Insights from elite performers on using anxiety to your advantage
Cavan Images / Alamy Stock Photo. American rock climber Alex Honnold ascends a limestone route on the Greek Islands.
That flutter in your stomach before a big presentation. The racing heartbeat as the whistle blows for kick off. The restless night before a major life event. We often label this as anxiety – but what if we’ve been misinterpreting these feelings all along?
For elite performers in every field, the key is to transform these feelings from obstacles into assets. The same physical responses that can feel overwhelming when we call them “anxiety” can actually be powerful resources when we recognise them as activation energy.
Physiological truth about anxiety
When we feel anxious, our body’s sympathetic nervous system kicks into high gear, releasing adrenaline and cortisol. This results in:
Increased heart rate, delivering more oxygen to your muscles.
Dilated pupils, improving visual sharpness.
Quickened breathing, preparing your body for action.
These aren’t flaws – they’re evolutionary features designed to help us perform at our best. In other words, they’re really just our body getting ready to rise to the occasion.
The science behind anxiety
Dr. Alison Wood Brooks, a professor at Harvard Business School, explored this idea in her study, Get Excited: Reappraising Pre-Performance Anxiety as Excitement. She found that participants who reframed their anxiety as excitement before tasks like public speaking delivered more confident and persuasive presentations than those who tried to calm themselves down.
As Dr. Brooks puts it: “When people feel anxious and try to calm down, they’re thinking about all the things that could go badly. When they’re excited, they’re thinking about how things could go well.”
“When people feel anxious and try to calm down, they’re thinking about all the things that could go badly. When they’re excited, they’re thinking about how things could go well.”
How Olympic athletes handle anxiety
In a post-match interview during the 2008 US Open – in which he defeated Andy Murray in the final to claim his 13th major title – tennis great Roger Federer confessed: “Yeah, I can admit that. Upset stomach the last few days, nervous, shaking, cold hands before the match. I’ve had it all. And I’m supposed to be the experienced guy.”
This isn’t an unusual experience. Sports psychologist Dr. Nicole Detling, who’s worked with multiple Olympic teams, reveals that elite athletes don’t try to eliminate pre-performance anxiety – they aim to find the “sweet spot” where they can harness their energy most effectively. This concept ties into the “window of tolerance”, a psychological framework developed by Dr. Dan Siegel built on the idea that there’s an optimal level of arousal where we function best.
Rock climber Alex Honnold, famous for scaling El Capitan without ropes, likewise described his relationship with fear: “I’m trying to avoid fear through preparation, by spending time making sure I’m ready. Ideally, I’m not experiencing fear while I’m up there, and when I solo free-climb, I’m not scared at all.”
“I’m trying to avoid fear through preparation, by spending time making sure I’m ready.”
Practical reframing techniques
Whether you’re about to step into a championship game or have a challenging conversation ahead, these science-backed strategies can help transform anxiety into an advantage:
Linguistic Reframing: Changing your vocabulary can shift your entire experience. Instead of saying, “I’m anxious,” try saying, “I’m energised. My body is preparing me to perform.” This simple change can shift your perspective and focus.
Intentional Focus: Anxiety often comes from focusing on what could go wrong. Olympic shooting coach Lanny Bassham teaches athletes to focus on the process rather than the results. “Scoring is a function of great execution, and winning is the result. But thinking about winning can pull your focus off of proper execution. Thinking about process is the answer.”
Reframing Ritual: Many athletes have pre-performance rituals that help them acknowledge anxiety while channelling it productively. Dr. Kate Hays, a performance psychologist and author of How to Win, encourages athletes to create personalised “activation rituals.” These rituals help individuals focus on controllable elements like technique and breathing, allowing them to manage the physiological responses that come with performance anxiety.
The science of successful reframing
When we perceive a situation as threatening, our amygdala – our brain’s alarm system – activates, triggering a stress response that can hijack our prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for complex thinking and performance.
Dr. Matthew Lieberman’s research shows that simply labelling our emotions – what’s called affect labelling – can help mitigate this response. In a study, participants who labelled their emotions while viewing emotionally charged images showed reduced amygdala activity and increased activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which is linked to cognitive control and emotional regulation.
By putting your feelings into words, you can calm the brain’s stress response and engage the areas responsible for making better decisions. Reframing anxiety as excitement taps into this mechanism: by consciously labelling anxious feelings as excitement, you’ll activate the prefrontal cortex, allowing you to respond more effectively.
“Scoring is a function of great execution, and winning is the result. But thinking about winning can pull your focus off of proper execution.”
Anxiety as readiness
The next time your heart races before a big challenge, remember this: anxiety isn’t necessarily a warning sign that something’s wrong. More often, it’s confirmation that something important is happening – and your body is mobilising its resources to help you rise to the occasion.
Elite athletes don’t achieve greatness by never feeling nervous. They achieve it by recognising that the sensations we call “nerves” are actually the feeling of potential energy just waiting to be channelled.
So, whether you’re stepping on to a playing field or navigating one of life’s everyday challenges, the real question is how to transform anxiety from an obstacle into your most powerful ally.
