tricks to overcome the fear of performing

I believe that no matter how experienced a performer you are, these sensations and reactions will be familiar to you. The body signals that a perceived danger situation is in front of you and you need to act.

It is a stress response that starts spontaneously and as interesting as it is, it cannot be turned off permanently and it is not necessary. But how can stress be good for me if it makes me worry and sometimes even paralyzes me, you might ask?

A reasonable level of stress (because it is the stress reaction your body expresses before the performance) is necessary to perform well. It’s true that crippling performance anxiety needs intervention, but as a rule, very few of us have extreme performance anxiety. The good thing is that none of us are born with excessive performance anxiety, just as none of us are born to be perfect performers. The good news is that it is possible to control fear by acting consciously and to train and develop your performance skills.

The responsibility for coping is on your shoulders

Performance situations are around us every day, some we are more aware of (e.g. a presentation to management), others less so (e.g. spontaneous speeches at a meeting). And it is equally important to appear balanced, prepared and professional in them.

Shorter performances are also a good opportunity to practice in order to feel more confident in longer performances. This is where the first recommendation for managing performance anxiety comes from – practice consciously! Awareness requires that you have mapped out the main topics for yourself, thought about your positions and “clarified” them for yourself as well. Then look for opportunities to try out the performance. As already stated above, smaller performance situations can be found in large numbers, e.g. in meetings.

Get to know your fear

In order to better manage my anxiety, I should first try to understand what I fear the most. Is it a failure? A large crowd? Forgetting a text? Fear of getting into an embarrassing situation or embarrassment? Or rather the inability to cope with questions? Hostility from the audience or something else?

In addition to good preparation, self-analysis can also be useful. Think about when you experience fear, what happens in your thoughts, body and feelings at that time? How have you overcome it so far, what methods have you used and which of them have helped you cope and which have not? Then focus on the activities that have supported you in dealing with anxiety. During the analysis, you can notice that the anxiety is often quite momentary and the tension drops already after the first anxious initial moments have passed.

• Mari-Liis Järg DevelopDesign® trainer Photo: Veiko Tõkman

Find a way to manage your anxiety that works for you

Generally speaking, there are three types of performance anxiety management techniques.

First, techniques for managing tension before the performance (e.g. preparation, practice, “rehearsal” of the situation, self-analysis, thought management, etc.).

Second, techniques to manage anxiety during the performance (eg, breathing exercises, conscious contact with the audience).

Third, activities to relieve tension after the performance (breathing exercises, physical activity, self-analysis, etc.).

Just as we experience performance anxiety in different ways, there are different techniques that can help someone manage the tension. Thought management (eg, asking what is the worst that could happen to me during this performance? How realistic is it that this will happen?) may work for one person and not work at all for another. That’s why it’s important that you try different techniques and try to figure out what your way is, what fits and “works” for you.

Vote for success and take action

In my training over the years, I have heard from a large number of people that the number one factor that helps them overcome fear is proper preparation. By preparation, people here don’t mean that I write my speech ready and make some slides. This is also part of the preparation, but above all, the preparation focuses on honing the message and delivery of your presentation. I will also add here the success of self-tuning and the practical practice of the presentation. These three are key techniques to help you deliver a great performance and overcome performance anxiety.

But as always in life, nothing happens by itself. In order to control performance anxiety, you have to do all these activities, just thinking that I could try something, the performance anxiety does not tend to decrease.