A young woman, exhausted and overwhelmed, asked her father how to handle life’s difficulties. He took her into the kitchen, filled three pots with water, and brought them to a boil.

In the first pot, he placed a carrot; in the second, an egg; and in the last, some coffee beans. After a few minutes, he turned off the heat.

The carrot, which was hard, had become soft.                                                    The egg, fragile on the inside, had become hard-boiled.                                      The coffee, however, had transformed the water itself.

Her father looked at her and said:

“When you face with adversity, you can become fragile, you can harden… or you can transform your surroundings.”

This story, popular in the personal growth world, shows that we are not defined by events, but by how we choose to react. A key principle of cognitive psychology highlights that anxiety stems not so much from situations themselves, but from the interpretation we give them.

Interview anxiety: a natural reaction

When we are preparing for a job interview, it’s normal to feel anxious. It’s an evaluation setting where we feel observed and judged.

Thoughts like:

• “What if I’m not good enough?”

• “What if I freeze?”

• “What if I make a bad impression?”

are extremely common. Much of our worry comes from mental forecasting and negative scenarios that often never happen.

The goal is not to eliminate anxiety entirely, but to understand how to manage it.

Anxiety as a response, not a limit

We cannot control all our emotions, but we can influence how we manage them. In an interview, this means shifting your focus:

• From “How am I performing?” to “What value can I communicate?”

• From “Am I doing well?” to “Am I connecting with the interviewer?”

• From “I must be perfect” to “I must be authentic.”

Your attention is no longer focused on yourself, but on the interaction.

Three ways to react to pressure

Returning to our initial metaphor:

• The Carrot represents those who weaken under pressure: anxiety reduces their confidence and ability to express themselves.

• The Egg represents those who harden: they protect themselves but lose their spontaneity and naturalness.

• The Coffee represents those who transform the situation: they use the emotion as energy, maintaining presence and clarity.

The goal is not to eliminate anxiety, but to learn to transform it into a resource.

Practical strategier for your interview

Here are a few useful tools:

• Preparation: Knowing the company and the role increases your sense of control and reduces uncertainty.

• Focus on the Interviewer: Viewing the interview as an exchange fosters greater openness toward the other person.

• Acceptance of Imperfection: You don’t need to be perfect; you need to be authentic and clear in your communication.

• Pacing Yourself: Taking pauses, breathing, and responding calmly improves the quality of your answers.

Conclusion

Interview anxiety is not an obstacle to be eliminated, but an emotion to be recognized and managed. Facing the same situation, everyone can react differently. The difference lies not in the absence of pressure, but in the ability to transform it.

In an interview, as in life, it’s not just about what happens. It’s about how we choose to respond.