Asking for a raise or presenting to a group of executives can be nerve-wracking in the workplace. You might try to alleviate the current anxiety by adjusting your nervous system and practicing deep breathing.
According to a report from CNBC’s “Make It” section, the best strategy to handle these nerve-wracking moments is preparation. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a neuroscientist, writer, and psychology professor at Northeastern University in the United States, believes that successful individuals overcome their insecurity through a key mindset shift. They do not view stress as something negative that needs to be overcome, but rather as a natural phenomenon that can be managed.
Her advice is to practice before such situations, tackling tasks that make you nervous. Through these practices, you can train yourself to understand and cope with stress in different ways. This way, your brain will automatically have “a wealth of options” when faced with such situations.
1. Practice: Before giving a speech, practice in front of your family, or simulate a job interview with a hiring manager.
2. Stay Calm: Practice quick and composed mindful cognitive segments.
3. Cognitive Restructuring: Remind yourself that the nervousness you feel is normal and purposeful.
Barrett also finds ways to make overwhelming tasks appear smaller. She uses a sense of “awe” as a way to give her nervous system a break in highly stressful situations and takes a few minutes before each tense workplace conversation to appreciate the “sounds of the sky, leaves, and sea.”
“Awe-inspiring things make you feel like a speck of dust,” Barrett says. “When you’re a speck of dust, your problems diminish in importance in a very short time. This gives you time to adjust.”
Over time, these techniques can help you reframe your view of stress, shifting your perspective from “I feel anxious about my situation” to “my body is working to cope with this situation.”
In a speech, Barrett mentioned, “Many studies have observed students’ performance in math exams like the GRE and found that when they reclassified anxiety as just a sign of their body responding, they achieved higher scores.”