7 Steps to Overcome Stage Fright and Beat Performance Anxiety

nothing is worse than when you're about to walk onstage for a performance audition or presentation and you get stage fright in this video I want to teach you seven steps to conquer it my [Music] name is Vanessa van Edwards and I am lead investigator at the science of people a human behavior research lab I love setting the hidden forces that drive us and unfortunately nerves anxiety and fear are some of the negative forces that can hold us back these can especially rear their ugly heads right before those big moments this is called stage fright or performance anxiety and it can happen before or during any appearance in front of an audience wonder if you've ever had it here are the official symptoms or performance anxiety racing pulse and rapid breathing dry mouth and tight throat trembling hands knees lips and voice sweaty and cold hands nausea and an uneasy feeling in your stomach vision changes yeah stage fright is no joke it can even make your vision blurry or tunneled so what do we do how do we combat these symptoms to find out I went to the expert on this topic Don Greene Don Greene is a leading sports psychologist he has coached the u.s. Olympic swim team served in the US Army Special Forces as a green beret and trained the San Diego Police SWAT team if anyone knows about performance anxiety it's him in fact a few years ago I stumbled upon his book fight your fear and win when I was trying to combat my own stage fright he gave me seven steps that I still use when I present and now I want to teach them to you step number one form your clear intention when you think about stage fright you often think about anxiety or nerves but often the precursor to nerves is confusion or chaos when our thoughts are scattered when we're rushing around we don't feel centered it's almost impossible to feel confident and often right before a performance or a big meeting this can lead to stage fright so the very first thing dr. green tells us to do is pick one clear intention what's your goal what's your hope what do you want to achieve with what you're about to do this intention should wipe away any and all other thoughts and you should think about it while you're getting ready driving or pumping yourself up for your big moment a great intention example is something simple for example if you're gonna go into negotiation it might be get the buyer to sign and stay firm on numbers if you're going into an audition it might be play my heart out and hit all the right notes special note the most important thing about a good intention is to keep it positive don't use words like don't or no so instead of don't mess up say stay confident set number two pick a focal point one of my favorite of dr. Greene's tips is about picking a focal point he says you should pick a far-off unimportant point in the back of the room or auditorium later you're gonna use this point to throw off your nervous energy this is an interesting concept because dr. green isn't asking you to ignore your nervous energy he's asking you to redirect it I tell you how to do this in step number seven but for now just have a focal point that will be the gathering place for your nervous energy special note if you don't know the room you'll be in or on the way to a location you have never been to before you can also use what I call a grounding prop I have a pen I use that is my focal point I imagine flinging my nervous energy towards it and then put it down on the podium or table it's a really interesting mental trick you feel nervous then mentally imagine all of your nervousness into that darn pen and then you put it down on the table it tricks your brain into thinking you have let go of the anxiety powerful and simple set number three breathe mindfully oxygen is really like magic we needed to live but it also counteracts all the physical feelings of nervousness the problem is because we need it to live we don't even think about breathing it in and so when we're nervous without realizing it we take shorter more shallow breaths or hold our breath entirely this exacerbates the cycle of anxiety making us lightheaded dizzy and even more out of breath so dr. green advises going into mental preparation to breathe purposefully first close your eyes second breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth then push out your belly with each breath this deep belly breathing and closing your eyes will help focus and Center you set number 4 release muscle tension when we get anxious we tighten everything we clench our jaw tense our shoulders squeeze our arms to our side or in front of us even our stomach gets tight this is terrible for blood flow and anxiety dr. green recommends progressively relaxing your body this is starting at your head or your toes and slowly relaxing each muscle one at a time each area of your body gets an inhale so you can think relax my feet relax my shins relax my thighs one breath at a time this is a great exercise because it physically relaxes you it also has the added benefit of mentally distracting you instead of thinking about everything that could go wrong or all the last minute things you need to remember it focuses your brain on something calming let's try it together I'm gonna walk you through a progressive relaxation exercise you can do this yourself anytime you're starting to feel nervous first take a few deep breaths and shake your body out now we'll do one breath per area of your body close your eyes and think of relaxing each of these areas deep breath relax your face and all the muscles around your eyes deep breath relax your jaw and neck deep breath loosen your shoulders and relax your chest deep breath relax your arms and hands and make sure they are completely loose deep breath relax your stomach and ab muscles deep breath relax your glutes and thighs deep breath relax your shins and lower legs deep breath wiggle your toes and completely relax your feet ah feels good right set number five find your Center dr. Greene says that thinking about our physical center can also help ground us think about the spot two inches below your navel and two inches below the surface of your belly for me right now since I'm pregnant that happens to be a right where the baby is for you probably not pregnant this should be a deep spot inside your tummy dr. Greene says we can focus on this spot to calm our mind you can even combine step four and five and think about relaxing this spot with each breath step number six repeat your process cue in the very first step we talked about your intention this was your goal or desired outcome for your performance a process cue is how you want to achieve that intention what mental or physical reminder do you want for yourself as you process and go through your performance for example an interviewers process cue might be smile and ask great questions or a violinist process cue might be smooth and good tempo if your public speaking it could be keep it positive and engaging think about how you want to achieve your goal what kind of tempo do you want what feeling do you need to fuel you this is your process cue and you should think of it internally as you pep talk when you're getting yourself ready transitioning and during your actual performance to keep you grounded step number seven direct your energy remember that focal point we in the back of the room this is your dumping ground for excess nerves anxious energy and bad thoughts if you just tell yourself don't be anxious it doesn't work but if you redirect that energy somewhere else it can have a very relieving effect dr. green advises that as you start your performance or begin to feel anxious just take that nervous energy and mentally hurl it towards that focal point it will give you the amazing lightness of throwing off a heavy backpack and it's a powerful mental exercise to combat nerves take all these seven steps together and you have a systematic way to combat any kind of performance anxiety save this video and replay it or listen to it before your next big thing from myself and everyone here at the science people we wish you the best of luck and break a leg we know you can do it know someone who has a big meeting or performance coming up send them this video you also might want to check out these other videos we made for you enjoy

Channel: Vanessa Van Edwards

Views: 111,162

Rating: 4.9303484 out of 5

Keywords: vanessa van edwards, science of people, communication, nonverbal communication, verbal communication, anxiety (symptom), public speaking training, public speaking, performance anxiety, stage fright, overcoming stage fright, mastering public speech, overcome stage fright, how to overcome stage fright, performance (visual art form), presentation skills

Id: W1T7VlHbM3A

Length: 10min 6sec (606 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 21 2018