Want strategies to help you stay mentally strong right now? Pick up a copy of The Mental Strength Playbook.

Have you ever been about to walk into something important — a big presentation, a tough call, a conversation you’ve been dreading — and your body just completely betrays you? Your heart is pounding, your palms are sweaty, your stomach is in knots. And no matter how many times you tell yourself to just calm down, it doesn’t work?

When they physical symptoms of anxiety spike, telling yourself to calm down is usually the worst thing you can do. So today I’m sharing a play that does the opposite of what your instinct tells you to do.

Some of the things I talk about are:

• What was really happening backstage at my TEDx talk — and why I deliberately didn’t try to calm down
• Why “just calm down” backfires when your anxiety is giving you physical symptoms, like a racing heart
• Why the label your brain puts on your physiological symptoms matters and how to assign it a different label
• How a threat mindset quietly sabotages your performance, and what flips you into an opportunity mindset instead
• The story of an NBA player whose game-day jitters were wrecking his performance — and the small change that turned his nerves into fuel
• The four steps to run the play so you can calm down fast
• The two mistakes that wreck this play ( including the subtle one almost everyone gets wrong)
• Why your racing heart isn’t proof that something’s wrong or that you’re not ready

Related Episodes ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• 208 — Coping With Anxiety: An Anxiety Toolkit for Fast Relief

• ⁠⁠73 — Calm Intense Anxiety in 30 Seconds

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Amy Morin Therapist, Bestselling Author, Host of the Mentally Stronger Podcast

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, international bestselling author and the host of the Mentally Stronger podcast. Her books on mental strength, including 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, have sold more than 1 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages.

She’s practiced therapy for over 20 years and she’s a sought after speaker whose TEDx talk, The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong, has become one of the most popular talks of all time with more than 22 million views.

Amy lives on a sailboat in the Florida Keys.