Performance Anxiety

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Stress and Anxiety in the Workplace

We live in a stressful world. No matter how hard we try to circumvent stress and anxiety, our rendezvous with them is as sure as death and taxes. Encountering distress is an undeniable reality. Understanding that stress and anxiety are always present in one's life should be accepted...but that does not necessarily make it easier.

For example, have you ever been picked on by a boss? Who can ever forget that ill-fated day that you became the �official office target� of the boss? Have you ever been accused with a blunder that you never committed. Not contented with what he did, the boss startled you with words that you have never even heard of before. To top it all, he did it in front of the whole work unit. Left with no choice but to keep your mouth shut, you just allowed your boss to unreasonably splatter his saliva all over your face. Still, you manage to fake a �cherry grin.�

These kinds of situations is just a normal office scenario but tends induce stress and anxiety. Stress first was attributed to external pressures like workloads, competition and other stimuli that could induce a distress one's body. Recently, however, stress was described not only as external stimuli but it may very well be the reaction of a person to another individual's negative perception, capacities and understanding.

Meanwhile anxiety is described as an overwhelming fear, worry, or apprehension. These intensified feelings are always accompanied by bodily manifestations like chronic sweating, uneasiness, heart palpitations, nausea, shortness of breathing, and headaches.

Work-related stress and anxiety, and chronic cares of same sorts can affect one's work performance. Anxiety induced by a past negative encounter with an officemate, worrying on multitudes of paper works labeled �urgent,� and apprehensions to confront a boss can affect indeed office performance. The apparent effect of it to a professional is not only depressing but could also be a one- way ticket to unemployment.

No one wants to be fired right away right? And companies don't give into excuses like, �Sorry sir, I'm just stressed.� So wise up see the practical anxiety treatments.

Start with a proper diet. Others might raise their eyebrows with this practical self-help tip but actually it has scientific explanation. Anxiety conditions are the avenues for the usual response of �fight or flight.� This is a condition where people who are confronted with anxiety challenge or flee from anxiety. With a healthier diet, the body becomes more stable, and eventually, event the anxiety reactions are lessened.

Have a proper attitude. Don't put unnecessary stresses to your life by going through unnecessary notions. Yes, your boss may have shouted a couple of times but harboring resentment would do no good either. Focus your strength and energy where you really need it most � on the work. Anxiety would be gradually obliterated by taming one's mind. Instead of using your energy to backstab a tyrant boss or get even with a co-worker with hideous attitude, learn to channel those energies to a more worthy cause. Proper attitude is an excellent anxiety treatment.

Life's full of stress and we can't afford to add insult to the injury. Greater stress would entail greater risk for anxiety.

Gambling Performance Anxiety

Picture the scenario, if you will. You're sitting at the last table of the World Series of Poker, facing off against Doyle Brunson, Annie Duke, and Scotty Nguyen. You know you're facing three of the top players in the game. You know you're playing for bragging rights, the status of being recognized as one of the top dogs in the sport, and that luscious cash prize. You've got one of the best hands you've seen in your entire life, but you know that there's a very good chance one of the other players at the table has a better set. You also know that there's also a very good chance that none of them have a better hand. Then, when one of them decides to raise the stakes just that much higher, you cave to the pressure and you fold. It happens to every poker player sooner or later, and it can be taken as a sign of performance anxiety.

The fact is, performance anxiety is something that every tournament-level poker player has to deal with, particularly if they're up against players with reputations behind them. Now, as every true-blue gambler knows, reputation is hardly everything when it comes to poker. However, big-name players like Alan Goehring, Phil Helmuth, and many others can easily cause someone to start doubting their own skills. For many players, the slight show of worry and mild fear is enough to ruin their game. For others, only it underscores a slight insecurity in their ability to perform. Sadly, for a certain few, it turns into a full-blown case of performance anxiety.

Of course, this isn't just limited to those who play the big-stakes, big-name tournaments. Even if you're just playing at a table, with your friends from high school, you can get hit by performance anxiety. This is something that has happened to every poker player in the world, though some might misinterpret it as a defensive act, essentially assessing the risks and deciding to back out based on that assessment.

Interestingly enough, most people believe that performance anxiety is significantly more prominent the lower down the �poker ladder� you go. Beginners tend to get nervous when playing against other players that have more experience than they do, rather than taking it as a learning experience. performance anxiety comes into play when, in the face of a supposedly better player, they cave and fold rather than stick with the decision that a proper risk assessment would bring. According to some observations, some inexperienced players simply let their fear and lack of experience equate into an approximate lack of skill at the game. performance anxiety, while theoretically a natural part of learning the game, can sometimes be blamed on the crippled careers of who knows how many players right before they start.

Of course, a number of players have overcome their initial fears and managed to become successful career poker players. Chris Moneymaker, Phil Helmuth, Annie Duke, Liz Lieu, Doyle Brunson, and even the late, great Stu Ungar all managed to carve out a livelihood playing poker. All of them confronted their fears and overcame performance anxiety. In some cases, when faced with the pressures of the competitive arena, even the best pieces of the game face a little fear every now and then.