If you're angry at work, you shouldn't pretend everything is okay — do these 6 simple things instead by Rachel Premack on Jul 31, 2018, 12:49 PM 
- Anger management is an important tool to have — especially when dealing with frustrating work situations.
- To figure out how to deal with anger at work, start by taking yourself out of the situation and cooling off.
- Then, approach the person about the situation without blaming them.
When it comes to negative emotions like sadness, anxiety, or anger, one common course of action is to try ignoring them. But Deanna Geddes, a professor at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, recommends the opposite. "Anger is a healthy emotion," Geddes, who has extensively researched the role of anger in the workplace, told Business Insider. "It signals that something is upsetting us," Geddes said. "When we feel anger, it's helpful to stop and think about what's really making us angry." Anger forces action, Geddes said. It can help you change a situation for the better — but there's a right and a wrong way to deal with being ticked off. Here are six steps to processing your anger and changing a work situation that's infuriating you. SEE ALSO: 31 unprofessional habits that make everyone at work hate you 1. Remove yourself from the situation  If you feel yourself starting to get heated, Geddes advises removing yourself from the situation to calm down. To exit gracefully, Geddes recommended saying the following: "I'm feeling some anger about (insert situation here). Give me a few minutes to cool down a bit, but then let's talk about this because it's important to resolve." It might seem awkward, but it's better than adding more fuel to the fire and pushing you to explode.
2. Take your mind off it for a little while  The problem with anger is that it fires up the emotion centers of the brain, making it challenging to be logical, wrote Emma Seppälä, the science director of Stanford University's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. So, while it's okay to be angry, you'll need to calm down a little bit before you can address the situation that's frustrating you. Otherwise, you could say something that's emotionally-charged and potentially insulting. "Cool your flames and you'll see more clearly and communicate far more effectively," Seppälä wrote. "Breathe, take a walk, distract yourself with a funny movie, meditate, exercise, pray — anything to help you regain your composure but also some perspective." If you don't have time for any of that, try this breathing exercise. Then, revisit the situation when you're more calm.
3. De-escalate your thinking by avoiding words like "never" or "always"  Reframing your thoughts is an important way to get to a logical conclusion. Angry thoughts can often be "very exaggerated and overly dramatic," according to the American Psychological Association. For instance, angry thoughts often capitalize on something "never working" or "always going wrong," wrote the APA. That's almost definitely untrue — few people are consistently awful, and few things are always awry. Instead of thinking "My whole life is ruined and this entire situation is horrible," the APA recommended thinking along the lines of: "This is frustrating, and I understand why I'm upset. But it's not the end of the world and I can't fix this by getting angry."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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