3 tricks to upgrade your mindset before your next pitch
With public speaking, mindset is everything.
Sure, you need a clear message, convincing material and (ideally) a story to hook the audience and keep them engaged. But your mindset can truly determine our results before we even set foot on stage. So, when you’re getting your slide deck prepped and your suit ironed…don’t forget to check your mental perspective at the same time.
What’s our “mindset”?
Our brains are tricky, especially when we stretch out of our comfort zone. Whenever we challenge ourselves, our minds fill with scary thoughts, like “I’m terrible at this” and “remember that speech I bombed in sixth grade?” and “who would want to hear me speak, anyway? I need to run away and never return”.
Our attitudes and unconscious assumptions can drastically affect our performance, so I always encourage my clients to spend time upping their mental game. To do this, make a few new “decisions” to help improve your attitude.
Make three “new decisions”
To challenge some of your internal messages, here are three “new decisions” that you can start cultivating to encourage success:
The goal is NOT perfection: For many of us, we’re obsessed with an ideal of perfection that can never be matched, and it holds us back from making progress in our goals. We play the comparison game, and wonder why we aren’t as skilled, or confident, or fabulous as someone else in our Instagram feed. But I want ALL of you to re-frame your ideas of perfection, because it’s a huge obstacle and holds so many of us back. And I need to share with you a radical new concept: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PERFECTION IN PUBLIC SPEAKING. Every speech, every interview, every media sound bite will be wildly imperfect (and possibly a little chaotic). You’ll ALWAYS have room for improvement and things that you would do differently, and this doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro. Share your story with honesty, authenticity and passion...and let your energy (not robot-perfection) make a great impact with the audience.
Visualize success: There is a lot of evidence that visualization can make a difference in helping us achieve success, so spend some time focusing on painting a picture of your presentation and how it can go well. Personally, I don’t worry about integrating a lot of details when I visualize, because public speaking always involves so many unknowns (like new venues and people). But I do spend time affirming the energy I want to bring to the event. I always try to picture myself calm, “switched on” with confidence, and happy to share my work with the audience. And, to complement my visualization, I ALSO do all my preparation work and rehearsal, so that I am fully prepped and ready to go.
“Switch” into confidence mode: My natural personality is shy and introverted, so I really need to make a big effort to speak confidently in front of strangers. For me, this means that I mentally flip a “switch” and tap into the part of me that can perform in front of an audience. It’s not about being fake or inauthentic, but it is about stepping up into a role of a confident, expressive speaker. I know what’s required, so I step up and get the job done (and then curl up with cupcakes and Netflix after the event). It’s a bit like handling a challenge at work, when you know what you need to do and you find the confidence to tackle it like a boss. Public speaking is exactly the same thing. You just need to practice flipping that “switch”. (Quick tip: standing tall and putting your shoulders back will help energize your confidence, and also deliver your talk more effectively.)