Changing Your Anxious Thoughts and Expectations
127be nervous when your hands are shaking. Similarly, if you assume that everyone else 
is criticizing you based on ten seconds during your presentation when you lost your 
train of thought, you will probably continue to be nervous when giving presentations. 
Although it is true that we all judge and criticize other people from time to time, it is 
unlikely that people are noticing and judging the speciﬁc behaviors that you assume are 
being criticized.
People’s judgments of one another are based on many different dimensions, includ -
ing appearance (for example, height, weight, hair color and style, facial features, cloth -
ing, shoes, and so on), intelligence (for instance, verbal abilities, problem-solving skills, 
knowledge of trivia, and so on), competence (such as abilities to do one’s job well, 
computer skills, ability to ﬁx things around the house), work habits (for example, ten -
dency to arrive on time, work hard, and not take overly long breaks), athletic abilities 
(like the ability to play tennis, ﬁtness level, strength), creativity (for instance, musical 
or artistic ability), health habits (such as diet, exercise, smoking, drinking), health status 
(presence of medical problems), social status (type of home, income, type of job), mood 
(happy, excited, sad, angry, fearful), and personality (generosity, empathy, conﬁdence, 
 politeness, arrogance), to name just a few.
Most of us are far above average on some dimensions, far below average on some 
other dimensions, and well within average range on most dimensions. The extent to 
which a person criticizes you about a particular dimension probably depends on whether