Have you realized that being an entrepreneur or a successful business leader the fastest way to become more successful is to overcome your anxiety and begin video blogging? Did you hope you could avoid public speaking and doing video trainings and now you realize that you must get beyond your fear? Perhaps you are clear about this next step and just don’t know how to get there; I can show you how in a few short steps.
Please ask yourself this question, “What happens when you think about filming a video blog”. Do you feel nauseous or worse? Do you start to feel faint and even hyperventilate? I understand; in my 20’s I was the VP of two big fashion labels on 7th Avenue and when I was asked to moderate the fashion show I literally had to sit down because it was as if I had been punched. We sold $40 million that year and I knew that I was completely unprepared to be the MC.
I remember the first time I held a microphone and the first time I was on stage as an adult I hallucinated and saw the audience in psychedelic colors. All I wanted was to survive the experience and never, ever repeat it.
“Once again, I really want to thank you for helping me with the speech for the Red Cross. What I learned from you then, and having a positive experience, has helped me give other presentations. Thank you for helping me find a voice again! There is certainly a lot more to learn, but at least I have a wonderful start, thanks to you! Thank you again Susan!” Claudia Weber Strays & Others New Canaan, CT
Now I have become the performer who has 140 videos on YouTube and who has filmed 175 live TV shows including 2 live Fox News segments! Here are 3 of my big secrets that I bet you don’t know:
Secret #1
Adrenaline is the brain chemical released during that “fight or flight experience” Your body interprets whether you should feel scared or excited based on your mind’s reference points. Adrenaline is released when you feel scared and when you feel exhilarated so it’s up to you to interpret.
Secret #2
I had to teach myself to prepare for live TV and speeches in a special way that I invented so that I would be able to believe I was excited not terrified. Check out my Prep Step List at the bottom of this article.
Secret #3
Changing your story from “This will be a disaster” to “They will love me” is easier than you think if you use The 4 Questions of Inquiry Training©. Examples are:
“I’m going to fail” becomes “with new training, skills and support I can be an interesting public speaker who people enjoy watching!”
“I’m terrible at public speaking” becomes “when I focus on them and what they need to hear and stop thinking about myself I’m able to inspire my audience every time.”
This is one way to go from terrified to excited and it takes some time to become a great speaker or performer. This habit has been proven to be beneficial according to Allison Wood Brooks of Harvard Business School and she calls it “anxiety reappraisal. Instead of telling yourself to calm down, tell yourself to get pumped.” Brooks’ research suggests that “changing the way you talk to yourself before you’re in the spotlight can make all the difference. In a series of studies, Brooks and colleagues assigned people some potentially scary tasks, including solving some math problems and singing karaoke using one of those games that scores you on how well your voice matches the correct pitch. Before each task, some of the people were told to try to calm down; the others were told to get excited. The people who were told to get psyched performed better in both scenarios than the people who were told to calm down.”
Prep Step List
Here is my own Prep Step List that I’ve used with so many actors, CEO’s and entrepreneurs who need to succeed in every venue. I like to give myself 10 days to go from 0- concerned and having no idea what I’ll say to writing a talk or video and being prepared to 60 mph; delivering it !
1. Write your speech thinking all about what they want to learn; not what you want to say; in that way you have the highest probability of being interesting to your audience. This is going to depend on whether your audience are facts and figures people, getting it done people, connecting emotional people and/or visionary people.
2. Learn the lines well enough to read them aloud in a confident and motivating voice
3. Record yourself reading your talk using your phone’s Voice Mail option or any other recording device. And when you record it you may need to do it a few times until you like your energy and feel really comfortable
4. Listen to this recording morning noon and night; in your car; while your shower; when you cook and do your dishes etc. ALL THE TIME!
5. By about Day 3 of 10 create a list of Bullet points for yourself in which you have all the key points and record this as a separate Voice Mail. And practice this again and again by listening top this recording, too.
6. On day 5 have your printed Bullets with you and stand in front of a full length mirror and create a 3rd Voice Mail recording yourself giving the talk using your notes and checking yourself in the mirror.
7. By day 7 you’ll hardly need your notes at all
If this is a camera shoot you can enlarge your Bullet Points and post them on the studio wall as I do when I need to. And you can get enough on the walls to speak for an hour without stopping which I have proven again and again.
8. By day 8 if this is a speaking event then practice e on the day bring your bullets in a bright colored folder with pockets and if you can reduce them to only 2 pieces of 8 ½” x 11” printed in a 16 font you can sneak a peek without losing your audience.
I offer a complimentary 1 hour telephone session so that you can discover if these skills are for you so please get in touch!
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