First off – let’s clarify what performance anxiety is. Performance anxiety can occur in many contexts – a student completing a presentation, an employee asked to complete something out of their comfort zone, an athlete performing their sport. Basically, performance anxiety occurs when we are being “watched” by others.
As well, it is important to note that performance anxiety is accelerated when an individual is trying to maintain their standards. For example, if a student is used to receiving high 90’s on a report card, a grade of 85% may seem disappointing to that individual because they have established a personal standard for their performance.
Are you linking your identity to your performance?
This leaves our identity open to uncertainty which can be harmful as there are many extraneous variables that can impact our identity in a performance situation.
Are you intrinsically or externally driven?Â
If we focus on external drives and not intrinsic values, we create a narrative that our value is only worth how others perceive us.
Are you thinking in black or white?
When we are tasked with a situation in which we may be uncomfortable and experiencing performance anxiety, we often leave that situation feeling very good or very bad – based on the outcome of our performance. What if we integrated a third option? What if instead of thinking of winning or losing, there is a third option – learning. What have you learned from this experience? We are constantly growing and learning, what can you take from this experience and apply to
So what are you actually telling me?
We need to change our perspective on failure. Reconsidering a “failure” into a learning opportunity can help us prevent performance anxiety!
We cannot live our lives based on people’s expectations. We need to define our own expectations and base our identity on our intrinsic values – not our performance. Need extra support navigating performance anxiety? Reach out!