Sometimes we may be dreading something, or even looking forward to it, but have a lot of anxiety surrounding the event. Whether it be a competition, work review, or starting a new project, nerves are completely natural. There are prior steps you can take that will make it easier for you to succeed, and it all starts with your mind.
If you go into something with a poor attitude, or with the expectation that you’re going to fail, oftentimes that will become the truth. It puts you in a mindset where you’re not confident, and therefore sets yourself up for failure. When you have a positive mentality going into a big event, you’ll usually do better than you’d expect. It’s not always easy; even if you have to fake your optimism, believe it or not it still will help. Whenever we would have a competition coming up, my instructor would say, “If you go into your sparring match thinking you’re going to lose, you’ve already lost the fight”.
Our minds are extremely powerful, so pre-framing an event with positivity will only help you. The next thing you find yourself dreading, try to find a different approach: instead of “this interview is going to be terrible….”, think “this is going to go great!” Even if you don’t believe it, just keep saying it to yourself. Eventually it’ll turn into a habit, and then become part of your nature.
