It is time to stop fearing fear. Everybody is afraid of something: an imminent sporting challenge, a job interview, a work presentation, a Tinder date or a first foray into parenthood.
Although this emotion can feel overwhelming, if you want to succeed in life, you have to convert fear from an adversary into a friend. With the right mindset, you can turn debilitating fear into a potent performance enhancer.
To begin this psychological revolution, you first need to understand what fear is.
Fear is a powerful evolutionary emotion triggered by danger, whether real or imagined. It leads to rapid physiological changes, such as sweating, increased adrenaline and a raised heart rate – and psychological shifts, including elevated anxiety and hyper-awareness.
Together, these changes constitute the life-saving ‘fight-or-flight’ response, which conditions us to react rapidly to danger by fighting or fleeing from it.
The problem is our bodies don’t differentiate between threats. So, before a bike race or a job interview, your body reacts in the same way as if you’re being chased by a tiger.
“The function of fear is to activate the individual to outward threats,” explains Professor Andy Lane, an expert in sport and exercise psychology at the University of Wolverhampton, who has worked with athletes, polar explorers and business people.
“Fear is a warning signal that there is danger around, which is why you can't ignore fear easily. Fear is real and it is better to address it,” he adds.
One obvious response to fear is to step away from the ‘danger’. Sometimes, this is rational, such as when withdrawing from a mountain climb due to a sudden storm.
But when faced with a job interview or a sporting challenge, stepping away could lead to a dispiriting lack of success in life.
“You can choose not to play the sport, or to do a less stressful job, but with the right mental toolkit, fear can actually make you perform better,” says Professor Lane.
“For example, fear of a marathon or a work presentation will get you preparing hard beforehand. And fear of a parachute jump will get you double-checking every detail. Your fear becomes functional.”
Professor Lane’s research has demonstrated two important facts. Firstly, unpleasant emotions such as fear can inspire good performances, via increased effort and focus.
Secondly, negative emotions can be altered with clever psychological tools. “Learning to get over your fears is part of the enjoyment and the reward,” he says. “But you need to develop your psychological skills.”
6 fear-busting strategies to get you started.
Become a prepper
Whatever frightening challenge lies ahead, preparing diligently will help to neutralise any fears before they ambush you.
“Go knowingly into the unknown,” says Professor Lane. “Accept that there is uncertainty ahead and that overcoming uncertainty is one of the reasons you are doing the challenge.
"Think through what the challenge might involve and make preparations for how you might respond.”
For example, think about how you will train for a century ride, or what knowledge you need for your job interview. Plan how you will respond if you get a puncture, or if you don’t know the answer to a question.
“Ask yourself: ‘why is this thought scary and what can I do about it?’” says Professor Lane. “Use your fear as positive energy. If you plan how you will react, you will have a bank of fear-busters ready.”
Visualise your success
Visualisation can help to nuke irrational fears. “‘Seeing’ yourself overcoming a challenge builds confidence,” says Professor Lane.
Visualise how you will feel after 20 miles of a marathon and how you will overcome the pain. Imagine all the faces staring back at you in a work presentation, and where in the room you will focus your eyes.
“Really immerse yourself in it: think of the sights, sounds, smells, senses,” explains Professor Lane. “When you then find yourself in the situation, it will feel like you have already been there. Knowledge of what a situation will feel like really does matter.
“Another good strategy is to put your sports kit on when visualising a race, or to wear your smart business clothes when practising your work presentation. It helps you to get into the role and think: ‘this is what it is going to feel like’.”
Visualisation can also help you plan how you might respond to unexpected problems, such as feeling a tight muscle during a marathon or facing a PowerPoint malfunction at work.
“It is about anticipating all situations and going: ‘right, this is the storm that might be coming, this is how I will deal with it’,” says Professor Lane.
Adjust the situation
In moments of fear, ‘situation selection’ is a strategy in which you actively choose a better environment. This doesn’t mean you run home and hide under the duvet.
An example could be if you know you get nervous when warming up next to other athletes, you choose to warm up alone.
An alternative strategy is ‘situation modification’, in which you adapt your situation to achieve a more desirable emotional state.
“As the ball goes dead, a cricket batsman may take a few steps to walk away and switch off,” says Professor Lane. “It’s a way of controlling their intensity for the right moment. You can’t be ‘on’ all the time.”
If you can’t change your situation, at least familiarise yourself with it.
“If you're a runner, go and see the course beforehand, look at the hills and the environment,” says Professor Lane. “It will make you feel more comfortable and it will therefore alter your emotions on race day.”
Start strong
Confidence builds up layer by layer, like sedimentary rock, so when you’re confronted with a fearful challenge, focus on getting a good start. Think about your opening pace in a race, or the first few sentences of a speech.
“Accept that the immediate ‘threat’ is right in front of you, so focus on your first action,” suggests Professor Lane. “When I do live TV or radio, I focus on the first words I will say. I've worked with footballers who focus on getting a good first touch on the pitch. After that, they relax.”
At the core of this is an appreciation of the need to focus on the present moment, not catastrophise about the future.
“In moments of fear, you have to focus on the immediate task,” says Professor Lane. “What can I do right now to help myself?”
Focus only on what you can control.
“The former Liverpool football manager Jurgen Klopp would talk about wanting his team to play with intensity, not about the result,” says Professor Lane. “That is because the intensity was the bit they can control.”
Respond to your fears
No matter how hard you prepare, fear can still ambush you when a high-pressure moment arrives.
To prepare for these situations, you need to practise ‘response modification’ – the ability to change how you feel in a given moment. Notice how your body responds to fear and soften those changes.
“Examples could be using relaxing breathing or muscular relaxation techniques,” suggests Professor Lane. “These are ways of centring your thoughts to create a sense of calmness and control.”
These physical changes initiate a sense of mastery, which will help defuse your fears.
Under pressure, cue words and strong visual images can be handy go-to tools, because they require less conscious thought.
Some pro cyclists repeat the word ‘ice’ as a reminder to stay cool when afraid. In dangerous situations, such as a sudden storm, climbers conjure a mental image of a dark tunnel and then focus on the light at the end of it, which represents all the choices still available to them.
“Fear can be debilitating, but you can go: ‘what I need to do now is X’,” says Professor Lane. “It is about staying in the moment and replacing a stressed state of mind with an analytical mind.”
Above all, strive for a positive reinterpretation of your fear-drenched situation.
“You can say, ‘I could just give up now’, but what does that really mean?” says Professor Lane. “If it means avoiding death, that’s the right choice!
"But if it means losing a race or not getting a job, that’s not to your advantage. Remind yourself why you’re afraid: because you want to succeed and it will be worth it when you do.”
Master self-talk
In moments of extreme fear, self-talk is a powerful tool that can help you reassert control over your racing thoughts.
“When you are afraid, self-talk can be destructive: ‘I’m not good enough, this will be a disaster’,” says Professor Lane.
“So you need to pre-rehearse what you will say. It might involve saying: ‘I have trained hard for this. This is what I have worked for’.
“Think of any negative thoughts as an annoying member of the crowd you’re going to ignore, and replace them with a positive voice.
"But you need a personal evidence base on which to draw from. Think about all the work and training you have done and all the skills you have available.”
Self-talk can be motivational (“You can do this”) or instructional (“Relax your arms”), but it should always be positive.
And it really works: Professor Lane’s research has shown that even two-minute interventions can help an athlete alter their emotions and reassert control over their mind.