Life | 3 Min Read
#61 - 2️⃣ Methods to Stop Your Nerves Spiraling
Nerves and worries are a normal part of life and in small doses, they can be good things but in large doses...
Hey Friends 👋
Nerves and worries are a normal part of life and in small doses, they can be good things, they show we care and can make us more focused and perform better under pressure. But, as is common, it's all too easy for nerves and worries to run away and transform us into a blabbing mess.
This is exactly what happened to me this Friday gone when I had the exam for my UK motorbike license, the night before, I was a blabbing mess of nerves and worries about it.
So, in this edition of the newsletter I wanted to share one or two methods, I found helpful in dealing with nerves, especially when they start to spiral out of control. These methods should work for any scenario and not just when you're doing a driving test on a motorbike because I have to admit that would be a pretty small niche at any point. 😂
1: What's the worst that can happen?
Nerves and worries tend to default to the worst possible outcome and make you think through everything that could go wrong. But, weirdly, something that I've found extremely helpful is to think about what the most realistic worst possible outcome is and the implications of it. Often the worst scenario isn't that bad at all.
For me, the most realistic worst outcome is I failed the exam which sucks. But, what does it change for me? Not a whole lot, to be honest, it just means I have to retake the exam in 10 days and try again until I pass.
Thinking like this helped settle my nerves because it made me realize that the world won't end as I know it just because I failed the exam and the implications of this worst outcome in the grand scheme of things aren't that bad.
So, next time your nerves are running away from you, spend 5 or 10 minutes just thinking about the most realistic worst-case outcome and how you'd recover from it. Show yourself that the worst outcome ain't all that bad.
2: Talk yourself through it
The second method I have for you is to talk yourself through the thing you're nervous about doing. For me, this meant sitting down and walking myself mentally through the exam and what I needed to do at each stage, including common mistakes or errors I needed to avoid to pass the exam.
Of course, this is only possible if you know what you're up against. But, in the vast majority of situations, you'll at least know something about what you're doing so use that to think about possible routes it could go. Treat it like a flow chart and you're just walking through the different branches of it so you can have a game plan for every possible outcome.
These two methods were a great help for me on Friday and thankfully they managed to keep my nerves under control and I passed the exam! 🎉
I hope these two methods will help you as they helped me and the next time your nerves go to take over, they help you control them. Do you have any favorite methods for controlling your nerves from spiraling out of control? If so, reply to this email and let me know I'd love to hear them. 📩
As always, thank you for reading.
Coner x
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