Move Past Anxiety To Perform Better

Fear, anxiety, and doubt…not such fun feelings are they? They cause you to question yourself, begin to give yourself excuses and may keep you from giving your full effort. To perform your best, you gotta learn how to work WITH them, and not fight them. Fear and anxiety may not go away, so how will you still perform your very best?

There is one ultimate strategy that will help reduce anxiety immediately.

Instead of trying to “NOT” feel fear or anxiety…you can accept that you are feeling them.

Instead of trying to wish anxiety away, you can embrace that it is part of life.

Instead of being angry that you’re experiencing anxiety, you can actually learn to appreciate it.

When you begin to feel something you notice you’re uncomfortable, the next step is to immediately tell yourself that it’s “okay” to be feeling that way. That it’s temporary and that you accept what’s going on right now inside of you.

As you begin to accept those feelings, you’ll notice they start to lessen. You can eventually even move towards loving ALL of your feelings, and embracing all parts of the human experience, and you’ll feel less controlled by anxiety and fear.

I struggled with panic attacks for years and my anxiety used to get the best of me. I used to try with all of my might to push it away, and I would get so mad that I had it. Now, I take an entirely different stance towards emotions like fear, doubt and anxiety. Sure, I still feel anxious at times, but when I started to accept it and learned to love that it’s part of who I am, it’s part of a meaningful life… that’s when it stopped controlling me. It’s still uncomfortable, and I still continue to practice this strategy all of the time, but it’s the best way that I’ve ever found to reduce the discomfort.

So, continue to DO, in spite of anxieties and fears. Waiting for, or wanting it to go away is holding you back.

Stop waiting to be completely fearless before take action.

Stop waiting for zero stress before you go forward.

Stop waiting for perfection before you commit.

Stop waiting for anxiety to fully go away to move on.

Stop waiting for doubts to be removed to perform your best.

There are things you can do every single day to reduce your fear, stress, need for perfection, anxiety and doubts. There are thoughts and behaviors that will help you navigate through each of those feelings so that you can accomplish your goals. If you wan to perform at a high level, day in a day out, you will face struggles and obstacles. Know that you’re on the right path.

Passion often comes with fear.

Desire often comes with frustration and nerves.

Big pursuits lead to some stress and doubt.

Pushing to be your best in games comes with a bit of anxiety.

See how this works? The best things in life are paired with uncomfortable feelings.

So, what do you do? How do you continue to put your best self forward, and perform your best?

1. Accept the anxiety and befriend it.

2. Practice the thoughts and behaviors that help you to improve your mindset every day.

3. Recognize that anxiety can be there, but TAKE ACTION FORWARD in spite of it.

4. Continue to build your toolbox of skills to handle discomfort.

Lean into your feelings, be kind to them. Embrace that they are there, but that they don’t need to RULE your actions and thoughts. Fear and anxiety can be present, you can be okay with them and you can do amazing things WHILE feeling them. They don’t need to be gone in order to go forward. Before you know it, you may even be able to understand them and love them.