Connecting with strangers. Preparing for a job interview. Starting your first day at a new employer. Meeting with a customer for the first time. Making an important sales call. All these activities can induce stress and make you nervous.

As a coach, it’s my job to prepare you for these activities, up to and including role-playing: I will help you practice giving your professional introduction, answering questions and telling a story. I also work with my clients on their résumés, LinkedIn and other social media profiles, and any channels through which they communicate their brand and share content. I do all this to help them succeed in reaching their next professional milestone.

What I noticed is that the preparation can at times backfire; We work together so hard on preparing the outward-facing things, and forget to return our focus to inner matters; To how we feel about ourselves.

The result is nerves, and sometimes even stress.

With the outward stuff looking great, we feel pressure to live up to it. To be “on” and raring to go. To be our best selves, because after all, look at all this outward stuff about us! It’s great, right? So why don’t we feel great?

The simple answer is that we may be over-preparing and over-thinking. Looking at all this stuff we have produced and prepared adds to performance anxiety, rather than reducing it.

So, do this: Stop. Take a deep breath. And say these words out loud: I am good enough.

This is not a trick; Self-affirmation is a proven technique for calming ourselves. And it’s also a logical statement. The fact is that no person is a perfect match for a particular job or a particular need. We are each good enough to have arrived at the threshold of a milestone; At the new customer’s door, at the conference table with new colleagues, at a job interview.

The fact that you prepared and practiced says a great deal about you. Preparation is now done. Be yourself and know that you’re ready. You’re good enough. I’m certain of this.