Performance Anxiety

Performance anxiety flares when you are being evaluated: exams, presentations, interviews, auditions. It has a clear trigger and endpoint, but it can steal working memory right when you need it.

The goal is not zero nerves. The Yerkes-Dodson law describes an inverted U: moderate arousal sharpens performance, but past a threshold it drops off fast. The aim is to stay in the productive zone, not to eliminate the energy entirely.