Why You’re Having Performance Anxiety (And How To Fix It)
Contributed By: Iris Vargas-Pagan
Performance anxiety/stage fright can happen to anyone at any point in life. It doesn’t really matter whether someone is brand new at presenting or has delivered hundreds of successful performances in the past. They diligently prepare, but for whatever reason, all their preparation goes out the window right when it matters most.
What is Performance Anxiety?
Sound familiar? As the time for your upcoming performance approaches, your heart races, you start to sweat, and you can’t keep your voice from trembling. Your face turns red, and your stomach ties itself into knots. Your brain mistakenly thinks it’s a life-or-death situation, putting your body into fight-or-flight mode and sabotaging all of your hard work. In other words, you’ve got performance anxiety.
5 Common Causes of Performance Anxiety and How to Mitigate Them
As a busy professional or artistic performer, have you been wondering how to deal with performance anxiety? Perhaps public performances are part of your job. Or maybe you just want to put your best foot forward in everyday social situations. In any case, you’re probably looking for healthy ways of coping with performance anxiety.
As anxiety therapists, we provide performance anxiety treatment for corporate executives, musicians, and other performers. In our experience, the first step to successfully managing performance anxiety is figuring out its source(s). Here are five common causes of performance anxiety and our advice for mitigating them:
You’re uncomfortable with people
Extroverts are not immune to social anxiety, but if you’re introverted, you’ll be more likely to experience it. You’ll also have to work harder at overcoming it. You should be able to significantly reduce your performance anxiety with time and patience, but it may never go away entirely.
The same is true for people with social anxiety disorder. If social interactions generally trigger you, performance anxiety is something you’ll always experience to some degree. Once you accept that, follow our advice for successfully managing your performance anxiety, and build up your self-confidence, it won’t be such a formidable obstacle.
You have unrealistic expectations
Yeah, it would be great to deliver a perfect presentation, play a perfect set, or make a perfect first impression. But how likely is that to happen? Do you really need to be perfect? You can’t be perfect at everything all the time. Right?
It’s totally okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. If you go into your next performance with that attitude, you’ll be less likely to trigger performance anxiety. Instead of shooting for a perfect performance, just shoot for a good one. You can always set the bar higher next time.
You’re preparing wrong
As they prepare, a lot of people overfocus on the intellectual side. They memorize facts and the perfect phrasing. It’s great to spend time on these things, but focusing exclusively on them would be woefully one-sided. Intellectually overpreparing could also cause mental fatigue—not something you want to deal with when you’re in the spotlight.
As you prepare for your next performance, don’t forget to account for the social aspect. What will it feel like to have a bunch of people staring at you? What if they ask unanticipated questions? All your facts and memorization could go out the window unless you’ve set aside some time for in-person practice with a friend or family member. Practicing out loud in front of people will help you identify and fix mistakes in advance, helping you feel less nervous.
Practice Good Physical Preparation
You should also take care not to neglect physical preparations. Go easy on the caffeine the morning of your performance, and practice good sleep hygiene the night before to ensure you’re well-rested. Don’t eat a giant sugary muffin right beforehand if you know it’ll make you sluggish. It’s tempting to treat these things as an unnecessary afterthought, but we encourage you to view them as an essential component.
You’ve taken on too much
Don’t set yourself up for failure by creating a jam-packed schedule on the day of your performance. For example, don’t agree to that pre-performance luncheon, no matter how obligated you feel about attending. Don’t join the stage crew for a post-show party if you know it will sabotage your show tomorrow. And don’t schedule that happy hour meet-and-greet on a Friday night when you know you’ll already be exhausted from the workweek.
What Does Your Ideal Pre-Performance Schedule Look Like?
Consider what your ideal pre-performance schedule would look like. Maybe it would mean sleeping in a little, taking a walk beforehand, or meditating. Whatever it is, build it into your schedule. Honor the time you set aside for those activities just as faithfully as you would honor anything else on your schedule.
Set Yourself Up for Success
And remember—there are plenty of ways to set yourself up for success that don’t involve extra time. For example, if you’re a musician, you could bring your own microphone or other familiar equipment if it makes you feel more comfortable. If you’re an executive giving a presentation, you could hook up your own laptop instead of fuddling around with someone else’s.
Some other part of your life is a hot mess
We’ve worked with people who used to be great performers and presenters—until their increasing anxiety levels got in the way.
Even if you’re comfortable with people and well-practiced at performing, there may be a host of other things in your life causing your overall anxiety levels to go up. Inevitably, some of that anxiety will bleed into the more visible social aspects of your life unless you seek performance anxiety treatment.
The Benefits of Therapy for Anxiety
Whether your anxiety is directly related to stage fright or is coming from some other part of your life, you could benefit from professional support. Our anxiety therapists can help you uncover the causes of your performance anxiety or stage fright. Professional treatment can also connect you with ways of overcoming performance anxiety you hadn’t previously considered.
Ready to Start Managing Your Performance Anxiety Effectively?
You may feel like dealing with performance anxiety is just a part of your life you have to come to terms with, even though it’s exhausting. There is no hope, right? Wrong! You don’t have to live your life controlled by anxiety anymore. At The Keely Group, our team works with high-achieving individuals who live in the hustle and bustle culture of New York City to overcome and effectively manage their performance anxiety. If you are ready to take back control, follow the steps below to get started.
Read through our FAQ page to answer any lingering questions you may have.
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Other Online Mental Health Services Offered at The Keely Group in New York City.
In addition to Online Therapy for Anxiety, The Keely Group offers a wide variety of online services to fit the needs of busy professionals. We understand that you may face other challenges throughout your daily life that can affect relationships and dating, so we offer online therapy services to help you cope with these issues. Our ultimate goal is to help you streamline your life and that's why we offer an array of services such as: