Do You Know This Technique To Reduce Anxiety Before Doing Something Important?

There are many important situations that can cause our anxiety levels to rise to such an extent that we almost lose our ability to control it. These include, for example, a job interview, an oral presentation, an exam or the first day of a new project. On these occasions, almost all of us need an extra dose of self-confidence, but we don’t always find it.

For some, it is simply an additional tension that is managed with relative ease. For others, it is a real moment of instability that is difficult to overcome. There are also people who view these episodes of great tension as an experience that resembles trauma. If there is one thing that we can be sure of,  it is that no one (or almost) can experience these moments before an important event without feeling nervous.

“The majority of people spend more time and energy talking about their problems than solving them.”

-Henry Ford-

It is inevitable that we will feel a certain degree of fear when we are faced with an important situation. However,  there is a trick, or rather a method, that can help us prevent anxiety from betraying us. This technique was invented by experts at Harvard University and its effectiveness has been proven. We will explain to you what it is about.

An experiment to assess anxiety control

This method was devised by psychologists at Harvard Business School. It was established from a series of studies on these momentary crises. According to the conclusions of these researchers,  we must, in these cases of crisis, carry out a ritual, that is to say a sequence of actions that have a very great symbolic value.

Experts  have been able to verify that when a person creates and performs a ritual to reduce anxiety, it generally works very well. To validate their hypothesis with concrete data, these researchers carried out a curious experiment. They wanted a group of people to end up feeling a high degree of nervousness. To achieve this, they told people that they were going to have to sing a difficult song in front of a large audience a few minutes later.

They noticed that many of the participants already had some sort of ritual. The majority of them repeated aloud: “Calm down!” or “It’s not that important”. Or the classic “You can do it”. They did so with the intention of reducing the anxiety they felt. However, these acts did not seem to be very effective.

The researchers selected a group of people, among whom they applied a different strategy. They asked them to draw something that would illustrate what they were feeling at that moment. Then they had to tear their drawing into a thousand pieces and throw it in the trash. Those who performed this simple exercise were able to better manage their anxiety levels.

Controlling anxiety in difficult times

Psychologists have argued that forcing yourself to remain calm is not the most appropriate method. They indicated that what we manage to do with this strategy is exactly the same as the result we achieve when we ask an enraged person to calm down. Sometimes we end up doing the opposite of what we want: to irritate that person more. The same thing happens with our anxiety. You say to yourself “Calm down” to yourself and you make yourself even more nervous because you are frustrating yourself for not achieving this result.

What generates the most anxiety during these moments leading up to an important situation is the anticipation of lack of control. Not knowing what is going to happen and not knowing how to control all the variables that could lead to a negative result. Thus, an automated ritual, like the one proposed in the study,  helps us to eliminate this feeling of lack of control over what happens. Also, if the sequence of actions has special meaning for us, the result will be even more visible.

In conclusion,  creating and performing a ritual before facing a stressful situation reduces anxiety. For it to be a ritual, it must always be performed in the same way. Singers sometimes warm up their voices before a presentation. The footballers touch the pitch, cross themselves or enter the field by making a few special movements. Some personalities in the entertainment world drink tea or sleep five minutes before entering the stage.

You can find examples of effective rituals below. Do a series  of breathing exercises while we draw from our memory symbolic moments of our ability  or take with us and look at the photographs of people who can inspire us; it may even be a photo of ourselves at a different stage in our life.

If it is a personal photo, the best is that it reminds us of a moment similar to the one we are going to live. We also had to face a complicated challenge, over which we had no control, but we managed it all the same.

It is also possible to write our greatest fear on a piece of paper, chew it and spit it out. It has nothing to do with magic or spells. This type of ritual is simply intended for conscious and unconscious forces. Either way, the best thing to do is to create your own symbolic ritual. As absurd as it sounds, it is a big drag on the anxiety and negative thoughts that fuel it.