Overcoming Performance Anxiety

The anxious mind is difficult to deal with. It is as smart as we are, so even when we find ways to combat it, it will eventually find new ways to stress us. But we can build systems and processes that allow us to overcome anxiety. The key is building our tool kit while we are in a calm state of mind, and this is especially important when combating performance anxiety. When we are already anxious, we are no longer in the mental state to “logic” our way through our anxiety, and enhancing our performance is an exercise in logic. Performance anxiety is usually based around stress or insecurity around failure. Specifically, failing to meet some expectation or standard that we have for ourselves and the results we “should” get with that expected standard. Performance anxiety is generally grounded in an all or nothing mindset.

By moving away from an all or nothing mindset, we can solve half of the problem. The key to this move is to understand that every opportunity is “AN” opportunity not “THE” opportunity. Sometimes, we can want something so badly that we think there is only one way to achieve our goal and become hyper focused on “THE” way. This creates an all or nothing mindset that is not based on reality. There are always multiple ways to achieve a goal, and moving away from the belief that there is an ultimately perfect or guaranteed method to achieving a specific goal will increase the odds that you will be successful. Having people in your life with a growth mindset and optimism to spare will help a lot because they can support the work that you will need to do to make this shift.

Also, having people in your life you view as having succeeded allows you talk with them about the different paths they took. If everyone who has succeeded has done it the exact same way, then you have an opportunity to be an innovator once you figure out your path to success. Performance anxiety is one part self-doubt and one part doubt of the process used to succeed. If we have 100% belief that our preparation has made us ready for the performance, this will lower our anxiety because we know we are well prepared. As we increase our rate of success, we will increase our confidence and reduce our anxiety. This is true in test taking, game play, and work performance. When we believe in ourselves, we spend less time focused on the ways we fail and more time focused on what will do with our success.