Rx for nervousness

You don’t have to eliminate the butterflies, just get them flying in formation!

PATIENT: “Well, Doc, it happened like this. I do have to speak before a group occasionally, but this time I got roped into something big. Too big for me. Sixty people were coming here for a conference, and the director had to pick me! So what else could I do? I wrote up a speech. Nothin’ great, but my friends approved. I practiced it a few times, and I was startin’ to feel pretty good about it. Until the moment of truth, when I stood up there at the lectern and looked at all those faces. I just froze. You know? A sea of faces, over a hundred eyes burning right through me like laser beams! And there wasn’t any three-ring circus goin’ on to distract ‘em. Just one poor clown. Me! And I sure acted like a clown too. Froze up. Couldn’t remember a thing. Bumbled and stumbled a bit, and then stopped. Said I was sorry and left. How humiliating! In front of all those people! What happened, Doc? How can I face another group like that?”

THE SPEECH DOCTOR SAYS: A team of market researchers asked 3,000 Americans what they were most afraid of. The results may surprise you. Five percent feared escalators more than anything else, and eight percent feared elevators and darkness. A few more were most afraid of driving a car. Eleven percent feared dogs, fourteen percent feared loneliness, and eighteen percent feared flying. Surprisingly, death ranked only as the seventh greatest fear with nineteen percent of the vote. Still greater fears were deep water, financial problems, insects and bugs. But more than anything else, they feared speaking before a group. It ranked first, with forty-one percent of the vote!

Here's what you can do: First, recognize that anyone speaking to a group that size is going to feel butterflies. All those eyes could make you nervous.You can solve the problem by maintaining eye contact with one person. Lock on to the eyes of just one member of the audience for at least three to five seconds. Think of that person as your friend. Then slowly shift your focus to another person elsewhere in the room, without letting your eyes dart about. You’ll relax, and feel more comfortable. Your thinking will be synchronized with what you’re saying. Your nervousness will then be reduced to a normal level, and in all likelihood you won’t freeze up.

Remember, you don’t have to eliminate the butterflies, just get them flying in formation!