Three quick and easy brain hacks for public speaking anxiety
In the moments leading up to giving a presentation or speech, many people feel a surge of anxiety—heart-racing, hand-quaking, sick-to-their-stomach anxiety. Some of the work to fortify oneself against the fear of public speaking happens well in advance of the actual presentation or speech. But when the adrenaline and cortisol flood your body right before you take the “stage,” you need an additional, entirely different set of tactics.
While there is a good bit of psychological advice available on this subject, most of us would readily agree that it’s difficult to control the mind with the mind. People like Amy Cuddy have explored the body-brain connection as a way to offset the anxiety posturally—check out her TED talk and her book. (Though her research has received some criticism—which she responded to here—a lot of my clients experience at least a placebo benefit from power posing.)
Here are three quick and easy brain hacks to help you manage the fear in the moment
1 Step forward. There’s no biological difference between the adrenaline released out of fear and adrenaline released out of excitement; in either case, the purpose of adrenaline is to enable movement. To dispel the adrenaline, many speakers exhibit unintentional movement (e.g. rocking, pacing back and forth). What’s fascinating, however, is that if you step forward—toward the audience—your brain also releases dopamine. Dopamine is the “reward” neurotransmitter, so triggering that response increases the feeling of success (and has the added benefit that we’ll want to repeat that activity because of the reward response). In the virtual environment, lean forward.
2 Move your eyes. If you’re familiar with EMDR, this one will sound familiar. Side-to-side eye movement suppresses the amygdala—the part of the brain that plays a primary role in our emotional responses, such as fear. Moving your eyes from side-to-side for just 30 seconds can invoke this benefit.
3 Use “physiological sighs.” You’ve been told to take a deep breath to help with the stress, but this is a much more specific way to breathe to offset anxiety and induce calm. Stanford researcher Andrew Huberman explains how (and why!) here. In short, it’s a double inhale through the nose, followed by a long exhale through the mouth.
Try incorporating one or all of these tactics into your “pre-game routine” before your next pitch, presentation or speaking gig. It’ll add less than a minute to your prep and will reduce the stress dramatically.
If you’d like to work on reducing your anxiety with some longer-term strategies, I’m here to help. And if you’d like more information about the science behind these tips, just shoot me a note.