nervousness as a FEATURE

i’m about to hold a presentation. right before it’s my turn i get nervous as FUCK. my heart starts beating heavier and heavier. my hands get warm and itchy. i could literally feel my heartbeat in my brain.

then i remembered: maybe i’m supposed to feel like this? maybe i’m SUPPOSED to be nervous?

i heard some veteran speaker say that even after holding 300 keynotes, he was still nervous every time. if you’re not nervous you don’t care enough. the framing of accepting that nervousness WILL come totally changed the way i handle it.

now i’m standing in front of the class, half-shaking and blood pulsing heavily through me. but instead of thinking “oh shit i’m nervous” i caught myself and thought ”oh shit i’m excited!”

remember what that dude said? even on the 300th presentation, he was nervous. the only difference is that he interpreted the nervousness as excitement. so i did the same an told myself “i’m not nervous, i’m exited. i’m not nervous, i’m exited!” (apparently nervousness and excitement is neurologically the same thing to the brain, so the only difference in how you feel is how you interpret it.)

after this i forgot about the nervousness completely. and the presentation went well.

tell yourself you’re supposed to feel nervous when you do. that it’s natural. then try to convince yourself that you’re EXCITED, not nervous.

i should try this method for cold-approaching, job interviews, whatever else scares me. to be continued…