Anxiety

Anxiety.  What is Anxiety?  Wikipedia defines it as: "Anxiety is an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by nervous behavior, such as pacing back and forth... It is the subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over something unlikely to happen..."

While that definition is accurate, it doesn't really 'feel' right.  It's just a definition.  Try this definition on for size.  Seth Godin, in his adult-picture-book 'V is for Vulnerable', says that "Anxiety is experiencing failure in advance."  From a professional standpoint, I think that is dead-on.  Anxiety over something, whether an upcoming talk or a new project, is just us internalizing an outcome we see in a situation before it happens.  And a majority of the time, that outcome is the worst-case-scenario. 

While imagining worst-case-scenarios is not healthy, I do think that Anxiety is a good indicator that you're on the right track.  That you're doing something right.  That you're moving forward!  You just need to see it as that and NOT dwell on any perceived negative outcomes.  We're much harder on ourselves than any person or situation will be.  So take a deep breath.... and forward you go!