Earlier this week, I had to do a presentation in front of a room full of people. Now there are some people who live for this and then there’s me. I am not a present-in-front-of-a-room-full-of-people-type-of-person at all. I’d much rather walk on hot coals or something.
Normally, I would have obsessed over it for weeks. I would have over-prepared for it (is that a thing?). I would have lost sleep over it. I would have had the bubble guts. ? I would have explored all the ways I could back out of it. I would have been. a. hot. mess.
But this time was different. This time I didn’t prepare for it much at all in terms of the material I was covering. I didn’t lose sleep at all. I didn’t get the bubble guts. I didn’t try to back out of it. I wasn’t a hot mess.
What I did do was work on my mindset around presenting. I realized that my biggest problem thought was, “I’m supposed to know it all and these people are going to find out that I really don’t.” That thought had me stuck. Why? Because it made me feel powerless — I had to be perfect. And I’m not. And I could never be.
Once I realized that was the thought that was causing me so much grief, I worked on changing it. My new thought was the same one I used when I started coaching my very first client, “When I show up as myself, I’m amazing.” I gave myself permission to be who I truly am, the one who doesn’t know everything but who has everything she needs to get the job done. That thought took the pressure off and helped me to step into who I really am and have fun with it.
And that’s what I did for the presentation. I was 100% myself. I got up there. I was silly. I made them laugh. I presented the material. Then I sat down. And I felt amazing.
It wasn’t perfect by a long shot. I started mentally beating myself up afterwards over what I should’ve said or shouldn’t have said, but overall I was proud of myself. Baby steps.
Learning how to become aware of your thoughts and choosing better ones will change your entire life. Set up a free session with me and I’ll show you.
Gabrielle, The Thought Trainer
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