The job interview process can be a nerve-wracking experience, even for the most perfectly-suited candidate. And the more you want a job the harder it can be to avoid letting nerves get the best of you.

The problem is that interviewing for a job necessarily puts you in a position of low power. You are dependent upon the interviewer for the position, and feeling that powerlessness can make you incredibly uneasy.

But it is possible to psych yourself up so you no longer feel out of control. Here are three scientifically proven methods for making yourself feel calm, confident, and in control during a job interview.

1. Talk to Yourself By Name

Every single one of us engages in self-talk – that inner conversation you hold with yourself and use to evaluate what you’re doing as you do it. You have probably heard about how important it is to make your self-talk as positive as possible to avoid nerves.

But if you have a tendency toward negative self-talk, it can be very difficult to change the tone of your inner monologue. Instead, psychologist Ethan Kross has found that one simple word can make an enormous difference in your ability to psych yourself up: your name.

When you use your name instead of “I”, when you talk to yourself, the switch to third person creates enough psychological distance that your brain enables you to practice more self-control:

“First-name self-talk shifts the focus away from the self; it allows people to transcend their inherent ego-centrism. And that makes them as smart in thinking about themselves as they typically are about others.”

If you talk to yourself as if you were…

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