The UPSIDE of anxiety—really!

Like a hidden superpower, “anxiety can become the very thing that pushes us to become our best person,”

contends Sarah Wilson. In fact, research shows that you can leverage your anxious thoughts to help you transform tension into triumph. Here’s how:

Rev your recall

Feeling anxious before a stressful event can improve your memory, say researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada. In their study of mostly females, participants were better able to remember details of events when they felt some anxiety. “There is an optimal level of anxiety that is going to benefit your memory,” assures study co-author Myra Fernandes, Ph.D. That’s because being a bit on edge sharpens your attention, helping new information stick better. The sweet spot is when anxiety is manageable since more profound feelings of fear can cloud memories.

Work smarter

Moderate levels of stress on the job—particularly in situations with looming deadlines, frequent organizational changes or publicfacing demands such as delivering “service with a smile”—inspired people to boost their efforts and achieve greater success, in a study at the University of Toronto. How? “They were able to channel worries about work into energy,” explains researcher Bonnie Hayden Cheng, Ph.D. And that skill can be developed for greater, more immediate benefits, she says. “As people build higher levels of emotional intelligence, they’re more adept at recognizing feelings of anxiety so they can harness them into something positive right away.”