Lessons on How to Not Be Nervous at Work: 10 Essential Strategies

A key part of managing your nerves is to minimize disruption and distraction. Whether it's a push notification from your favorite news outlet, a message from your partner or a group text from your best friend, push notifications can unexpectedly give you a jolt of nervous energy (not necessarily the good kind) and disrupt the flow of your day.

While there are thousands of task managing applications out in the world, nothing is as mind-clearing as writing down a list of things that need to get done. Nervousness at work can often occur because there might be a sense that something or things aren't getting done.

Another way to move away from feeling like a nervous wreck at work is to turn your awareness and thoughts towards a part of your body. One technique I learned from expert media trainer and producer Joel Silberman for banishing nervousness — particularly before going out on a stage in front of an audience — is to literally think of the soles of my feet. Feel the sensations in your feet and in your soles. Do you feel balanced? Really plant your feet on the ground and feel confident in your soles.

One way to conquer anxiety and nervousness is to pay attention to the details around you. This is a technique I learned (and personally use) to manage nervous panic attacks. I will look around the room and either silently to myself or verbally out loud will describe at least five objects. This includes the color, position and distance or location relative to where I am sitting in the room. The more descriptive the detail, the better.

So I might say out loud or to myself that I am sitting at a wide, pale yellow desk made out of pinewood, with a green lamp that has an off-white lampshade. On occasion, I might try to inject humor into the description. So I might describe the green lamp as being reliable but in need of a good dusting, in addition to a dusty, tattered off-white lampshade. The verbalizing of details helps return you to the present, which can help you shed any nervousness you might be experiencing at the moment. By locating and describing the five objects, you can control where your attention is, and reaffirm focusing on the present tasks at hand.

Consider leaning into the source of your nervousness by thinking about the extremes of what could happen in the future. What's the worst-case scenario? Or the unexpected best thing that could happen? Write these potential futures down. Then consider what consequences or steps you could take to recover or benefit from them.

While the tactic might seem humble, reading and writing an affirmative statement about your own talents or abilities can be a powerful form of emotional self-defense. Consider squashing nervousness by activating a sense of pride through writing or reading an affirmation about yourself. Also affirm your right to belong where ever you are, especially your office. And it's not just a way to make you feel good. Research has shown that self-affirmation — particularly for women and people of color — can have a measurable and positive effect on performance.

Nervousness — like stress and anxiety — can be managing by moderate exercise. Find ways to allow yourself time to walk away from your office for a brief period of time. Fit in a few extra steps by parking further away from the front door of the office or allow yourself a quick 10-to-15 minute walk to get a cup of tea. Research has shown that even light exercise like these examples can help reduce anxiety and nervousness by increasing cell generation in the brain. More cell growth can also mean better potential problem-solving. Walking has also been shown to help release endorphins and other positive brain chemistry that can help manage stress and nervousness. Research has shown that, when low-intensity walking is paired with a simple meditation of counting steps (only "one, two, one, two"), the positive benefits are equal to those walking at a higher pace, and they have greater positive results when compared to a group that only walk.

Break through nervousness and perfectionist tendencies by doing something you know you might get a little wrong the first time, like making an origami paper crane. The Japanese art of origami, or paper folding, is taught all over the world as a form of art and also mindfulness. All it to participate is time, instructions and a sheet of paper.

Whether you write them down, or email them to a friend, it's important to name the emotions — including nervousness — that are holding you back from your best work in the office.

The positive benefits of friendship — including those made in the workplace — are an important method to reduce stress. Recent research has found that friendships are so powerful, they can reduce stress and nervousness, and increases people's tolerance for pain. While talking to new people can potentially create another type of nervousness, the benefits could be worth the risk. (Just note that work friends can hurt your career if you're not careful.)

Making friends at work can not only reduce a sense of nervousness, but can also created relationships and trust that can build better teams that are more productive, accountable and collaborative. There might even be a gender-specific reason to why making a new friend can reduce nervousness and anxiety. Research by Dr. Shelley Taylor at UCLA found that when the stress response of only women is examined, there is a stress response beyond the classic fight or flight. She named that response "tend and befriend." Women, when confronted with a stressor, would naturally tend more vulnerable members of her circle (those that were very young or old), or she would seek out other relationships for mutual defense or a good chat. All these actions help produce neurotransmitters that release stress in the brain. And they can help reduce or squash a sense of nervousness, too.

You can also beat the nerves by meditating or practicing yoga, boxing or another activity that calms you and releases endorphins. The sympathetic nervous system is affected the most by our stresses, and meditation is proven to dramatically reduce stress by healthfully slowing down the heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure, and by soothing our fight or flight functions.

Likewise, practicing yoga or boxing, focusing on your breath or your movements, can give the same effect. It takes your mind off the stress at hand and focuses you in the moment by recentering you. For example, yoga is a mind-body practice that takes all of your attention. It combines physical poses, controlled breathing and meditation and/or relaxation to do, which helps lower stress, blood pressure and the heart rate.

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