Are you usually a fairly confident person – the life and soul of the party? Until, that is you have to make a presentation in front of an audience or speak in front of a microphone or video camera.

A recent survey showed that people are terrified of speaking in public – in fact the fear came above the fear of spiders, divorce and even death!

When questioned, participants said they feared making a fool of themselves, dropping their papers, looking incongruent, forgetting what they intended to say, and now neuroscientists at the University of Sussex’s Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and Brighton and Sussex Medical School have identified the brain network system that causes us to stumble and stall just when we least want to.

The study reveals why your brain makes you slip up when anxious, it seems that the anxiety of being watched can have a disastrous effect on your performance.

They were able to pinpoint the brain area that causes the performance mishaps during an experiment using functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging (fMRI) and they found that people exert more force when they know that people are watching, so for example pianists unconsciously press keys harder when they play in front of an audience.

Scan results showed that an area of the brain that helps us to control our fine sensorimotor functions – the inferior parietal cortex (IPC) – became deactivated when people felt they were being observed interestingly how we perceive the audience will receive us also plays a part, if we believe that those watching want us to do well, we will perform well. But if we pick up negative cues, our IPC is deactivated and our performance falls apart.

So if you want to share your message in front of a wider audience and know that you will be called upon to give a presentation or a talk how can you best prepare and ensure that you will ‘shine’?

How you will perform is intrinsically linked with how confident you are – about yourself, the topic you are speaking about, and whether it will be well received, i.e. are those watching your ideal clients or community? If it’s a job interview is this actually your ideal job? Ask yourself how likely it is that those watching are likely to be open and supportive of you.

You don’t have to naturally be a super confident person, you can ‘fake it till you make it’ but the key to a successful performance is feeling entirely authentic about the message you are conveying and knowing that you are fully prepared.

Having a positive attitude is also important so a top tip is to visualise yourself coming away from the experience exhilarated and knowing you ‘rocked it!’

The authors of the study suggested that for example a musician before a public performance ‘could perform in front of his/her family and close friends and receive a lot of applause. Such experience would help to induce a desirable activation pattern in your brain and boost self-confidence.’

You too can rehearse before you do anything in public and I would highly recommend it – always read your script or your notes out loud, video yourself and watch it back, do all or part of your presentation in front of someone you know is on your side and ask for honest feedback.

The reality is that we do all feel some nerves when we are being scrutinised but make sure the butterflies in your tummy are flying in perfect formation! If you are totally authentic your passion and enthusiasm will come across and the audience will be with you all the way, so what if you do spill your water or drop your papers, we are all human – actually when the unexpected happens it can be the ice breaker that means people identify with you even more

So be willing to stand in the spotlight and shine – I’m watching!

You’ve heard the saying ’We all teach what we need to learn’ and it’s so interesting when you know you have really made a difference inspiring someone else and yet a niggling voice is telling you that what you are encouraging your clients to do applies to you also!

I recently got back from a weekend coaching women around branding and PR and marketing, hosted by a very successful female entrepreneur and I felt really excited as there had been some great breakthroughs and while I was away I got a message to say that I had successfully secured a great 2 page spread in a national mag for one of my clients, another woman I had been working with for a while had her book launch coming up and another had launched her coaching programme.

I had an appointment booked on my return, some ‘me’ time, I see a wonderful Kinesiologist regularly and although for once I wasn’t falling apart – (often I’m so exhausted she has to put me back together again!) I wanted to check what was going on in case I was lacking in any nutrients etc. I do love the concept of prevention rather than cure, and on several occasions she has alerted me to something lacking in my diet or even how to deal with a sense of overwhelm.

Now Kinesiology can sound very ‘woo woo’, my therapist – who calls herself a health ‘detective’ asks your body what you need – (yes really), and once the message has been received she reaches for different ‘tools’ sometimes she uses flower remedies, sometimes a piece of fabric to represent a specific colour. The issue that needs to be looked at can be linked to nutrition and health issues or emotional wellbeing and in all the years I have been going its always been incredibly accurate.

So what do you think my body told her I needed? An EFT routine to help me stop blocking my abundance, raise my vibration and open the door to the success I deserve…

Duh! Hadn’t I spent three full days encouraging entrepreneurs to get rid of their issues around money and abundance, to recognise just how awesome they are and be willing to stand in the spotlight and be visible, to finally step up to accepting success?

One finger pointing at you and 4 back at me!

So let’s do it together!!

EFT SETUP PHRASES: From Carole Look creator of ‘The Yes Code’

While tapping the karate chop spot on either hand, repeat these first phrases out loud, (or change the words to fit your exact situation). Then proceed to the additional phrases while tapping on the indicated points. (If you are new to EFT, please view information and directions.)
The EFT SETUP Phrases for this topic are as follows:

“Even though I have mixed feelings about being successful, I deeply and completely love and accept myself anyway.”
“Even though I’m afraid to be successful, I deeply love and accept myself.”
“Even though I can’t stay invisible if I’m successful, I accept and appreciate all my feelings anyway.”

I have indicated where to tap while saying each of the phrases below. You may repeat the positive round more than once if you wish.
***Below are the phrases that focus on the problem***

Eyebrow: “I have mixed feelings about success.”
Side of Eye: “I’m not sure I want success in my life.”
Under Eye: “I’m afraid of what might change…”
Nose: “I don’t want to stand out either.”
Chin: “I don’t want to be visible if I’m successful.”
Collarbone: “I’m afraid to be successful, they might get upset.”
Under Arm: “I have such mixed feelings about success.”
Head: “Clearly I’m not congruent with success.”

***Now for the positive focus on the solution***

Eyebrow: “I really want to Be Congruent with Success.”
Side of Eye: “I want to want success in my life.”
Under Eye: “I want to want to Be Congruent with Success.”
Nose: “I choose to start being more congruent with success.”
Chin: “I want to feel inspired to attract success into my life.”
Collarbone: “I feel inspired to Be Congruent with Success.”
Under Arm: “I’m feeling better already!”
Head: “I choose to Be Congruent with Success now!“
***************************

Access more positive vibrations with the Law of Attraction by repeating the following phrases (while tapping or not):

Thank You, Universe, for reminding me to Be Congruent with Success… I feel more aligned with abundance already!
Thank You, Universe, for inspiring me to Be Congruent with Success… I am looking forward to uplifting results!
Thank You, Universe, for making it so easy for me to Be Congruent with Success… I feel the vibrational shift and power already!

The above exercise is extracted from a post by Carol Look, EFT Master, Speaker, Author, Coach, and Creator of “The Yes Code.” www.carollook.com

By the way if you are based near Herts I’m happy to share the details of my amazing therapist, I can’t post out to the world though – or I will never get an appointment! Email me for details.

Would you like a half day with me via skype to focus on your personal media skills and PR Strategy to move you and your brand into the spotlight?

£100 off if booked before Febuary 14 2016. All details HERE>>