October 11, 2022
Reframing Stage Fright
Lots of people get nervous getting up in front of a group of people to give a talk.
As a long time conference speaker - and before that, a performing musician - I never found a way to get rid of that butterflies feeling in my stomach before I got on stage.
Decades ago, I accepted that the feeling wasn’t going to go away. So I would feel it, I would ignore it, and I would get on stage anyway.
Then maybe 10 years ago, I read about the idea of reframing that feeling not as nervousness, but instead as excitement.
I love this because it flips the emotional reaction to the feeling from a negative to a positive.
So...
If you’re someone who suffers from stage fright, you might want to dig into this concept a bit.
Here’s a pretty good starting point from TED speaker and social psychologist Amy Cuddy:
Here’s the thing...
Speaking on a regular basis is one of the two key components of building an expertise-based authority business.
Don’t let those pesky butterflies hold you back.
They’re there to help.
Yours,
—J