5 peer-tested ways to regulate your emotions at work

Your heart speeds up. Your chest tightens. Your thoughts race. When stress sets in, the version of yourself that you want to present at work often disappears, and it’s important to recognize that this is a normal human response. That’s because stress isn’t just a mindset. Emotional regulation at work requires active engagement and redirection.

We hear advice like “take a deep breath,” but anyone who’s been in a tense meeting knows it’s not always so simple to bounce back. If you want to learn how to stay calm in stressful work situations, you need to develop practical habits for handling work triggers. Those might include stepping away for a moment, as recommended by 34% of Glassdoor Community survey respondents, or talking things through with a trusted friend or colleague. Whatever you choose, developing tools for emotional regulation at work can shape the way other people perceive you and help you find more meaning in your work.

Key takeaway:  Looking for quick ways to reset after a stressful work interaction? Here are 5 peer-tested strategies for managing emotional reactions in the workplace.

1. Deactivate the fight-or-flight response when work stress triggers you

Stressful situations at work are inevitable. What matters more is how quickly you can recognize your body’s stress indicators.

That surge of frustration or anxiety? It’s your fight-or-flight response kicking in. Once it takes over, your ability to think clearly drops quickly. Instead of trying to eliminate triggers, focus on spotting the early signs:

Once you notice these cues, your goal is to deactivate the response, not suppress it. This might mean mentally reframing the situation:

That small shift can separate a reaction you regret from a response you stand by. Think of it as strategic muscle memory. A reflex is involuntary. Muscle memory, on the other hand, is a trained response you want to build. You can condition your brain to activate the trained response instead of the reflexive response.

For example, organizational psychologist Adam Grant notes that negative feedback is a common fight-or-flight trigger, but it’s also an opportunity for improvement. “When someone gives you feedback, they’ve already evaluated you. So it helps to remind yourself that the main thing they’re judging now is whether you’re open or defensive,” he explained. 

On his WorkLife podcast, Grant recommended thinking of negative feedback as a set of scores. If the first score is the piece of negative feedback, the second score focuses on the way we take the feedback. “Every time I get feedback, I rate myself on how well I took the feedback,” he said. “That’s a habit we can all develop.”  If being defensive is the reflexive fight-or-flight response, being open to feedback is the trained response.

Pro Tip: When following the strategy to "Draft an email and revisit it later", ensure you do not put the recipient's name in the "To" field until you are ready to send. In 2026, many enterprise AI tools feature "auto-send" nudges that could accidentally fire off a heated draft.

2. Step away (when you can) after a tense conversation with a co-worker

Sometimes, the most effective strategy is to change your environment. 

A physical reset can interrupt an emotional escalation. Glassdoor Community members consistently say that stepping away is one of the most reliable ways to reset, whether that means switching to another task, taking the night to sleep before responding, or making a quick trip outside. You could also take a short walk, get a glass of water, or move to a quieter space.

“Go for a walk, touch grass, get some (drinks) not during office hours, and rag about it with people who understand best, like colleagues or cohort mates. Then remind yourself it's only a job at the end of the day, and you're trying, and that's all that matters.” - Manager 1

Granted, you can’t always leave the room, but even a micro-break — looking away from your screen, pausing for a minute, or taking that deep breath — can help you regain perspective. 

Pro Tip: "Working from home? A physical reset means leaving the room entirely. Moving from your desk to the kitchen doesn't count as 'stepping away' if you can still hear your Slack notifications."

3. Manage your emotional reactions in the workplace by steering clear of overthinking.

One of the biggest amplifiers of stress at work is the story we build around it. Many professionals, including 27% of respondents in our Glassdoor Community poll, report that overthinking is their default mode. That can include:

“I used to overthink it all day and into the night, but I learned how to stop that since it's not healthy and only frustrated me. Now I vent to a good, trusted friend and leave it there once I talk about it.” - Healthcare 1

Overthinking keeps your stress response active long after the moment has passed, and you might not realize you’re doing it. (This is a common career confidence problem for introverts, in particular.) Try setting boundaries with your thoughts by asking yourself:

Learning to interrupt overthinking can prevent emotional spirals before they start. It is a powerful way to prioritize your mental health at work. 

4. Seek support for workplace stress by talking it out

Putting your thoughts into words can reduce their intensity and help you see things more clearly. Next time you feel the stress at work starting to consume you, try talking to someone you trust, such as:

Talking to someone can act as a release valve when tension is building at work. This is especially important if you’re noticing signs of emotional burnout at work, where stress starts to feel constant rather than situational.

*Note on Mental Health & Benefits: If you are experiencing "emotional burnout" rather than just situational stress, check your company's Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Many 2026 health plans include specific provisions for "Mental Health Days" or virtual coaching that are separate from standard PTO.

5. Cool down before responding

The urge to respond immediately can be overwhelming when emotions run high, but reacting in the moment often leads to regret later. Instead, build a simple habit: Pause, breathe (even if it’s imperfect), and give yourself time.

This might mean:

Small pauses create space for your “thinking brain” to catch up with your emotional one. Over time, this becomes one of the most effective ways to stay calm in stressful work situations and to respond in a way that aligns with who you want to be professionally. 

Final thought: Your emotions aren’t the problem

Emotions at work are signals. Your goal is to understand and manage them in ways that support your long-term well-being and success. Sometimes, that starts with something as simple as asking: “How can I respond rather than react?”

Regardless of the outlet you choose for regulating your emotions, remember you’re not alone. Find more advice and fellow professionals to talk through a stressful situation in the Glassdoor Community.