If you ever feel nervous before a presentation, meeting, or your one-on-one, it may be a symptom of performance anxiety. It’s completely normal, and most of us experience it to some degree. The thing that many people don’t know is this:
There are two distinct types of performance anxiety.
Content-based anxiety centres around the specifics of the task… the information that has to be presented; the ability to physically do the work; the outcomes being reported.
Spotlight-based anxiety is about being the focus of attention… presenting in front of the group; asking questions in meetings; speaking up or raising concerns.
Often, we’re affected by both types of anxiety. Knowing the difference is important, as the two types need to be addressed in unique ways.
Content-based anxiety can sometimes feel the easiest to relieve. Often, professionals find that being familiar with the content and well-prepared is the key. When they know the material like the back of their hand, are prepared for questions and ready to problem-solve, things tend to go well.
If you identify feelings of anxiety that centre around un-preparedness, try this:
For formal presentations
- Practise the right amount
- If you find yourself over-practising and increasing your stress, pause
- Don’t aim for word-perfect; go for familiar
- Build your mouth’s muscle memory by speaking everything out loud
For meetings
- Clarify the purpose of the meeting and your desired outcome
- What is your intention?
- What information do you want to communicate?
- Create dot-points and practise talking about them out loud (again, aim for familiarity over perfection)
- Pre-empt potential questions, and prepare your answers
- Plan what you will say if you don’t have an answer
- This can be a positive opportunity to show your resourcefulness. Prepare a response about proactively following up and reporting back.
Anxiety around being in the spotlight is often lead by our survival brain. Our nervous system is constantly assessing whether we are safe, unable to distinguish emotional and social threats from physical danger. When we are in the spotlight, we instinctively sense that visibility equals vulnerability, and that evaluation equals potential rejection. Historically, being rejected or excluded from the group threatened our survival. It’s only natural that our system still responds with anxiety.
To tackle this, the key is convincing ourselves that we are safe. Try the following:
- Get as calm as possible beforehand
- Use breathing or grounding techniques
- Acknowledge your emotions, and remind yourself you are safe
- I’m about to do a presentation/have an important meeting.
- I’m feeling nervous or anxious, and that’s okay.
- My brain is perceiving a threat, but I am safe.
- Set small goals to build upon
- Challenge yourself to ask one question in the meeting, and celebrate the win
- When you’ve done it a few times, increase the number to two
Our brains and bodies respond well to repetition. The more we do a task, the easier becomes. The more we remind ourselves we’re safe in the spotlight, the faster our nervous system learns we will be okay. It’s important to acknowledge that we may not be perfectly calm the first time, or even the tenth time, but we will improve the more we practise.