Avoiding the anxiety trap

In any type of work or study, anxiety can creep in without us quite knowing why, but it can be very difficult to shrug it off if we aren’t aware of its roots.

Those in the performing arts will be familiar with the pressures of going on stage, but anxiety can occur anywhere where there is a perceived expectation to ‘perform’ to a certain level or to meet certain criteria.

Irrespective of whether you work in, or study the performing arts or another vocation, time will be spent learning, practicing and refining skills. An expectation to maintain and develop a certain level of competence often follows.

Stage fright and its impact

Away from ‘the stage’ (be it a theatre, a meeting room, exam room or presentation), working or practising without others around can seem relaxed and straight forward. However, move to the actual stage and what seemed easy, can suddenly turn into a nightmare. A new audience, microphones, lights, conference calls, power-points, critics and self-expectation can all provide an added layer of complexity to performing, because they create extra stimuli that we are capable of reacting to. If we react to those stimuli in a way that makes us nervous, that in turn will restrict our normal breathing and can affect the entire body and its musculature. The result; we may start to stutter, lose our train of thought, act too quickly and/or become tense.

Once excess tension sets in, it is a difficult cycle to get out of, because letting go of that tension starts to feel unnatural and unsettling. We almost want something to hold onto, to avoid the feeling of losing control of ourselves. The problem with holding on to tension however, is that if repeated, it starts to feel natural and it continues to build up in layers and becomes more difficult to eradicate over time.

For anyone doing a job which relies on physical performance (e.g. musicians, actors, surgeons, sportsmen and women), allowing ourselves to feel anxious leads to less natural performance and in the worst cases, to muscles not functioning in a way that allows us to retain control over our performance. For those in jobs where thought processes are routinely required, or for those studying, feeling anxious about how we are performing can start to manifest itself in physical symptoms such as back ache, writer’s cramp or headaches. As we start to worry about our performance, we lose sight of our posture, which over time can have a detrimental effect on our well-being.

A way forward – an anxiety assessment

So how can we help ourselves to avoid allowing anxiety to get in the way of performing? An honest assessment of why we might be feeling anxious is a good starting point. If we are becoming anxious because in our minds we feel:

• we have to do the perfect job every time;
• that making a mistake may have repercussions (be it retaining freelance work or getting through an appraisal);
• we think that others will think less of us if we make a mistake;
• asking for more time to complete a task even where reasonable, will make us look like a failure;
• we might not keep up with others,

then it’s probably a good idea to stop and take stock as these ‘thoughts’ are often an automatic reaction to the stimulus of our current surroundings or circumstances (for example it may be the first time that we have performed in front of an agent or the first time that we have been given the opportunity to work for an important client). It’s natural to want to make a good impression, but trying to make a good impression every time at the expense of your own health may take its toll over time.

Focus on the now

By thinking negatively and putting pressure on ourselves, there is a risk that we set ourselves up for a fall in our minds. However, by ignoring the surrounding circumstances and focussing on how to approach a situation in a constructive and methodical way, we are less likely to be distracted by the additional stimuli that can create anxiety. The game of snooker is fascinating in this respect as even the best players in the world can be affected by the pressure of trying to win a tournament. However, by focussing on playing the next shot properly, rather than winning, there is less likelihood of the pressure of wanting to win affecting that next shot.

Additional education

Anxiety can also come about because we simply don’t have the right skills to perform at a certain level. In those situations it’s important to be honest with yourself and consider whether you need any training or coaching to help you with performing at that level and to seek appropriate guidance to help with that. However, if you are in a new situation and are afraid of it because it is something new, it’s important to appreciate that this is a natural human reaction, but by sticking to sound principles that you have learnt in progressing your job or studies, you can adapt to that new situation relatively quickly, as long as you don’t dwell on what might happen if you make a mistake.

Maintaining focus

There is nothing wrong with feeling a little nervous about a new challenge, or performing in a new arena with new people. However, by keeping your primary focus on the task in hand, approaching it in a methodical way with sound principles, the anxious distractions created by our thoughts have less chance of coming to the forefront. In the long run, that can help us to overcome anxiety and continue to perform to the best of our abilities.