Everyone struggles with performance anxiety.

Personally, I have for years. It seems that every time I go to perform in public, I feel tense. You can't sing your best if you're tense.

But I knew that all I needed was to be able to relax and get on with it. And as soon as that clicked, I started to understand that overcoming this fear wasn't that hard—I was just doing the wrong thing.

Here's what I should have done instead:

Rehearse until you can't get it wrong.

Rehearse while wearing the outfit you'll be performing in. Rehearse in various locations. Rehearse until you hear the opening notes and the song immediately pops into your head. Rehearse until the words come out of your mouth without you even having to think about it. Rehearse until you can sing it perfectly on pitch without accompaniment.

For me, this means I have to start working as soon as possible, and go over a piece several times per day, until it gets embedded into me.

This doesn't mean you won't get anxious at all, but it does help that fear to evaporate as soon as possible.