INFJ: Performance anxiety?

I'm an INFJ and I think we are prone to anxiety in general. I am a historian and genealogist. I have given several presentations, some I did great and others not so much. I still get just as nervous as I did the first time. I am a perfectionist and want to get it right while also making sure my audience enjoys and learns from it. I also have anxiety and a good imagination....which means I'm also good at imagining all the different ways something could go wrong. When I was in school I was decent at taking tests but always felt like I froze and could have done better.

I am a musician and seldom perform in front of others. I have blacked out in front of an audience before. Internally I shut down, forget what and how to play something, all because I am overwhelmed by the collective energies of the environment. It's crippling. Too much spotlight.

Can relate totally. Though i did fairly well giving public performances during childhood (probably wasn't infj back then). Now i rarely go outside and expose myself to people, doubled expectations (you towards yourself and others towards you) sometimes makes me overwhelmed to the point of not being able to do things. I also found out i do okay even with company only if i'm deeply connected to such people because i know my failures would be ok. If they're just strangers and giving me attention, i would feel very much pressured to perfectly do things as what most expect of me.

Walks and distractions at the time anxiety hit helps too. Forcibly shutting/cutting anxious thoughts

I'm not really performance-shy when it comes to music (at least, it gives me something to focus on, like my bandmates' cues), but I hate being alone in front of a group in class. In both cases, without warning (even if I felt fairly confident) I feel myself starting to shake uncontrollably. When I am performing music, it goes away, but when I am supposed to talk, I am so focussed on the people around me that I can't help myself. The pressure I put on myself is just too high to cope at that moment. It only becomes worse if I manage to embarass myself, which is only each time I have to do a presentation.

About specifically tests, it's only the time pressure that gets to me. If I know the stuff, I could do it blindfolded (figuratively, of course). But if it's something general, like an IQ test, with logic questions, like those where you have to decide which (cube, number, anything) is next, I get so nervous and fidgety that I can really freak out. It's like I know that if I weren't so nervous I could do it considerably faster, but at that moment, my mind goes completely blank. Walking and distracting isn't really applicable in this case.

Well, coming back to music... I don't know... it's just sort of my thing. I'm good at singing (I felt only half-insulted when they referred to me as "radio" in fourth grade because I knew I was good; it also helped that a lot of people told me so), I am confident about it. It is pretty much the only thing I am positively confident about. Maybe this is why it is the exception.

Yep. I live in the corporate world where I teach classes and have had to give presentations or meet with VPs. It never gets easier for me. I can't remember what I say half the time. Guess not remembering means I also get to forget any cringe worthy moments.