Do you regularly wind up capitulating to the OMG condition? OMG, I can’t do that. OMG everybody is superior to me. OMG I’ll never excel. The rundown goes on of all that negative reasoning that you require to banish.
What Did Negative Thinking Actually Accomplish For You?
If you’re going to make a presentation or have a media interview and negative considerations begin popping into your head,
put that negativity into a Tiffany box. Simply thinking about the famous eggshell blue color will cause you to feel better.
You need to compartmentalize so that you’re “in the moment,” a term that entertainers use to describe the complete focus they have to get into character.
Change the DVD in your head from OMG, they discovered me out, to “I’m so happy to be here.” Feel confident that your audience is looking forward to your presentation. Arrive early and network with individuals you don’t know.
You’ll get a boost in certainty when a group starts to gather around you since you’re the featured speaker. They didn’t come to hear somebody else.
The same applies to media interviews. A reporter has a lot of experts to source for a story but it’s you he wants to talk to.
Get it off of your mind that the introduction or media interview is about you. All things considered, center every one of your energies on your key messages and the audience.
Set Realistic Goals for Yourself
The same goes for your career. You might be experiencing the imposter syndrome. You feel like a fraud, either while presenting or in your everyday work.
Seek help and talk with a PR professional or a presentation trainer if you have a bad case of nerves before a presentation. Or, schedule time with an executive coach if your negative thoughts are overpowering you and interfering with your career trajectory.
Don’t deceive yourself. Set reasonable objectives and figure out how you will accomplish them, one step at a time. Picture a mountain before you as a metaphor for life. You realize you have to move up and over the mountain to get to where you want to go.
Those initial few steps up the mountain will be tough. But while the mountain gets steeper, the climb will get easier as you banish negative reasoning and begin doing quite a few things to get stronger for the climb.
Continue to set the bar higher as you arrive at every one of your goals. With each success you’ll feel an adrenaline surge as you proceed with your climb. Just think how incredible it will feel when you arrive at the zenith of your career.
Slogging To the Top
Everyone needs to walk up the mountain. That is the reason you need to survey each progression en route before you get to it. In case you’re a regular public speaker, plan talking dates in the “lower levels” first. Talk at a program of a local part of a national organization.
Gain certainty and request input on your performance. Get comfortable with yourself and your material and then proceed on to larger organizations.
Some speakers tragically switch to automatic pilot, simply making an insincere effort and “phoning in” their lines. They make the same presentation again and again. That is simply lazy and a sure-fire way not to be asked back.
Climbing the mountain implies taking on new difficulties and continually learning so that you’re the most knowledgeable person in the room.
It takes discipline and not everyone can do it. In any case, believe that you can. Try not to let negative reasoning sap your energy. Put your negative thoughts or issues into that Tiffany box and store it away in a corner of your mind.
Then, when you have to deal with a particular life challenge like a maturing guardian or a sick child, open the box and manage the issue. We all have these life challenges. Try not to let yours keep you from getting to the highest point of that mountain.
Recently we had the delight of working with a globally acclaimed smash hit creator. We had first worked together in 2001 helping him plan and position his messages to meet with Oprah. He told us that of the apparent multitude of things we had shown him, the concept of the Tiffany box was the most helpful and that he still uses it all these years later!
Apply your energy into positive reasoning and spotlight on the exercises that will drive you to the highest point of the mountain.
