Managing Yourself

How we think about an outcome influences our actual results. This insight has been demonstrated for years through the use of medical placebos. In one study, patients received intravenous injections of morphine over two days to reduce the pain created by dental work. On the third day, certain patients received an injection of saline but were told it was a powerful painkiller. Those who received this placebo tolerated the pain much better than would normally be expected - even compared with the patients given morphine.

This phenomenon holds true outside of medicine.... When I expect to do well, I feel more comfortable and excited, and, as a result, I perform better. Not only that, research shows that I am also judged by others as more competent. Research has found that when we approach high-stakes performance situations and tell ourselves that our jitters are because we are excited - and not just a state of mind we need to calm down - our levels of anxiety drop. Even more effective is when we frame the upcoming task as an opportunity to learn and improve - regardless of our immediate success or failure....

In the face of a challenge, then, one of the best strategies for engaging with our anxiety is to recall, and steer into, what we are good at.


From "When Your Nerves Get the Best of You, Change the Narrative"