3 Ways to Use Anxiety to Your Advantage

Below are ways to use optimal levels of anxiety to your advantage:

1. Accept that you’ll have some anxiety. Many people panic at the first trace of anxiety. You may misinterpret a racing heart, sweaty palms, and nervousness as an indication that you are in serious trouble and need to figure a way out (enter the fight or flight response). While anxiety can protect you, it is sometimes out of proportion to what you are experiencing. 
   By accepting that anxiety may arise, whether it has a good reason to or not, could determine how you choose to handle it. By accepting that anxiety will be present before it occurs, or accepting it as it arises, rather than fighting or fleeing from it, you can allot yourself the opportunity to use it productively. How can you use something to your advantage while constantly trying to fight it off?
   As mentioned, anxiety can only be helpful if you are willing to first welcome it. Reminding yourself that you can benefit from anxiety may help to negate the anger or frustration you feel when it arises in its many uncomfortable forms. Accepting symptoms of anxiety is the first step in using it to your advantage.    
2. Change your perspective on anxiety. Once you learn to accept your anxiety, you are better equipped to shift your perception of it. As mentioned above, you may think of anxiety in terms of its many negative symptoms, but anxiety holds many benefits. You just can’t reap those benefits if you associate anxiety with fear, discomfort, or even danger.
   Research has shown the advantages to changing your approach to anxiety from a negative to positive one. In a 2015 study published in the journal, Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 103 undergraduate students were asked to keep a diary detailing their experience of anxiety, stress, and emotional exhaustion for 10 days prior to taking an exam. Students who interpreted their anxiety as being helpful reported less emotional exhaustion and performed better academically, both on the exam and throughout the rest of the term.
   By shifting your perception of anxiety to a more positive one, you create space for it to benefit you. When you feel anxiety setting in, you can remind yourself of its advantages: how it can motivate you, keep you alert and quick on your feet, help you make well thought-out decisions, and allow you to perform at your very best. 
3. Turn your anxiety into action. When you feel anxious, it’s easy to focus all of your attention and energy on the fear itself. But when you become overly attached to your anxiety and the symptoms it produces, it can actually paralyze you, preventing you from recognizing the best course of action.
   A better alternative is to channel your anxiety into action while it’s at a manageable level, before it’s too high; then you can actually use it as a motivator to study for a test or prepare for an important presentation.
   This is when it’s important to find your optimal level of anxiety—zero anxiety and you may not be motivated to take any action at all; extremely high anxiety and you’ll be too paralyzed to act. When you’re experiencing low levels of anxiety, you can focus on what steps to take to perform optimally. 

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