Stage Fright: What You Absolutely, Positively Need to Know

STAGE FRIGHT: What You Absolutely, Positively Need to Knowto find your way beyond it Do you sometimes think you're alone in getting stage fright? It can certainly feel that way since so many performers, public speakers, athletes, and others suffer in silence. But, trust me, you're far from alone. Studies show that something like 75% of both performers and public speakers suffer from this menace. Even 70% of professional orchestra musicians experience such intense fright that it mars their playing. So you're certainly not alone in becoming anxious when you perform. You'll come to realize it's really not such a big number once you understand the root causes of stage fright. In fact, its prevalence makes total sense. Understanding the root causes of stage fright also helps you appreciate why there's no one-and-done cure for your nervousness.Three FactorsThree factors are always at play when you experience stage fright. You perform, speak, or compete in front of others (an audience).The audience somehow judges you.The judgment constitutes some sort of threat.The first of these factors, you perform, spea, or compete in front of an audience others, is pretty much a no brainer. The second factor, the audience somehow judges you also makes sense if you keep in mind that the judgment can be either formal or informal. How enthusiastically an audience applauds is a type of judgment. The second factor still holds true even if the audience doesn't actually judge you, as long as you feel you're being judged. Stage fright hinges most on the third factor, the judgment constitutes some sort of threat. Despite being central to stage fright, it often goes unrecognized. Nevertheless, you get nervous when you perform, speak, or compete because you're somehow threatened by the audience's judgment of you. So, just remember this simple equation: Stage Fright = Audience + Judgment + ThreatThis formula helps explain why there's no one-and-done cure for the anxiety you experience as a performer. Dr. David Lee Fish
educator, performer, author
& stage fright authority

The Way Beyond Your Stage FrightIn just 5 days! Don't let anxiety sabotage your next performance, presentation, or competition. Tell Me More!

Autonomic Nervous System The symptoms of stage fright are largely the manifestation of the brain's autonomic nervous system (ANS) preparing the body to fight or flee whenever it perceives a threat. It reacts instantly and without conscious thought, largely through the release of adrenalin into the bloodstream. That's what causes your heart to pound and your breathing to become labored in addition to the other physical symptoms you suffer. That's how I know you perceive a threat when you experience stage fright. If you didn't, the ANS wouldn't kick in to cause your symptoms. Here's a fun fact, by the way. Autonomic means "occurring involuntarily or spontaneously." That means we don't have much direct control over the autonomic nervous system. If it perceives a threat, you're going to experience the symptoms of stage fright.What Threat?So, getting nervous when the stakes are high makes sense, like during a make-or-break audition or an important performance. What's mysterious about stage fright, though, is that it can even strike when the stakes don't seem all that high. Even at such a time, you're still sensing a threat. And it's a true threat that represents a deep danger to you as a performer. It's just buried under layers of less consequential surface worries. (Continue on to the next page to understand why all of this means there's no one-and-done cure for stage fright.) The Way Beyond Your Stage FrightIn just 5 days! Don't let anxiety sabotage your next performance, presentation, or competition. Tell Me More!How Bad is YOUR Stage Fright? Find out in just 3 minutes! I Wanna Know!Dead Man's Goal Can you imagine time in your life when you'd never be angry or sad again? Of course not. Becoming angry and sad are just part of being human, perfectly human. The same goes for stage fright. In therapy, they call saying something like "I'll never get angry again, a Dead Man's Goal. It's one only a dead man could achieve. The same goes for stage fright. When an audience's judgment of you represents a threat, the autonomic nervous system is going to engage in a counterproductive attempt to protect you. And that's why there's no one-and-done cure for stage fright. What can you do, then?I know that can leave you feeling helpless and hopeless. You come away thinking that there's nothing you can do about your stage fright. Fortunately, you CAN do something. And it's fairly easy to accomplish once you know the ins and outs of it. As paradoxical as it may seem, you can learn mindful acceptance of your anxiety as the effective way beyond it. It won't make your stage fright magically disappear, BUT it will help you find detachment from it to achieve your full potential as a performer, public speaker, or athlete.The 5-Day Solution

And that's where the 5-Day STAGE FRIGHT Solution comes in. I've helped many individuals find the way beyond their anxiety in just a few short days through my exclusive online course.

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The Way Beyond Your Stage FrightIn just 5 days! Don't let anxiety sabotage your next performance, presentation, or audition. Tell Me More!Other 5-Day Solution Posts