When you’re preparing for a presentation or speaking event, or maybe an interview, it’s not always easy to replicate the anxiety or discomfort of the real thing. While you might feel some ramping up in your system, it’s probably nowhere near what happens when you’re in the space and expected to deliver.
All those expectations: from others, and from yourself. (I’ve written about expectations and how to work effectively with them before.
And I know from experience, and also my research into music performance anxiety (my original career), that delivering under pressure is a learnable skill. There’s also much research in this area on sports performance, of course.
We can get better at delivering under pressure if we practise delivering under pressure.
So how can you ‘fool’ yourself when you’re at home running through your presentation or going through typical interview responses?
Even though there might be some activation in your system thinking of what’s coming, it’s often not enough to be a true test.
And there are no consequences if you stuff it up – other than you getting frustrated and annoyed at yourself if it’s not going well.
So: you need to artificially manipulate the demands on you. Two ways to try this:
1. Physical pressure. (If you have limitations, try the mental ideas below instead.) Your goal is to get your heart rate up to the point of feeling breathless and agitated. Whether that’s:
- Jogging in place or doing star jumps.
- Breathing fast, in and out.
- Eating a hot curry that makes you sweat!
Any of these will work. Your only goal is to ramp up your system to the point of it distracting you. This will help to teach you to look past what your body’s telling you, and focus on the task.
2. Mental pressure.
You might be saying “Sarah, I’m already doing that – I don’t need any more!”.
Note: if you suffer ‘thought-blocking’ and freezing, try #1 the physical pressure instead.
- Audio. Choose audio of someone/people speaking (music isn’t the same), turn it up loud enough to hear them easily, and then start delivering your ideas out loud at the same time.
- Video. Press record on yourself to ramp up the pressure. For example: you have to speak for 2 minutes, your goal is that it makes sense, and you’re not allowed to stop until the time is up.
Any of these ideas will help to prepare your system for the actual event.
And be kind to yourself if you can – this isn’t a chance to evaluate yourself negatively (if you do that) and talk harshly to yourself:
It’s a skill-testing process under pressure.
I’ve also written here about practising under pressure, including a short video.
Best wishes with your speaking and influencing!