Do you suffer with bouts of nerves? Does your stomach turn over at the thought of standing up and talking to people? My heart pounds too!
Last week saw the last rehearsal for the comedy night. I delivered what I felt to be a pretty good performance, well timed, confident and people laughed. I forgot one joke that’s all. A couple of adjustments based on feedback but I’m now at the stage where there is nothing more I can really do.
The only thing is – every time I think about Thursday, my stomach turns over and my heart starts pounding. So how do you make sure that these symptoms don’t get in the way of your delivery.
Accept them for what they are – our bodies are designed to react to danger, we have a flight or fight response, so acknowledge that feeling sick and racing heart beats etc are all about the adrenalin rush we get and adrenalin we know is good – right?
Don’t let these feeling get in the way. There is a simple breathing technique I use to calm the nerves and take my mind off what is happening.
Breathe in to the count of 7
Breathe out for the count of 11.
This works in two ways. Firstly concentrating on your breathing in this way focuses your mind on something other than what lies ahead of you. Secondly the longer out breath expells some of the stale air and carbon-dioxide sitting in your lungs, your body will naturally need to take in a fuller breath of clean air and lots of oxygen, critical in aiding your brain to work effectively.
Try it – it really works.
copyright Carolyn TraffordLevel 1 – Unconsciously Unskilled
(You Don’t Know that You Don’t Know)
At this level you are blissfully ignorant: You have a complete lack
of knowledge and skills in the subject in question. On top of this,
you are unaware of this lack of skill, and your confidence may
therefore far exceed your abilities.
Level 2 – Consciously Unskilled
(You Know that You Don’t Know)
At this level you find that there are skills you need to learn, and
you may be shocked to discover that there are others who are much
more competent than you. As you realize that your ability is limited,
your confidence drops. You go through an uncomfortable period as you
learn these new skills when others are much more competent and
successful than you are.
Level 3 – Consciously Skilled
(You Know that You Know)
At this level you acquire the new skills and knowledge. You put your
learning into practice and you gain confidence in carrying out the
tasks or jobs involved. You are aware of your new skills and work on
refining them.
You are still concentrating on the performance of these activities,
but as you get ever-more practice and experience, these become
increasingly automatic.
Level 4 – Unconsciously Skilled
(You Don’t Know that You Know – It Just Seems Easy!)
At this level your new skills become habits, and you perform the task
without conscious effort and with automatic ease. This is the peak of
your confidence and ability.
– See more at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_96.htm#sthash.SrfZRNRe.dpuf
Level 1 – Unconsciously Unskilled
(You Don’t Know that You Don’t Know)
At this level you are blissfully ignorant: You have a complete lack
of knowledge and skills in the subject in question. On top of this,
you are unaware of this lack of skill, and your confidence may
therefore far exceed your abilities.
Level 2 – Consciously Unskilled
(You Know that You Don’t Know)
At this level you find that there are skills you need to learn, and
you may be shocked to discover that there are others who are much
more competent than you. As you realize that your ability is limited,
your confidence drops. You go through an uncomfortable period as you
learn these new skills when others are much more competent and
successful than you are.
Level 3 – Consciously Skilled
(You Know that You Know)
At this level you acquire the new skills and knowledge. You put your
learning into practice and you gain confidence in carrying out the
tasks or jobs involved. You are aware of your new skills and work on
refining them.
You are still concentrating on the performance of these activities,
but as you get ever-more practice and experience, these become
increasingly automatic.
Level 4 – Unconsciously Skilled
(You Don’t Know that You Know – It Just Seems Easy!)
At this level your new skills become habits, and you perform the task
without conscious effort and with automatic ease. This is the peak of
your confidence and ability.
– See more at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_96.htm#sthash.SrfZRNRe.dpufWant to know more about my comfort zone stretch in learning to do stand up comedy for Gingerbread – catch up on the last few blog posts below:
Want to know more about my comfort zone stretch in learning to do stand up comedy for Gingerbread – catch up on the last few blog posts below:
- Comfort Zone Leap Part I – The OMG State (reflectionscoachingblog.wordpress.com)
- Comfort Zone Leap Part II – Stepping Up To The Mic (reflectionscoachingblog.wordpress.com)
- Comfort Zone Leap Part III – Gaining Context When It Doesn’t Go Your Way (reflectionscoachingblog.wordpress.com)
- Comfort Zone Leap Part IV – Am I Consciously Competence? (reflectionscoachingblog.wordpress.com)
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