18/11/2015
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERFORMANCE
Like many performers, I started off my
career as a singer with severe stage fright. I never let it stop me – the inner drive to perform and make music was too strong – but it did cause me some sleepless nights and ruined some auditions until I found a way to deal with it. Once I overcame performance
anxiety through a change in focus that I'll talk about here, I was never hampered by it again. That doesn't mean that I never feel performance anxiety; just that I experience it very differently now, and that my performances never suffer because of it. Anyone can learn this change in focus, which can transform the way you experience performing.
Performance is something most of us have to do periodically in life; it is certainly not limited to professional entertainers. When you have to stand up in front of a group, whether giving a lecture to a group, teaching a class, or giving a pitch to a prospective client, you're giving a performance, a situation which can cause anxiety for some. Any time we're in a situation that requires a performance – meaning we have to stand in front of people and do something that puts the focus of the audience on us – we can use the change in perspective I'm about to describe, not only to relieve performance anxiety to a great extent, but to help us give more effective and compelling performances.
It is absolutely normal to get nervous before a performance and have some of the physical manifestations of anxiety, such as heart palpitations, sweating, muscle weakness, muscle contraction, need to urinate, dry mouth, and shaking, or the mental manifestations, such as memory issues and panic. When we stand in front of a group and have a fear of being judged, we will likely experience some of those symptoms. But they don't have to be a hindrance; in fact, those manifestations of anxiety (which are the effect of a huge rush of adrenaline) have the potential to create a more inspiring performance.
