Job Jitters: How to Overcome Nerves

Butterflies in your stomach? 

It’s perfectly normal to feel nervous. You’ll feel this way during your academic and professional career. From your first day at school to your first day at your last new job, nerves are lifelong!

COVID-19 has made an impressionable impact on public presenting and networking. Lockdown has affected language development in children, but it’s also made its mark on working adults. 2 years away from in-person events is likely to have caused some re-entry anxiety.

So, how do you distinguish nerves from anxiety disorders from impostor syndrome? 

How do nerves differ from anxiety?

Feeling nervous is extremely common and a natural response to stressful situations. Nervousness can present itself through a variety of symptoms, such as:

• Sweating
• Headaches
• Stomach butterflies
• Sickness
• Racing heart rate

Anxiety, meanwhile, is a disorder of which nervousness is a symptom. The two will often overlap and can be somewhat hard to distinguish from one another. 

Nerves are also often in anticipation of a specific event, whereas anxiety is much more generalised. Anxiety may occur without a trigger event. 

In what situations might you feel nervous?

You will experience nerves throughout your lifetime, but there are likely some times, spaces and events that you will be more at risk. These might include:

• New jobs
• Public speaking
• Presentations
• Exams
• Networking events

As an SLT, you may notice these more frequently:

• New schools
• Moving practice
• Providing a new diagnosis
• Recently qualified
• New patients

How can you deal with it?

Fortunately, there are coping mechanisms to try to knock those nerves down a peg!

• Be prepared

Get everything ready that you need. Make sure you have all the resources you need for the day ahead (business cards, notes, a packed lunch!). It doesn’t hurt to arrive a little early at your desk/presentation room to prepare, organise, and generally gear yourself up mentally! 

For speeches, rehearse your presentation with relevant cue cards. Finally, think of any questions people might have for you. You won’t be shorthanded if you have everything ready! 

• Adapt your mindset

Make the experience something positive! Being nervous is very similar to the sensation of excitement. If you can adapt your mindset and trick yourself into thinking you are excited about the event, you will appear more confident. You can also choose a positive outlook to avoid getting stuck in the mud. You are less likely to make mistakes if you don’t dwell on negative thoughts.

• Try well-known coping mechanisms

Cliche advice is a cliche for a reason! Take breaks often and remove yourself from the stressful environment if you are overwhelmed. In the instances you cannot step away, try regulating your breathing by counting 4-second inhale and 4-second exhale. You will be able to find your centre and continue much easier! 

Bring back preparation and try meditating in advance of the stressful event. Meditating can include breathing exercises, yoga, mantras, or mindfulness. These are well-known calming activities that help you mediate your feelings. 

• Lean into your nerves

As surprising as it seems, nerves are a positive thing! Nervousness shows that you want it to go well. If it’s a new job, a presentation or a new diagnosis, nerves are present to let you know you care. Use them to your advantage – they’ll drive you to perform better. 

Living outside your comfort zone proves what a proficient worker you are!

•  Have an open discussion

Confide in someone you trust. Letting people know you feel this way helps you blow off some steam. You’ll feel better just for articulation your feelings.

By speaking your mind, people around you can offer support. They might even attend your presentation, event or performance as a calming presence. 

Having a reliable network will do wonders for your self-esteem – no doubt, they’ve felt that way at some point too! 

• Reflect

Every day is a school day! Take some time to look back on the day. What caused your nerves to erupt? Were you able to control them? What strategy worked best for you? Learning from mistakes and achievements is the best way to promote growth and self-development. This way, handling your nerves will get easier each time! 

Keeping a journal of your thoughts and tracking your day is an excellent way to aid reflection. 

What does Chatterbug do to help with our employees’ nerves?

Handling nerves, whilst a great skill to have, cannot rest solely on employees’ shoulders!

Employers should go out of their way to aid employees’ well-being. So, what steps do we take here at Chatterbug?

• Review our well-being schemes

Employees’ needs constantly change as they adapt to the world around them. The well-being event hosted last year, month, or even week may no longer be relevant to their needs. We regularly check in with them and see what more we can do to help ease nerves around stressful events. We will always seek out what you need for the upcoming academic year. This way, our regular well-being events are always up to date with what our employees need!

• Have an ‘Open Door’ policy

We ensure our workplace is a safe place! Our open-door policy allows employees to raise concerns and talk through their nerves. The likelihood is colleagues can really help them out of a pickle! We always reflect on personal experiences and advise them the best we can. Most importantly, Chatterbug listens to what is said. 

Furthermore, we actively encourage an open discussion! Discussion can be on any topic, and we guarantee an environment where you will be listened to and positively reinforced. From encouraging your beliefs to speaking about your doubts, we will implement whatever we can to bring you a nerve-free work environment. 

• Support a healthy work environment

A healthy work environment means fewer trigger events for employees to stress over. We will always give employees plenty of notice before a stressful event. They can then guarantee they have enough time to prepare and create a strategy for their nerves.

We also ensure our employees have the correct tools for presenting, networking, or on their first day. Having everything at their disposal will give them the boost they need.

Encourage healthy lifestyle choices. A good work-life balance is essential to break down nervousness! Regular breaks, exercise and healthy snack options being available during work hours can provide structure. They may even implement these in their personal life. Healthy lifestyles often correlate to better mental health – and fewer nerves! 

Interested in a career at Chatterbug? Check out our vacancies.