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anxiety
Performing a simple ritual lowers your anxiety before high-stakes tasks.
Research shows that simple, repetitive ritualistic behaviors can reduce physiological distress before a performance, particularly for those experiencing high levels of performance anxiety.
The benefit of the ritual is often dependent on the individual's baseline state, rather than occurring uniformly regardless of baseline anxiety.
Small, meaningless actions can serve as effective anchors for your focus.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Brooks et al., 2016, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
- What the check found
- The study by Brooks et al. (2016) exists and supports the core premise, but the assertion that the effect is independent of baseline anxiety levels is an overgeneralization of the study's specific findings.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.