M·06
Mind & Body
Say “I'm Excited”, Not “Calm Down”
Reappraising anxiety as excitement improves performance. Trying to calm down does not — it is a much longer distance to travel.
- Evidence
- shaky
- Topic
- Mind
- Things to do
- 3
- Read
- 1 min
shakyHow strong is the evidence?
Real, but smaller and shakier than the story you have probably heard.
- Alison Wood Brooks, J. Experimental Psychology: General, 2014 — singing, speaking and maths tasks
Check it yourself: doi.org/10.1037/a0035325
A correction to this entry
Downgraded from solid. This rests largely on one 2014 paper from a single lab, and later attempts to reproduce the reappraisal effect have been mixed at best.
Why it works
Anxiety and excitement are the same high-arousal state with different valence. Reinterpreting is easy; downshifting arousal under pressure is nearly impossible.
What to do about it
- Say it out loud: “I am excited.” Out loud beat thinking it in the study.
- Use before speaking, pitching, performing or a hard call.
- Pair it with an opportunity frame: what is there to gain here, rather than what is there to lose.
Where people go wrong
Telling an anxious other person to relax. Tell them it's excitement, or ask them what they're looking forward to.
Read next
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