Performance Anxiety

Every athlete experiences performance anxiety in some capacity.

While performance anxiety is also a performance boost (click here to read my blog post on how this works), it can push many athletes to the brink of burnout with how mentally exhausting it is.

What is Performance Anxiety?

Performance anxiety is a psychological condition that affects performers of all kind: athletes, musicians, actors, and military personnel. It often comes with performing in front of other people, the stakes are high, and you have limited opportunity to perform. Performance anxiety might also be known as stage fright, and the precursor to “choking.”

Everyone experiences it in different ways, but there are common symptoms that most people feel in some way. Physical symptoms include

  • “Butterflies” in the stomach

  • Shakiness or trembling

  • Rapid heartbeat

  • Excessive sweating

Experiencing performance anxiety can also damage your mental game, with psychological symptoms like

  • Overthinking

  • Inability to concentrate

  • Slower decision making

  • Negative self-talk

  • Cognitive fatigue, leading to burnout

Where Does Performance Anxiety Come From?

Performance anxiety often originates from future-oriented thinking. You’re worried about what will or will not happen. What people will think of you if [x] happens.

You can see why it’s important for athletes to train their ability to think in the present moment.

The thought of the unknown is at the heart of anxiety. Many athletes experience this before games. It could be days before the actual game, or minutes before while in the locker room.

Athlete’s experience different frequency and intensity of performance anxiety based on

  • Personality traits, like perfectionism

  • Previous experiences

  • The pressure they put on themselves to perform well

I Experience Performance Anxiety, How Can I Manage It?

There is an important disclaimer for every athlete wondering how they can manage or get rid of their performance anxiety:

You will never be free from performance anxiety. You’ll only experience more distress if your goal is to eradicate performance anxiety. Once you accept that it will be a part of your career, it’s easier to manage.

Ok, so you want to tame your performance anxiety in order to feel fewer physical and psychological symptoms that hurt your mental game. Where do you start?

First, let’s connect this to the mental skills and mindsets you learn in sport psychology training.

While mental skills and mindsets can provide boosts to your mental game, like feeling more confident, they can also manage performance damaging thoughts and mindsets. Many mental skills are used to manage performance anxiety - they don’t get rid of the anxiety, but you’ll feel the effects less frequently and intensely. Let’s discuss how the mindset of controlling the controllables can manage performance anxiety.

  • Controlling the controllables is a popular mindset sport psychology coaches teach their athletes. When an athlete aims their attention on something they can focus on, like their routine, as opposed to something out of their control like the crowd’s judgment of them, they’ll generally feel more in control.

  • Remember, anxiety is rooted in the future, where you have little control. So, when you feel more in control, anxiety is less present.

  • As this mindset is trained and feels more automatic, performance anxiety is experienced less frequently, and the athlete has cues ready to focus on that relieve this anxiety when it does come up.

If you still feel debilitating performance anxiety after working with a sport psychology coach, it’s a good idea to consult with a licensed mental health professional, especially one who has specialized training in treating anxiety. They can help you identify the root causes of anxiety and develop more specialized strategies to manage your symptoms. They’re also better equipped to work with individuals who experience severe forms of anxiety, like panic attacks or generalized anxiety.

It’s important to understand that seeking help for performance anxiety is a sign of strength, not weakness. Many high-performing athletes work with sport psychology coaches and mental health professionals to manage their anxiety so they can consistently perform at their best.

If you’d like to take the first step in training your mental game, click the button below to schedule a free call with me to see if we’d be a good fit for sport psychology training!