3 Ways To Get Your 'High-Stakes Anxiety' Under Control

Struggling with performance anxiety in high-stakes situations? Here's three ways to get it under control—or, better yet, to harness it.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | December 04, 2024

High-pressure situations come with high performance standards—whether set by yourself, your boss or an audience. As the moment approaches, these expectations may feel overwhelming, especially when performance anxiety makes you doubt your preparedness.

This anxiety can spiral as your mind cycles through all that could go wrong. It can lead you into a mental maze of hypothetical scenarios that sap your focus and energy, making you feel more stuck than prepared.

Yet, even when the pressure feels tremendous, there are ways to harness your nervous energy constructively and perform with rock-solid confidence. Here are three strategies to turn high-stakes anxiety into unstoppable momentum.

1. Focus On What You Can Control

Imagine you're about to present to a critical client after months of preparation. The deal rests on your performance, and your team, your manager—maybe even the entire company—is counting on you. Yet, as the meeting draws near, anxiety tightens its grip; you're losing sleep, zoning out, envisioning worst-case scenarios or wrestling with doubts that don't seem to go away.

"Your mind is racing. Your palms are sweaty. Your heart is pounding. Your legs are shaking. If you're like most of us, this is what you experience when you're about to speak publicly," says Matt Abrahams, a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business and host of the podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart. He adds, "Research tells us that 85% of people feel nervous in high-stake speaking situations. And quite frankly, I think the other 15% are lying."

Feeling nervous when the stakes are high is normal, but you can counteract it by focusing on actions within your control. A review published in the journal Emotion highlights how anxiety impacts focus by drawing our attention away from tasks and toward perceived threats, which disrupts our ability to concentrate and work efficiently.

The findings also suggest that, while anxiety reduces processing efficiency, many individuals counter these effects by increasing their effort or using more mental resources—enabling them to maintain performance quality despite distractions.

For instance, you can take these simple steps to focus on things you can control, such as:

• Clarify your key points by outlining the most important ideas or messages you need to convey. Knowing your content well boosts confidence and reduces last-minute stress.
• Practice your delivery by rehearsing your presentation or speaking points aloud, either alone or in front of a mirror. This will help you feel more comfortable and prepared.
• Visualize success by mentally walking through each step of your task and imagining a positive outcome. Visualization helps you feel familiar with the experience, reducing anxiety and boosting focus.

By centering your energy on these controllable actions, you create a sense of readiness and calm that can keep your anxiety at bay.

2. Practice Mindfulness And Grounding Techniques

Focusing on what you can control, as opposed to what you can't, helps build a strong foundation. In this way, practicing mindfulness and grounding techniques can deepen your sense of calm and focus.

Anxiety often escalates as our minds drift to worst-case scenarios—thoughts like "What if I completely lose my train of thought?" or "What if my voice starts to shake?" amplify stress, making it even harder to stay grounded and present in the moment.

A 2015 study published in Cognitive Therapy and Research suggests that practicing mindfulness can significantly reduce anxiety by helping individuals decenter and observe thoughts and emotions as separate from themselves, rather than getting caught up in them.

Here are a few simple mindfulness exercises to help keep you grounded:

• Take deep breaths by inhaling for a count of four, holding for four and exhaling for four. This eases the physical tension associated with anxiety and keeps you centered.
• Acknowledge the thought when a worry pops up—like "What if I can't finish on time?" Simply notice it. Say to yourself, "This is just a thought," instead of letting it take over your attention.
• Separate feeling from thought by reminding yourself that just because you feel anxious doesn't mean your thought is true. Practice seeing your thoughts as passing events rather than reflections of reality.
• Observe physical sensations by conducting a quick body scan, focusing on how each part of your body feels, from your feet to your head. This will shift your attention away from spiraling thoughts and ground you in the present moment.

These techniques help interrupt the cycle of anxiety, making it easier to stay present and focus on the task at hand.

3. Reframe Your Performance Anxiety As Excitement

It's easy to interpret anxiety as something purely negative—an enemy to overcome. However, research shows that shifting your mindset to view anxiety as excitement can transform it into a powerful motivator.

A 2014 study published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General found that participants who reappraised their anxiety as excitement performed better across tasks such as public speaking, math tests and karaoke singing. This approach increased self-confidence and fostered an "opportunity mindset" rather than a "threat mindset," which significantly enhanced their performance.

By reframing the nervousness as excitement, you can harness it to enhance your performance rather than hinder it. Anxiety and excitement share similar physical sensations—racing heart, heightened alertness and extra energy—so the difference lies in how we interpret these feelings.

When anxious thoughts like "What if I mess up?" arise, try telling yourself, "I'm excited to take on this challenge," or "I'm ready for this." This simple reframe tricks your brain into associating the adrenaline with positive anticipation, helping you feel more engaged and capable.

Instead of battling anxiety, you're using it as fuel to energize your focus and commitment to the task. By turning anxiety into excitement, you shift from a defensive mindset to an empowered one, prepared to excel.

In high-stakes situations, performance anxiety often feels like a barrier too big to overcome. Yet, by reframing your approach and applying practical strategies, you can transform that anxiety into a powerful tool. By focusing on what you can control, grounding yourself with mindfulness and reframing nerves as excitement, you turn high-stakes scenarios from overwhelming challenges into opportunities for excellence.

Curious about your own sensitivity to performance anxiety? Take this short quiz to discover where you fall on the "anxiety sensitivity" spectrum, and gain insights for future success: Anxiety Sensitivity Test.

A similar version of this article can also be found on Forbes.com, here.