In my life I already had to deal with all kinds of stressful situations - We all had and will, in the future.
Whether it was holding a presentation at school or having important business calls. I had to learn how to deal with Nervousness, in order to get what I wanted.
Now that I´m on Steemit I figured, it will provide value to all of you, to share my techniques of dealing with stress and nervousness.
The right Mindset
I know this sounds silly, but having the right Mindset allows you to tackle down every obstacle that might get in your way. First of all, it´s important to know what nervousness really is. The racing heart and the tingling feeling in your belly is caused by the adrenaline rushing through your veins. The ejection of adrenaline into your body has an evolutionary cause. Back then, in the good old days, you had to deal with situations like Bear attacks or natural disasters and the only thing needed, in order to survive such threads, was free energy to run away. Nowadays we don´t have to deal with Bear attacks anymore, but this character trait remains.
So first of all, realize that it is just natural to be nervous. Literally, everyone, from your neighbor Tom, to Steve Jobs, knows what nervousness feels like.
Second of all, don´t freak out. Being nervous is not only stressful for your body, but also for your Mind. It´s totally common to have thoughts like "What if I forget my Text" or "I can´t do this" buzzing around in your Head. I instantly replace these thoughts with phrases like "I can handle this" or "I already succeeded in ... , so I'll do it again".
Small tip - Smile! It is scientifically proven, that we instantly feel better if we lift up our corners of the mouth. Although it might feel weird in the beginning, it'll boost your emotional state. So Smile and tell yourself, that you can do it. It worked for me and it'll work for you - Promised.
Thirdly, realize that the extra amounts of adrenaline, ejected into your body, is pure energy, open for you to use. Don't try to suppress your nervousness, instead, accept it and see it as a Gift. The extra Energy is a gift, given to you, to perform your absolute best.
Don´t fight against the adrenaline ejections, instead, accept them and use the extra energy to kick some asses.
Get in the Power Pose
I once watched this amazing Talk, held by Amy Cuddy:
Amy Cuddy is talking about so-called "Power Poses". She refers to the assumption, that your nonverbal behavior can directly influence your emotional state. What that means is, that if you stand up like superman, you'll feel like Superman - and it's true!
Of course, you can stand up and throw your arm's in the air, while you have a meeting. But already small changes like straightening your body, stick out your chest and conquer some space, can make a huge difference. Such minor changes will already make you feel more confident and will help you being more respected.
Meanwhile crossing your arms and making yourself small, will make you feel insecure and week and with or whomever you have to deal with, will make use of that.
So, the next time you have to hold a presentation in front of other people or write an exam, take yourself 5 Minutes and get in a Power Pose. It'll power boost your confidence and blow your nervousness away.
Rhythmic Breathing
For me, the by far most powerful technique, to fight nervousness, is concentrated breathing. Whenever you get challenged, no matter what kind of challenge that might be, your heart rate goes nuts. The heart is, like every part of the body, connected to the brain and constantly exchanges information. Once your heart hits the panic button and your Physiology goes chaotic, your brain receives a signal which will inhibit its frontal lobes function. The human physiology causes your brain to shut down under pressure. It's due to this effect, that you talk complete bu@#$!t when your boss asks you a question, in a meeting or you suffer a blackout in an exam.
What we think and how well we are thinking is not influenced by our mindset or ... thinking. In order to achieve a much higher level of thinking you need to control the bottom line of your thoughts - and the bottom line, of your thoughts, is your Physiology. So you have to control your Physiology in order to control your Thoughts and with that, your Nervousness.
The way to do that is through controlling your breathing - the rhythm of your breathing to be exact.
I would recommend the following pattern:
- Breathing in: ~ 4 seconds
- Breathing out: ~ 5 seconds
- Hold: ~ 3 seconds
- Repeat
What is important here is not to adopt exactly the same numbers of seconds, it´s of much more importance to just following a certain Rhythm. What that does is, it´ll calm your Physiology and with that prevent your Brain from being inhibited. With a constant and relaxed heartrate, you´ll be able to handle nervousness and achieve a much higher level of thinking.
If you got curious about this technique, I´ve linked up a TED Talk held by Dr. Alan Watkins, about how Physiology can affect your thoughts. All my knowledge, about this topic, is from this brilliant Talk:
