Skip the Stress, Save the Story
Maximize your MOMENT BEFORE.
You're sitting in the conference room, waiting to be introduced. In a few minutes you'll get invited onto the stage or into the virtual meeting to deliver your story. You're ready to speak, solid on your topic, eager to share discoveries or directives, all eyes and ears on you and your content. And you're starting to stress.
Every passing minute your heart rate climbs, self-doubt creeps in, and suddenly you're questioning that demo or worried about the 12th slide. Welcome to the Moment Before.
Stress Saps #CorporateStorytelling
The more stress builds up as you prepare to speak, the more it impedes your ability to present with confidence and to control your message. Even worse, stress is highly addictive; it spreads like a mini pandemic from one person to the next in any tense environment. When we encounter stress in others, our own stress increases. When an audience can sense our stress, they become stressed as well, and we lose both authority and credibility.
The way to keep your stress at bay and your story on course is to honor and value your own personal Moment Before. Simple distractions can lower pre-performance anxiety and help you to maintain focus and leadership when you need them most.
Create Your Own Distractions
As you wait to be announced, try humming a favorite tune, repeating a tongue twister, or pop in your AirPods and listen to a favorite feel good song. If you're waiting off stage, close your eyes and dance or stretch to the music. Even a quick 60 seconds of disconnection from your content combined with a sharp endorphin hit of musical positivity can get you back to baseline and settle the jitters.
I like to look at photos of cute animals on Instagram or funny videos on TikTok. The point is not what you watch; it's to use your Moment Before for anything other than cramming a last-minute review of your speaker notes or second-guessing what may go wrong during the meeting.
If you're typically uptight or insecure as a speaker, step away to just breathe andwalk yourself through a silent pep talk. Remind yourself why you do what youdo, that you're good at it, that you get paid to do it, and that you were chosen tospeak on your topic or on behalf of your leadership for a reason.
Let Them Stew Far From You
As I said, anxiety is contagious. Say you're about to take the spotlight and you know your boss or team are nearby and uptight about the presentation. You’re likely to become uptight right along with them. Don’t allow anyone to have that negative influence on you and your storytelling. Get away from their stress. Excuse yourself to go find a quiet space, leaving others to stew far from you.
The same applies when you find yourself on the program with other nervous speakers, all tense and sweating their own introduction. The longer that dynamic is allowed to continue, the more their stress will diminish your story. Escape their personal negative Moment Before to reduce their opportunity to transmit stress onto you.
And if you sense you’re the one causing that stress? Remove yourself in order to protect others.
Bottom Line
Pay attention to how the stress of others affects you and your story. Or how your stress gets mirrored back when others subconsciously respond to your nerves. Any time is a good time to step away and detox a potentially stressful moment.
