Pressure isn’t proof you’re failing. It’s proof the thing matters to you.

The feeling of pressure gets read as a warning sign, as though a calmer person would not be having it. What it actually tracks is stake. You only get that tightness about outcomes you care about, and nothing you are indifferent to produces it at all. So its presence tells you something about the size of the thing, not about your ability to handle it.

Next time it turns up before a test or a game, say the thing you care about out loud in one sentence. Then go and do the normal preparation. The feeling can be in the room while you work without getting a vote.