I started to use an online meditation app and was struck by the point in today’s session: Get rid of the Mental Trash in the closet that is your head. It made me think of the “mental trash” I see in some people’s heads when they have to present that keeps them from performing at their best. Here are three suggestions to eliminate that kind of self-defeating thinking.
Be Your Own Cheerleader
We are what we think. If you tell yourself you will fail, or people won’t like you or
your message, you are likely to increase your anxiety and become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, reverse your thoughts. Repeat to yourself…
- It is normal to be nervous and I will be fine
- I have made it through other difficult experiences before
- People will (benefit, be inspired by, appreciate, etc.) my message
- No one ever died from a presentation!
Get Physical
That rush of jitters you feel before a presentation is your body producing the adrenalin necessary to meet a challenging event. Instead of becoming paralyzed with fear, you need to move around to warm up and get that energy flowing. Before your presentation, go to a private spot (bathroom, empty elevator) and stretch, roll your shoulders, jump up and down, shake your hands hard at the wrists, roll your head. Loosen up and get that energy spreading throughout your body in a positive way.
Focus
Avoid trying to talk to everyone at one time. You can’t and it makes you even more nervous because you are not connecting with anyone. Instead, talk to one person at a time for about the length of a sentence or until you have to breathe. Then, talk to another person in a different part of the room, again, for about the length of a sentence or until you have to breathe. Continue that pattern. If you have to look down or up for a forgotten word or thought, return to the person you left to finish your thought. If you cannot manage that one-to-one pattern, then talk to two people at a time who sit next to each other.
This one-to-one conversational focus will
- Give you control over your breathing and your thoughts
- Reduce your jitters
- Make you more naturally conversational and engaging
Presenting is Another “Sport”
LIke sports, you want/need some natural adrenalin rush to get you ready for what’s coming. You are also at your best when you focus on the “action,” in this case your audience. And, finally, you don’t want any crushing mental trash to get in your way to success. Switching metaphors, understand you will never lose all those butterflies, but, with these tips, you can teach them to fly information.
Anne Miller
Words Matter – Make What You Say Pay!
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