Psyched Up

Getting “Psyched Up”

Many people work for themselves, and their success can depend on the initial impression they make on potential clients. You could work up to 2,000 hours a year, yet find your overall success depends on just one interview, sales pitch, presentation, or meeting with a boss or client.

By age seven, Noa Kageyama was a skilled violinist. He attended a music camp at Ithaca College. At the end of the camp, the children had to perform. Kageyama watched another young violinist experience a severe anxiety attack. Seeing this, Kageyama felt nervous for the first time. He had never experienced such anxiety. Despite this, he played successfully without any major issues.

As he grew older, Kageyama never experienced “a full blown panic attack,” but he did feel anxious. His hands would sweat and his “mind would wander.” He felt irritated that he wasn’t playing as well as he might have played without the anxiety. As a graduate student at Juilliard, he attended a class titled “Performance Enhancement for Musicians.” He discovered that musicians must learn to deal with anxiety. The experience “led him to quit playing violin altogether.”