Hi, I'm Thomas Frank, and this is Crash Course: Study Skills.
Henry Fonda was a famous actor with a career that spanned 54 years and included starring roles in classic movies like 12 Angry Men and Once Upon a Time in the West.
He was one of the most well-known and successful actors of his time, bringing home an Oscar, two Golden Globes, and even a Grammy before retiring.
So it might surprise you to learn that Fonda had a lifelong struggle with performance anxiety.
In fact, even when he was 75 years old, with over half a century of acting experience under his belt, he would often throw up before beginning stage performances.
But, despite his anxiety and sudden lack of lunch, Fonda would still step out from behind the curtain and give the audience the great performance they expected.
That's because he understood one of the unavoidable facts of life – a fact that the author Steven Pressfield put so well in his book The War of Art:
"Fear doesn't go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day".
If you're a student, you might not be performing on a stage or facing down an enemy army, but your tests and exams are battles all their own, and they often come with the same feelings of anxiety.
These feelings are normal, and you'll never truly banish them.