Tips to Overcome Approach Anxiety

How do you get over approach anxiety? Anxiety is like a fire. The best way to extinguish
anxiety is to smoother it. Anxiety’s oxygen is time. If you have time to think about
something you will become anxious. Don’t give yourself time. Find all those moments
when you would be thinking of approaching and squish them out of existence. For
instance, don’t make up an opener from a distance. That gives you too much time to
become anxious, as you second guess yourself, search for the right opener and make the
walk over to her. That crap gives you too much time to think. Instead as soon as you see
someone who looks interesting walk to within conversational distance and then create an
opener. Chances are you will have come up with something that is natural and much
more in the moment and unrehearse sounding. Sure you may say something stupid - you
are putting yourself on the spot. But at least you will say something and not spend time
being anxious about it. Also, give up the need for perfection. Here is a tip about
perfectionists: they don’t do anything. Resign yourself to not saying the perfect thing.
Trying to say the perfect thing only puts too much importance on the interaction. Give
yourself permission to confidently and unremorsefully say less than perfect things. You
want to play loose, carefree and a little dangerous with the interaction - that is sexy….