Not long ago I was reading this article about a woman who tried to get on a plane with her peacock. She had bought the peacock a ticket and everything. She claimed the bird was a support animal and that she needed it.
United Airlines denied the bird access to the plane.
It got me thinking though. This woman may be crazy, but she isn’t nuts. That bird probably did help her… let me explain how it can help you too.
Being nervous and scared is mostly (not always, but mostly) a head game. Think about allergies.
Your body ramps up immune system, “FULL POWER! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” in order to fight off a piece of dust. Your body almost kills you in order to protect you from grass seed. I agree, telling the difference between harmful invaders and simple dust is a very difficult job. Not unlike telling the difference between real and perceived threats.
I went to the mall two nights ago to pick up the spelling bee trophy from Things Remembered. It was about 8:45 and the mall closes at 9:00. I went because my wife is a little afraid of going to the mall at night by herself. I gotta say, it was a little creepy. Now, I live in probably the safest town in the safest country in the history of the entire world, but it was still creepy.
Was there any real physical danger? Probably not. Does it matter to your brain? Nope. You start gearing up for ATTACK!
Which brings us back around to the point. The point is your exam is the same way. If you don’t pass, you will NOT die. It will suck, but you will not die. Your body does not know that though. Your body is sure you will die. So, it jumps into war mode, killing you in the process.
There’s a line from Point Break which is perfect. (The original one, I didn’t see the new one.) It goes something like:
“Fear causes hesitation. Hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true.”
And that’s exactly how it is on exam day. More people fail secondary to fear than anything else. In my experience, it isn’t content knowledge; it’s fear.
Could it be they don’t know enough content? Of course.
Is that the problem? NOPE.
So, here’s how one simple trick so you can take on your fears and keep humming along on test day:
Get yourself a teddy bear. Not literally a teddy bear, but something. Lucky socks, a ring, a t-shirt. Make sure it’s something they won’t make you hand over at the testing center or this will totally backfire.
A lucky charm will do amazing things for you. You can call it silly, but it works. My kids get new sneakers and, not only do they think they can run faster, but they actually can run faster. They instantly become better defenders and stronger shooters.
I didn’t say they become great, I said they get better. It makes them believe they are better, and do you know what happens next?
They play harder. They push harder when they run. They want it to be true, and then it is. You say, “NO NO NO, I’m smarter than your kids, that won’t work for me.”
You’re wrong. Your brain works the same way. Baseball players wear lucky socks and don’t step on the chalk lines before the game. Are they crazy or does it work? Some guys wear the same hat all year, 162 games. They get offered a new hat every single day, but nope the same hat all year.
Why? It makes them play better. These guys make millions of dollars and they rely on lucky socks to do it. You might condescend to give it a try.
I doubt they’ll let you bring a peacock in with you, so best to choose something a little smaller.
There’s a little more to it than that, but I’m running out of room here to tell you everything. I’m building out another place where I can go deeper into ideas like this. Things that will help keep your nerves under control and get you through your exam. I’ve got some things to get to first, but later this year, maybe in the fall, I’m going to have a deeper dive into anxiety for you.
Until then, the best way to ward off anxiety is to build up confidence. You build confidence with skills. The March issue of the PAES newsletter will help you in that department. It’s all about test-taking skills.
In this issue, I walk you through some of the tricks that test writers use and how to spot them. When you can see the tricks they’re playing, you’ll feel a lot more confident.
Physician Assistant Exam Scholars
Brian Wallace