HOW TO COPE WITH NERVOUSNESS

Posted on Tuesday, 20th September - 2022, in ADVICE & TIPS, by Saki Mimura

Have You Ever Got Nervous Before An Important Presentation? Here Are Some Ideas For You To Become Confident.

Nervousness is one of the things we cannot get away with regardless of our age. Whether you are a university student preparing for an exam or an employee being assigned to make a presentation in front of the CEO, it’s natural for you to get nervous. 

You may be shaking, getting sweaty, or having your heart rate increase when you get nervous. Getting nervous can take different forms for each person, yet we can probably agree that it is not a comfortable experience.  

So, here we will address what we can do to mitigate the nervousness before an important situation.  

Why Do We Get Nervous?

But first, we need to understand why we ever get nervous in our lives. 

An article medically reviewed by Dr Timothy Legg explains that nervousness we feel is a result of our body’s “stress response.” In other words, when you predict or imagine a threat to come, your body prepares to help you overcome the threat by producing a lot of adrenaline. This gives you an increased heart rate and other symptoms that you get when you are nervous.  

3 Steps To Conquer Nervousness

1. ACCEPT YOUR NERVOUSNESS

The very first step you can take to cope with your nervousness is to accept it. It may sound absurd as you probably recognise yourself when being nervous, but it is important to know that getting nervous is a completely normal response to any challenge. 

So next time you feel that you are nervous, don’t panic. Just embrace the nervousness for a second, because your body is with you to tackle whatever it is that you need to overcome. Also, those challenges that make you nervous are often the ones that help you grow as a person.

2. IMAGINE THE POSITIVE TO BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE

Yet, we all want to know how to avoid nervousness from ruining your life and/or career by becoming too overwhelming to handle. 

Looking at professional athletes is a great way to understand how not to get too nervous. In fact, athletes teach us that imagination in your brain plays a vital role to mitigate nervousness. Here, I would like to address three types of imagination athletes do, for you to try calming yourself down before an important situation. 

COGNITIVE SPECIFIC IMAGERY

The first one is called “cognitive specific imagery” in which athletes imagine themselves practising certain skills or techniques before their actual competition. If you have a big presentation to make at work, you can imagine yourself successfully practising whichever skills you would like to present while speaking, like body language and eye contact. Furthermore, imagining the detailed process you need to take in the situation helps you break down the big challenge waiting for you into smaller steps of tasks and be well-prepared.  

MOTIVATIONAL SPECIFIC IMAGERY

The second type of imagination is “motivational specific imagery” where athletes recall the time when they won a competition or succeeded in performing a difficult technique. No matter what business we are in, we have all been through some challenges and overwhelming assignments in our careers. Therefore, remembering one of the times when you get rewarded for your hard work or complimented by your boss might help you become more positive to face the new challenge. 

MOTIVATIONAL GENERAL MASTERY

Last but not least is named “motivational general mastery” where athletes picture themselves in their head as tough, positive, and confident to compete. Before a significant challenge like a big presentation, you might find yourself looking into your negative sides. Thoughts like “what if I cannot do this?” and “I tend to fail to do this” would merely intensify the nervousness you are already feeling. Instead, you can focus on the positives of yourself, such as how much work you have put into, and how knowledgeable you are in your specialized area.

3. COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE AROUND YOU

Communicating with your colleagues also helps you mitigate nervousness. In fact, a study presented in 2014 suggests that people feel less pressured and more positive when sharing their challenging situation with others, especially with those who are going through similar situations. Hence, your colleagues are the perfect ones to talk to because they are highly likely to have experienced similar challenges to yours. Talking to them not only helps you acknowledge why you are nervous from another perspective but also makes you less pressured by feeling that you are not alone. 

CONCLUSION

As humans, we all get nervous when we face a challenging situation. It is a normal response to any challenges and there are a lot of ways to cope with nervousness. Accepting that you are nervous, imagining the positive, and communicating with people around you are the ones you can start trying today. 

Unique Team Building provides you with numerous programs to create a more comfortable and positive atmosphere in your team. This way, your employees can easily share their feelings like nervousness with one another. We also offer programs that challenge your team, to help your employees learn how to cope with nervousness and pressure well in a challenging situation. Check out our website to start your journey with us today.  

Email us or call 07 3186 1026.