing ahead of time can give you clues and warnings in the future so that when a particular trigger comes up, you’re prepared for the anger instead of being shocked by it.

Don’t Be Ashamed of Your Anger

Everyone gets angry and it’s entirely normal! Just because your anger is triggered more often than others doesn’t mean you have something to be ashamed of. In fact, if you’re ashamed of it, you won’t be able to start taking the first steps to manage your anger.

Rather than fret about why you get angry so easily, focus on learning to control and manage your anger in a healthy way. With some time and practice, you’ll be able to keep your cool in any given situation.

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