Develop Strategies to Overcome Performance Anxiety (^23)
Strategies to Deal with Psychological Anxiety
Rainer Martens pointed out two areas of psychological vulnerability: your perceived
response capability (I can’t do this; I don’t have good delivery skills; I won’t be able to
hold their interest) and your perception of the consequences (they’ll make fun of me;
they won’t pay attention; I’ll flunk). Self-talk is called internal monologue (I-M).^22
Negative I-M contributes to negative stress, which adds to your discomfort, but it’s
not fatal.Cognitive Modification
Mount Sinai Medical Center^23 experts suggest cognitive modification as a method
to change your perceptions. Identify negative thoughts and replace them with positive
ones^24 in four areas: the message, the audience, yourself, and the assignment:
• To think positively about the message, select an interesting topic that your audience
will find relevant. Increase your response capabilities by giving yourself enough time
for research and organization, and check the dictionary for pronunciation of unfamil-
iar words. Keep in mind your speech goal. Do everything you can to feel confident
about the speech content.
• To promote positive thoughts about the audience, think of each listener as an
individual with personal quirks. Specific individuals are not threatening, so why
should the group be intimidating?^25 Remember that audience members are prob-
ably just as nervous when they speak and that they are not experts in your sub-
ject. Assume that they want you to succeed. (If your first language is not English,
think of how your audience would feel if they had to give a speech in your native
language.)^26
• Maintain a positive self-image by concentrating on things you do well. Remind your-
self that your worth as a person is unrelated to your skill as a novice public speaker
and that competence develops with experience.
• Finally, change your perception of the consequences by thinking realistically about
the assignment. No one expects perfection for beginning speakers. Watch some
examples of public speaking students, and use examples in this text and its accompa-
nying materials to understand reasonable expectations for student speeches.
• Remember, too, that being nervous does not mean you’re doing a bad job. Most
students who watch videos of their speeches are surprised at how calm they appear,
knowing how nervous they felt. The fact is that some nervousness can energize you
and make you appear more vital and enthusiastic.^27Visualization
Athletes and musicians regularly use a form of mental strategizing called visualization.
Here, you imagine yourself successfully performing a complex task. Many speech
instructors have taught thousands of students how to ease their anxiety through visu-
alization techniques, and these students commonly report being less apprehensive and
having fewer negative thoughts as they spoke.^28 This is true even for speakers who tend
to freeze under stress.^29 The suggested process goes like this:- Find a quiet place and picture every detail from the beginning to the end of your
speech. - Mentally place yourself in the audience and pretend you are watching yourself give
your speech. - Imagine yourself as a competent, well-prepared performer who stands confidently,
stresses important words, pauses effectively, and makes appropriate gestures. - Think about the audience responding positively with nods, smiles, and interest.
internal monologue (i-M)
self-talkcognitive modification
identifying negative thoughts
and replacing them with
positive onesvisualization rehearsing by
using your imagination to
envision your speech from
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