5 minutes to your auditions and your heart is beating fast. Or just a few second before a life-changing meeting and you are all over the place. Well, we hear you, see you and feel you. Experiencing nervousness prior to any similar big event is quite common but requires a few conscious yet subtle efforts, to eliminate completely. Read on, embrace the following 4 steps and emerge as a winner whilst at your next key performance.

Step One: Make a gentle commitment not to judge yourself for how you feel.
You’ve been judged for how you feel for much of your life. “Why are you so angry? Maybe you are overthinking.” “Have you put on weight? Your face seems slightly chubbier.” “Why are you so upset? I was just joking.” You may have adopted this tendency to judge yourself for how you feel, but you can totally disown it. Being in this industry, do realize that emotion is the lifeblood of your work and judgment of yourself for how you feel is the clot in that lifeblood. Judgment makes you second-guess yourself instead of being spontaneous. It makes you fearful instead of being present. It turns you inward instead of shining outward. Worst of all, it compounds your anxiety by multiples. Take one step behind, a deep breath and know that you are the best. You will feel a renewed sense of freedom, and you will realize it was never your nerves that caused you so much stress but your judgment of yourself for feeling nervous.

Step Two: Acknowledge how you feel. Say to yourself, “I’m nervous.” Just as a fact. Without any judgment. Just to give your feelings a place. Nothing around it. Just to give yourself permission to be exactly who and what you are in that moment. Being in denial of a situation complicates emotions further. Short-term affirmations may help, temporarily. But if you really, really want to let go of this heart thumping drama within you, you need to truly embrace your current mental state. Once that is achieved, you will automatically feel a 1000 times better. Trust us, try it. It feels so good and light.

Step Three: Stay still and do nothing to get rid of those nerves. Now just imagine a situation of a little bug in the corner of your living room. You go and get your family’s large magnifying glass and place it close to the bug to understand its movement. This makes you feel uneasy and will scare the living daylights out of you. Your judgment and all the attention you pay to your nerves while in the waiting room are like that magnifying glass. Your nerves are just these little emotions you’re feeling, but you pay all this attention to them in the form of judgment & analysis and in all the ways you try to get rid of them. The more you judge, analyze and try to get rid of your nerves the larger they appear. We suggest, take your attention off of them and they remain that little, harmless bug in the giant living room of your consciousness.

Step Four: Fill that empty space with beautiful and productive feelings and activities. After you perform steps 1 to 3, you’ll feel an expansion and a clearing in your consciousness. Just thinking about it makes us feel good. You’ll be tempted to analyze that space: “Are my nerves gone? Did the steps get rid of my anxiety? Was I successful? Did I do it right?” Just let it go. Release it. You’re back to judgment, analysis and a desire to get rid of your nerves. Just feel the space, enjoy it. Experience the flood of beneficial thoughts and feelings that rush in, now that you’ve emptied yourself of judgment. The best thing to do is filling that space with things you love to do, like working on your sides or going over your pitch or chatting with people besides you. You’ll feel yourself snap from focusing inward to focusing outward, and you’ll be present to your space, your partner, your world, regardless of whether or not you’ré nervous.

So the next time you are close to experiencing a nervous breakdown, we assure you, you won’t get there. Consciously embrace these 4 steps and emerge as a winner to yourself. The world can witness the work of this winner, shortly after. This feels powerful, right?