Do you remember a time when you felt very confident, calm and in control – perhaps when you’d just achieved something significant that you were pleased about?
Don’t you wish that you could have that feeling when you’re standing on the platform, speaking in front of a crowd?
Well, in fact you can. Here’s how.
Take a few minutes to yourself and go off somewhere that you’re not going to be disturbed. Turn your phone off and shut the door.
Now sit comfortably, close your eyes, and relax your muscles. If you’ve had a stressful day, just let all that stress and tension leak out of your body and evaporate, like mist on a road under the heat of the sun. You might want to go through your body from head to toe, just gently touching each part of your body with your mind and giving it permission to start to relax.
Breathe deeply, imagining you’re breathing through your navel, and let go of more tension with each breath out.
When you’re feeling comfortable, think about that memory of confidence, calm and control. Think about the place you were in at the time – what it looked like, even how it smelled. Think about how your body felt and the emotions you were feeling. What were you hearing when you felt so calm and confident? Did you taste anything?
Take all those senses and make them as clear and strong and vivid and loud and bright as possible in your memory. Imagine you’re turning up the volume on a radio, making the memory really clear.
When you’ve captured those feelings as clearly as you can, just press one of your fingers firmly with your thumb for a few seconds. That’s called an “anchor”, and it’ll be your signal to yourself to recapture those feelings any time you need them.
Let go of the pressure and take your time coming back to your normal awareness of your surroundings. Have a stretch.
Now, next time you’re up in front of a group speaking, press your thumb to your finger in the same way – and feel those feelings of calm, confidence and clarity come flooding back.
It sounds too simple to work – but it really does.
Mike Reeves-McMillan is a health and personal development coach and Registered Hypnotherapist in Auckland, New Zealand. He’s currently working on the Emotional Circuit-Breaker Toolkit, a collection of resources for managing emotion positively in challenging circumstances. You can get an audio track which talks you through the exercise described in this post if you join his mailing list (http://hypno.co.nz/newsletter.php).
Related posts:
- Three Absolute Fundamental Skills To Overcome Your Public Speaking Anxiety
- Public Speaking Do’s and Don’ts. Your Public Speaking Cheat Sheet
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good job, thank you for sharing