EVEN superstars who have experience of performing in front of vast audiences and in pressure situations such as live television get floored by nerves.
There are few bigger artists right now than the singer Adele, yet nerves meant she had to restart a song as she recorded the ITV show An Audience With Adele.
Although being nervous may actually help us perform better, it's still reassuring to know how to deal with the situation when it arises.
Here are social psychologist Sandra Wheatley's (potentpsychology.com) six expert tips for coping with the jitters.
1. Take a deep breath
The adrenaline coursing through your veins in a pressure situation can increase your heart rate and helps pump your lungs, so to calm yourself down it can help to take deep breaths and breathe through it, explains Wheatley.
"To control your breathing, take longer, slower, deeper breaths, and the fact you're able to control your breathing will help you realise that actually, you are in control," she says.
"You're choosing to do something and it's a good thing, because sometimes you think that butterfly feeling is something you can't control, like wild horses dragging you along.
"But if you do take breaths and calm yourself, you're actually flying along behind those wild horses and enjoying the ride."
2. Try visualisation
Visualisation is easy - it's just imaging yourself doing something well.
"One thing that's been shown to help enormously in situations where you anticipate you might feel nervous, is spending a little time beforehand imagining it; almost dreaming it," explains Wheatley.
"Live through it and create that image inside your head, almost like a video of success, of everything going well and being fine. If you visualise success, you're much more likely to succeed - it works for sports stars, for actresses, and I dare say it would work for Adele as well."
3. Remember everyone gets nervous
As Adele has so publicly demonstrated, everyone gets nervous and you wouldn't be human if you didn't. In the past Adele has admitted: "I have anxiety attacks, constant panicking on stage, my heart feels like it's going to explode because I never feel like I'm going to deliver, ever."
Other stars who've admitted being affected by nerves include Rihanna, Beyonce, Emma Watson and the singer Lorde, who's been sick before going on stage and has said: "I am reduced by nerves. I can be completely crushed by feelings of all kinds... I get nervous, I get freaked out..."
4. Remember past successes
Don't be so down on yourself - everybody has succeeded at something, no matter how big or small. Think of those moments now.
"Focusing on the successful things you've done and remembering what you've done before that went well, all those things will help you repeat that success," says Wheatley.
5. Throw yourself a few curveballs
As well as thinking about past successes, maybe give a bit of thought to little things that might not go as well as you hope, to prepare yourself.
"You can even throw yourself a few curveballs," suggests Wheatley. "You may not get a laugh when you think you're going to get a laugh, will that really be so bad? Just give yourself a few tools to make yourself feel better."
6. Tune in to positive vibes
Wheatley says it will do no harm to big yourself up a little before doing whatever it is you're nervous about.
"Everybody wants you to succeed, remember that," she says. "Everybody's there to hear or watch you, and that's not a pressure thing, it's a good thing.
"The fact people admire you for getting up to speak or perform or whatever is something to remember.
"People wish you well - whether it's a team meeting, standing up in school or at a conference, taking part in amateur dramatics, sprinting at your local athletics club - whatever it is, the people who are there are urging you to succeed, and it's really, really important for you to harness that and keep it in your mind."
