Tom Cruise’s advice for those struggling with social anxiety revealed

Hayley Atwell shares Tom Cruise's advice on social anxiety. Photo / Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance

Tom Cruise’s advice for those struggling with social anxiety is “try doing the opposite”.

His words of wisdom on how to deal with times of strife have been revealed by actress Hayley Atwell, 41, who shared them during an appearance on the Reign With Josh Smith podcast after the 62-year-old actor shared them with her when she was talking about feeling nervous.

Despite sounding simple, Hayley – who starred with Tom in Mission: Impossible – said the advice had a profound impact on her life.

She revealed: “If you walk into a room and you feel the anxieties coming, and it makes me want to retreat into myself, and I start to overthink ... we go into ourselves.”

Hayley added Tom’s solution to such feelings of insecurity was to focus outward, not inward.

He told her to look around the room and ask herself: “Where is it? Where is the thing that I have attached onto my insecurity?” she said.

Hayley also explained Tom encouraged her to identify the source of her anxiety, whether it was a person who reminded her of a past bully or someone who once rejected her for a job.

She added the concept was: “Where does it live outside of me and where do I feel like the source of it might be coming from?”

Hayley, who starred alongside Tom in Dead Reckoning Part One, found by looking at her insecurities from the new angle proposed by Tom, her anxiety became more manageable.

She explained: “If I’m scared of something, if I keep looking at it long enough, it tends to not sort of be the monster under the bed anymore.”

The actor said she now believes confronting fears head-on can diminish their power, adding: “If I understand my anxiety, then I have an opportunity to do something about it.

“If you’re scared of something, keep looking at it. Try not to close your eyes or turn away ... it will often give you information about what to do to overcome it.”

Hayley will next star alongside Tom in new Mission: Impossible instalment The Final Reckoning, set to premiere on May 23, with the film also starring Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Shea Whigham, Pom Klementieff and Henry Czerny.