Performance anxiety: Give your mind a make-over.

Nausea? Sweaty palms? Racing heart? Doubt? 
Welcome to the (not so wonderful) world of performance anxiety, something that most of us have felt at some point in our lives. So where does it stem from? How can we control it? 

Well-meaning people might advise practising deep breathing or tell us to 'stay calm' before a performance of some kind. Whilst their intention is to be helpful, just being told to relax, won't necessarily help. Recent studies suggest that there may be more effective ways to get a grip on performance anxiety.

Let's imagine a scenario where you might feel anxious:

After a series of job applications in which you receive polite generic letters thanking you for your application but stating that 'on this occasion you were not chosen' but that 'your details will be kept on file' for future vacancies', joy of joys you open a reply that states 'Thank you for your application, we would like you to come in for an interview'. After doing a victory dance in your living room, slowly the weight of the request starts to creep up on you and what two minutes ago seemed like the best thing in the world, now starts to look the complete opposite. Cue, performance anxiety.

So in the space of those two minutes 'what actually changed?' the answer is 'your mindset'. The situation is exactly the same as it was those two minutes ago, but whereas your initial reaction was jubilation, what you're left with is a sinking feeling as you realise what being asked to come for an interview entails. We only feel this way about things that matter to us - if we didn't care about the outcome, we wouldn't feel this way. Having said that, we probably wouldn't have been dancing around the room in jubilation either.

Believe it or not, a small amount of nervousness can be helpful but it's about knowing how to balance it and not letting it overwhelm you. A recent study from Harvard Business School (1) suggests that pumping yourself up, rather than calming yourself down, might be the answer. Focusing on the excitement of the situation and your ideal outcome will put you in a healthier frame of mind than focusing on your nerves and all the things that could possibly go wrong. Top speakers and performers have used similar techniques for centuries and the more you start to think in this way, the easier it becomes.

When I see clients who want help with presentation nerves, exam nerves or interview nerves, I teach them how to 're-frame' their thinking, to mentally rehearse their desired outcome and to anchor their positive visualisation with a physical or verbal cue. Top speakers and performers have used similar techniques for centuries and the more you start to think in this way, the easier it becomes. So, the next time you feel the waves of dread before a situation in which you need to perform well, embrace your nerves (excitement) and focus on what you want, rather than the opposite. By putting these techniques into practice, you might well be pleasantly surprised with the results.