Ok, so im kind of tired of approach anxiety. If i had to single out one particular thing that was holding me back from excelerating my game, it would be approach anxiety.

Heres the thing, most of us have read enough ebooks/articles online and watched enough videos on youtube that we know enough material and strategies to at least hold us over in set. But most of us are not approaching enough to really get good.

I was watching Conan O'Brien on "Inside the Actor's Studio" and he was talking about the first improv class that he took. He said his teacher taught him to not think so much about what to say next and to let mistakes happen. The true gold is found in those moments when mistakes are made and we just let them happen.

I feel like my life is way too orderly. Dont get me wrong now; my room is messy, im often late to work and class, and i damn sure do not keep a schedule of things to do and at what time, but what i mean by orderly is that i stay comfortable because the things that could truely help me, seem salittle scary. In class, i may not raise my hand and answer a question because i might sound stupid. Same goes for not approaching sets. For example, today i didnt want to raise my hand and answer a question becuase i thought it might be a stupid answer. However i did end up answering one of the teachers questions, and guess what? IT WAS A STUPID ANSWER. But the main thing i took away from it is that it doesnt matter. Im glad i at least made an effort instead of not raising my hand at all.

"If you feel like you have everything under control, you're probably not moving fast enough"

Being in control means knowing everything is going to be fine becuase ur going to stay with what you already know is comfortable. Theres a whole world out there outside ur mind that u can grasp.

So let go and let yourself make some mistakes. Its OK. Some of the mistakes you make, might not be good, but many others will be. Its all part of the grand scheme of things.[/youtube]

Spot on mate, great post,

I have definitely seen my social status change over the years, back in middle I was some what the nerdy kid in the class, so if I had questions I would ask the teacher. Even if it was a stupid question or got me a stupid answer. As I progress socially and made more friends I become more hesitant to raise my hand. And in my senior year in my physics class (a class that gave quite some trouble ) didn't dare to ask any question, because I was afraid of the response I would get, and when I did ask a question this one time the teacher humiliated me. As a result I probably did worse in class than I know I was capable. I think that was an ultimate low, but as it turns out I think I have learned to accept myself. And this new confidence is based on that, "If I cared what you thought, I wouldn't have done it". Likewise there is the thought, you are never sorry for what you do, you are only sorry for its outcome.

I think more important than letting go of control, or loosening up, is learning to accepting mistakes, I think displays great confidence.
And mistakes make good jokes

I think I should join improv.
Welcome to the community.

you both damn right! i would add that the main problem is that we think too much... let's face it, there are people who don't ask themselves thousands questions before doing something. they just do it, and don't even give any thoughts after that. as far as i 'm concerned, my brain can't stop thinking. what if i do that, what will happen, why did i do that, why didn't i do that...
it's a process. i understand that failling is necessary to succeed, yet the fear and the feeling of it is still taking too much weight. cause we take things too seriously and we think too much. i mean, i understand the point but it's like my brain&body doesnt yet. eventually it will if we don't give up and keep trying... it works with everything, so it should work with approaching, and everything...

All i say now if i mess up is fuck it i learned from it whether its with girls or anything else in my life...theres too much stuff you miss out on in the world while wasting time thinking about what you couldve done...and ive noticed my dont give a shit attitude has been spreading to my friends and has been helping them a lot not just with gaming but with life too...No Regrets!