Effort isn’t measured in sweat. The calm person who prepared well might be working harder than the one panicking.

Visible strain is easy to mistake for hard work, though a lot of it is the cost of being unprepared. The calm person usually got there by doing the work earlier in a less dramatic form, and their quiet is a result rather than a sign of coasting. Panic is loud and inefficient. Judging effort by how stressed somebody looks rewards the wrong thing, including when the somebody is you.

Stop using how frantic you feel as evidence that you are working. Count hours, pages or reps instead. If the calm version of a task is available, take it, and let preparation do the job panic was doing.