Performance Anxiety

What causes performance anxiety, and how can I manage it before an event or presentation?

Performance anxiety is one of the most common challenges people face before important moments such as presentations, meetings, competitions, exams, or public speaking. It can show up as racing thoughts, tight muscles, shallow breathing or a sudden urge to avoid the situation altogether. While it often feels overwhelming, performance anxiety is not a personal flaw or a lack of confidence, it's a natural mind-body response to perceived pressure. Understanding what causes performance anxiety, and how to work with it rather than fight it, can make a powerful difference in how you show up when it matters most.

What is Performance Anxiety?

Performance anxiety is both psychological and physiological. Psychologically, it involves worry about outcomes, fear of judgment, or concern about making mistakes. Physiologically, it activates the body's stress response, preparing you to deal with a perceived threat. The key word here is perceived. Even when a situation isn't dangerous, the brain may interpret it as high-stakes. Your body responds automatically, often before conscious logic has a chance to intervene. Performance anxiety isn't a sign that you are underprepared, it's a sign that your nervous system is trying to protect you.

Fight, Flight, or Freeze: What is Happening?

When performance anxiety kicks in, the nervous system shifts into a survival response commonly known as fight, flight, or freeze.

• Fight may show up as irritability, tension, or an urge to push aggressively through the task.

• Flight often appears as avoidance, procrastination, or desire to escape the situation.

• Freeze can feel like mental blankness, stiffness, or feeling “stuck” just when you need to act.

Common body cues include racing heart, sweaty palms, shallow breathing, tight shoulders or jaw, nausea, or shaky hands. These sensations aren't harmful, they are signs of adrenaline moving through the body. The challenge isn't the presence of these sensations, but how we interpret and respond to them.

Calming Tools to Use

Managing performance anxiety isn't about eliminating nerves, it's about regulating the nervous system so anxiety doesn't hijack your focus or confidence. Here are a few examples of tools you can use before a high stress event or when you have pre-game anxiety:

Breathwork is one of the fastest ways to influence the nervous system. Slow, controlled exhalations signal safety to the brain. Try this before your event:

• Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds

• Exhale slowly for 6-8 seconds

• Repeat for 2-3 minutes

This helps lower physiological arousal while maintaining enough energy to stay alert. 

Visualization helps prepare the mind for performance. Instead of rehearsing everything that could go wrong, mentally practice responding calmly and effectively. Spend 30-60 seconds imagining yourself entering the situation, feeling grounded, and handling challenges with composure. Focus on how you want to feel, not just what you want to do. 

Grounding techniques bring attention away from anxious thoughts and back into the present moment. Here is a simple grounding technique you can use:

• Name 3 things you can see

• Name 2 things you can feel physically

• Name 1 thing you can ear

This anchors attention in the present and reduces mental spirals and racing thoughts. 

Healthy Adrenaline vs. Chronic Anxiety 

Not all anxiety is bad. Healthy adrenaline sharpens focus, increases energy, and supports performance. Many high performers feel some level of nerves before important moments, and perform better because of it. The problem arises when anxiety becomes chronic or overwhelming. Chronic performance anxiety often includes excessive rumination, sleep disruption, persistent avoidance, or difficulty recovering after events. Instead of supporting performance, it drains energy and confidence over time. Learning to distinguish between helpful activation and unhelpful anxiety is a key mental skill. The goal isn't to feel calm at all costs, but to feel regulated, alert, present, and in control of your responses.

Structured Support to Build Skills

Quick tools are helpful, but lasting change comes from training the nervous system overtime. Mental skills training focuses on building awareness, flexibility, and recovery. Through structured practice, individuals learn to reframe anxious thoughts without suppressing them, regulate physiological responses more efficiently, recover faster after high pressure situations, and build confidence rooted in adaptability rather than perfection. Therapy supports this process by addressing both the mental and physiological components of performance anxiety. With guidance, anxiety becomes less intimidating and more manageable, even useful.

Performance anxiety doesn't mean you're weak, unprepared, or incapable, it means your nervous system is doing its job, just a little too intensely. With the right tools and structured support, you can learn to work with your body instead of against it. Whether you're preparing for a presentation, a competition, or an important conversation, regulation skills can help you show up with clarity and confidence. Therapy and sport, health and performance psychology programs offer structured support to build these skills over time, turning anxiety from an obstacle into information you can know how to use.

You don't need to eliminate nerves to perform well. You just need the skills to stay grounded when they show up.