Why Anxiety Could Help You Perform Better

Emotions run high in basketball

Source: KeithJJ/Pixabay

From buzzer-beating shots to the jaw-dropping slam dunks, the adrenaline-filled world of professional basketball, particularly the National Basketball Association (NBA), is a thrilling spectacle to watch. Yet, at the same time, when stepping onto the court with millions of eyes watching, NBA players face intense pressure that can stir up powerful feelings of anxiety. Every move you make is scrutinized by millions of people, and a single failed pass or block can lead to a game-changing turnover or missed shot. With the pressure that high, how do these athletes cope with the anxiety that comes with such high-stakes competition?

Historically, research on the relationship between anxiety and athletic performance has shown mixed results. Some studies suggest that anxiety can hurt performance, while others hint that a certain level of anxiety might actually boost performance. But how could this be?

Anxiety in Tweets

In a recent study, we used linguistic analytics to analyze a sample of 12,000 tweets by NBA players during the 2021–2022 season. Linguistic analytics involves using our understanding of language—things like sentence structure, meaning, and word choice—to pull out important information from a body of text; in this case, players’ tweets. This means we look for specific language elements in the text that can help us during the text-mining process.

We applied a machine-learning algorithm designed to infer anxiety in tweets to a test sample of 81 Twitter-verified NBA players, who played in the 2021–2022 regular season. This involved analyzing a total of 454 performances from various games. Next, we examined whether pre-game anxiety predicted players’ performance on the court in the next few days.

Anxiety as a Function of Experience

Pre-game anxiety influenced NBA players' performance on the court. But there's a twist: Anxiety can boost performance, depending on two factors: experience and time spent on the court. Veteran players—those who have weathered numerous games and seasons and have accumulated years of experience—appear to interpret pre-game anxiety positively. They use it to their advantage, outperforming less-experienced counterparts. The opposite was true for newcomers and other less-experienced players, who seemed to interpret pre-game anxiety as an obstacle rather than a boost to their performance.

What Does This Mean for Me?

This study's findings aren't just fascinating for sports enthusiasts and psychologists; they have broader implications for how we all understand anxiety. Ever felt nervous before an important presentation, job interview, or date? Good. That means that you care and want to do well. If you're fresh in the field, remember that it's completely normal to be nervous. For those of you who've been around the block a few times, use that "been there, done that" thinking to your advantage. Interpret your anxiety as a signal to switch on your A-game, not as a reason to back down.

Anxiety isn't always the bad guy it's made out to be. Instead of viewing it as a major roadblock, try to flip the script. Anxiety could be your secret weapon to superior performance if you learn to embrace it. Once you do, it might just be a positive precursor of what’s to come.