A common reason why people enter the therapy room is in the treatment of anxiety, which can for some be incredibly intrusive and stop them from achieving their potential and for others can be utterly debilitating.
There are various types of anxiety, each of which has varying levels of intensity, but whilst it is typically associated with being a barrier to success, is it possible for that anxious energy to be harnessed and potentially improve performance?
The studies looking for the answer to this are distinctly mixed, with many studies confirming conventional wisdom. However, one interesting recent study looking at professional basketball players suggests that in certain contexts a small degree of anxiety can be used advantageously.
The study itself looked at 81 National Basketball Association players, using a machine-learning system to analyse over 12,000 tweets for ones that could infer anxiety.
In most cases, there was a correlation between anxiety expressed before a game and performance in said game, but there was one particular trend that bucked this expectation.
Older players with a lot of experience playing basketball and with a lot of time spent on the basketball court seemed to be able to use anxiety to help outperform equally skilled but less experienced counterparts.
Most people are never going to experience playing in the NBA, but a similar phenomenon has been reported by jobseekers who go to interviews. More experienced jobseekers sometimes find that when they feel nervous before and after an interview they have a greater chance of success.
This anxiety, combined with experience in the process will enable them to bring the best and most focused version of themselves, in contrast to someone relatively new to jobseeking whom might find anxiety to be a barrier that causes them to not perform to their expectations.
Ultimately, this is not a case of ascertaining whether anxiety is “good” or “bad”, because the determining factor is always down to the individual and whether that anxiety causes them considerable distress.
