You’ve heard it a million times before: When your stomach’s in knots, your mouth is dry, and inside you’re about three seconds from completely freaking out, you should calm down. Take deep breaths. Meditate. Do whatever you can to slow down and clear your mind.

But, as it turns out, you may just be making things worse.

In Originals, a research-laden exploration of what makes successful people, well, succeed, author and Wharton management professor Adam Grant addresses most people’s greatest fear: public speaking. It’s something many people dread more than death (or taxes), and when 300 people were polled about their best advice for someone who had to stand in front of their peers and deliver a speech, they overwhelmingly advised to “relax and calm down.”

Harvard professor Alison Wood Brooks put this advice to the test, asking college students to either say “I am calm” or “I am excited” before speaking publicly. When students tried to reframe those pre-speech jitters as excitement, their speeches were rated 17 percent more persuasive and 15 percent more confident. Similarly, when students were told to “get excited” before a math test, they scored 22 percent better than kids who were told to “remain calm.”

Why does that work? Well, fear is an intense emotion, Grant, explains, likening trying to calm down like slamming on the brakes when you’re driving 80 mph. When you get excited, you lean into the sensations that go along with fear (heart racing, adrenaline pumping), and it propels you to move forward, tackling the situation head-on.

Grant also suggests being a “defensive pessimist” when you’re freaked out about a situation. A lot of our fear, he says, stems from uncertainty about the future, so imagining the worst-case scenario can help you put into perspective what could happen and be prepared for what may come. Pair that with a general excitement for what could happen (hey, there are many other possible outcomes here!), and you’ll feel better about the upcoming challenge.

It’s worth a shot.