In my life, I first noticed my performance anxiety early on when it came to test-taking time in school. Since then I figured out that performance anxiety comes from panic, perfectionism, and overthinking. Those all had one thing in common – my mind.
That’s where it all started when I believed I wasn’t prepared enough. That set my subconscious mind sending unclear messages that left me in an internal nervous frenzy and blowing up into anxiety and panic, which further prevented productive rational conscious thinking (and maybe this has happened to you also).
All through childhood, I grew up achieving ideal perfectionist standards that aren’t so easy to shake off as an adult, even with constant reminders. But doing it imperfectly and progress over perfection is the better mantra way, that has also changed in schools.
In school terms, that’s being a “C” student and passing, over being an excellent “A” student as the only successful path. A few years ago, I may have cringed at that thought. But we’ve turned into a more empathetic world that allows us to be brave and follow Nike’s long-running ad advice, just do it.
There are still times when you’re asked in your work to strive for perfection. On those occasions, you’re asked to nail the performance or delivery, and you’re not gonna turn down the ask if it’s your employer.
But if it’s self-imposed, then that’s something to be observant about and look out for. You can ask yourself why you didn’t hit send or complete the intended task imperfectly. That’s what I do as checks and balance along with believing, love is in detail (the positive side of perfectionism).
In our gray decision-making world and in finding our own individual balance, we can get better at when to turn it on or off for different scenarios.
In a test-taking performance environment, overthinking test questions and re-writing subjective essay answers can hurt a test taker. Usually, your gut instinct and the first thought are better than second-guessing. If you’re not sure, stick with your first guess.
When you combine these complex dimensions of growing panic, aiming for perfectionism, and overthinking, those elements mixed together are a recipe for performance anxiety and a test-taking disaster (and in my scenarios all I could do was hope for the best and move on).
Performance Anxiety on The Great British Baking Show Competition
On the topic of combining and mixing, in The Great British Baking Show series, the invited competitors are challenged to create great bakes, that require overcoming performance anxiety on top of great talent and skill. They’re the nation’s best bakers.
If the contestant can wow the judges week after a week staying in the competition, stay calm, keep emotions in check, and not lose his or her marbles, they move onto the final rounds.
By the final week, nerves can grow for each contestant, as you would expect. The final ones that get in their heads with worry and anxiety are the ones that end up making mistakes and messing up because of their overriding emotions and minds sending mixed messages.
They can have the greatest talent and high skills under low-pressure conditions like baking at home, where they could create perfect masterpiece bakes. But when put in a stressful lab environment and varying conditions, those most affected in performance are often Vatas. The natural Pittas and Kaphas are generally better built for stamina and competition settings.
Without knowing their natural dosha and personalities, one of the wildcard surprises is when bakers win the technical challenge and then the next day does poorly on the showstopper challenge presented to them. Often it’s not the challenge itself, but getting off the high of the previous day’s win, and trying to stay mindful focus on the current challenge.
Free from Panic and Overthinking
In The Great British Baking Show’s season 7, in one challenge, Rosie is a contestant who decides to redo the first bake she does, where she isn’t happy with the quality, throwing out the product and starting over again with the clock ticking. She voiced while baking that she was in dire straights and probably going home.
By acknowledging and accepting that potential reality, she was able to free herself from a deep panic attack. She set herself up to just finish with the best bake she could do. And because she only wanted to do the best she could, that helped her end up having the best bake that wasn’t over baked, and that won her the technical challenge.
Perfectionism Downfalls
In the same season 7, Steph made it to the final week. Up until the 9th week leading to the final, she had demonstrated skill and talent and anyone watching may have thought she would win the final.
Her downfall that she voiced while baking was her perfectionism getting in her way. You can see her as a nervous wreck in the final-final challenge as she accidentally runs the mixer over her hands, not thinking clearly, and as she’s emotionally crying, knowing she doesn’t have it all together.
We’ve all been there at some point! At least I know I have, where emotions got the better of me, and I couldn’t put thoughts together that made sense.
My mind went blank and out of my control, and I had to fill in the blank with words to attempt to communicate.
That’s a defeating feeling, especially if you have to present in front of others and you have no idea what you’re saying. That can lead to panic and all sorts of beating yourself up afterward. That’s not good for self-esteem, but if you can learn how to do better next time, then it’s worth going through and can help build self-confidence next time.
So while watching that baking episode, I empathized from one perfectionist’s mind to another, and felt so bad for her (Steph), especially since this was televised for the show’s audience to watch. I hope she has been able to laugh it off and embrace imperfection. She and the others who made it on the show should be proud of their accomplishment and not worry about anything or anybody else.
That’s the healthy way to embrace and move on. And with a personal growth mindset, we can become the opposite of the way we started which helps us become better people to ourselves and for the world we impact.
That’s how it also can be for you and me. We’ve used our tougher moments to crawl and learn to walk effortlessly. I’ve had to re-teach myself to move away from perfectionism, what I learned as a child and into my young adult years, and how to bounce back and just let go of any subconscious and self-conscious critic inside me.
Panic vs. Calm
Another final contestant in the same season was Alice. Towards the finals, she calls out her panicky feelings, and what appears as indecisive walking back and forth moments.
In the end, she’s able to get her headspace in check, enough to perform without overriding emotions, and without noticeable performance impact.
Then there’s David who’s singing throughout the season, and as chill as though he’s baking at home and not in a competitive environment at all. He doesn’t show any Vata imbalances.
On one of the pastry challenges, he has demonstrated the same skill repeated, according to the judges. His safe approach week to week didn’t create standout bakes but he made it to the end. It all came down to the final showstopper where he’s the only one of the three, that’s calm. He’s titled the Star Baker for that season.
It shows that slow and steady wins the race. And his cool as a cucumber (no-stress attitude) helped his winning edge and on the final illusion cake picnic board challenge.
It’s fun to watch and critique shows and competition shows as we’re in our relaxed pajamas and hoodies. At the moment, we can get relief about our own lives watching with entertaining empathy as we can have our life performance anxiety to live out.
Performance Anxiety
Performance anxiety is a form of fear and insecurity of being judged by others (of self-criticism). It can show up, affect, and be replicated in other situations such as lack of technology skill confidence, presentation delivery, or even deciding what to wear.
And it can also be an area of transformation, that starts with having a balanced Vata mind (either because that’s your natural way or in healthy restoration practices).
You can set yourself up to not take life soooo seriously and just choose to let go of what you can’t change. I know for me, surrender was a steep climb but the hill that needed to be climbed.
I always kept to the mantra, and especially in anxious moments, if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. If not, oh well… just keep going and growing.
Adopting those beliefs have changed my life. That’s how I’ve better learned to move on productively from situations that I couldn’t change or control.
Giving up or saying that’s just how it is or how I am isn’t going to help me (or you in your situations). Real success takes fearlessness and courage when you know you need to show up.
Getting in situations where we have nervous butterflies, helps us remove past ways and re-learn better ways (like being imperfect or just letting go). This helps us to get to the next level of goals that we want to achieve.
Thanks for reading and learning a little about me and my anxiety experience.
I love to serve people who aspire to grow and do good things for themselves and others. I believe we can be a world that helps each other with our gifts and others’ needs, to make an impact in healthier ways.