Turning Anxiety into Excitement: Your New Superpower

Introduction:
What if stress could be your superpower instead of a weakness? As an introverted magician, getting on stage is anything but natural for me. We've all experienced moments of extreme anxiety. It could be before a big presentation, a job interview, or facing a challenging task. The tight grip of anxiety can feel overwhelming, hindering our performance and well-being. So how is it that I’ve used this anxiety to help build a great career as a magician and keynote speaker? In this blog post, we'll explore the concept of cognitive reappraisal. We'll discuss how reframing anxiety can transform your performance and outlook.

The Problem:
Stress tends to appear at the worst moments. When the pressure is on, we’re facing a deadline, and need to be at our best… that’s when stress jumps in to add fuel to the fire. Stress and anxiety are uncomfortable emotions. Science suggests that these emotions hinder performance by impacting cognitive processes. When you feel overwhelmed, it not only feels bad but also causes your work to deteriorate.

The Solution:
There’s actually a secret tool in stress, you need to know how to unlock it. This technique may sound magical, but it is researched. You can turn stress and anxiety into excitement and even passion. There's a tool called "reappraisal" that does this. This transforms stress into a positive emotion that is pleasant to experience and actually improves work performance.

How it Works:

Understand the Power of Reappraisal:
Leading research defines reappraisal as a mental cognitive change that alters the emotional impact of a situation. In this process, we reinterpret an emotional situation to change our feelings. In other words, you have the power to change the emotion you feel by changing your perspective.

Reframe Anxiety as Excitement:
Anxiety and excitement are both “energized” emotions which allows anxiety to be readily transformed into excitement! Studies show that when you reframe anxiety as excitement, it can affect your performance. To do this, participants simply said out loud, "I'm excited!" Reappraising stress as excitement in this way led to increased performance. This increase in performance has been studied in various domains such as singing, public speaking, and even math. Research also suggests that reappraising anxiety as excitement may even increase creativity. Since learning this, guess what I say to myself when I’m backstage and about to perform for hundreds of people? You guessed it, “I’m excited”.

Choose Passion Over Calmness:
There is an old saying, “Keep Calm, and Carry On”. Sounds great, but unfortunately this isn’t very effective when dealing with stress. Have you ever noticed that someone telling you to “calm down” pretty much does the opposite? Research has revealed that reframing stress as excitement is more effective than reframing it as calmness. This suggests that embracing the energy and anticipation of excitement can be a more motivating approach.

Enhance Competence Perception:
Scientists have discovered that reframing anxiety and stress as passion can lead others to perceive you as more competent. This shift in perception not only benefits your performance but also influences how others view your capabilities! This is a powerful example of how reappraisal is more than just mindset. It creates real changes that can be perceived by others.

Recognize the Cognitive Resource Drain:
This may not be a surprise to you, but research has identified that stress harms performance. It uses up cognitive resources like short-term memory. By reassessing stress and anxiety, you can redirect these cognitive resources toward the task at hand. This improves focus and efficiency. It’s almost like stress adds to your mental load, and excitement allows you to focus on what needs to get done. Given this, we would all choose the second option.

Conclusion:
Turning anxiety into excitement is not only a mindset shift. It's a powerful tool for personal and professional growth. Embracing cognitive reappraisal allows you to harness the energy of anxiety. It transforms anxiety into a superpower that propels you towards success. Reframe stress as a positive force. Adopt a mindset of excitement. This unlocks new possibilities for enhanced performance, creativity, and well-being. So, the next time anxiety creeps in, consider it an opportunity. Tap into your own source of motivation and enthusiasm.