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Stage Fright? Performance Anxiety? Acting Jitters? Nervous Inhibitions?
Shyness? Speaker�s Nerves? Fear of Public Speaking?
Any of the above "states of mind "interfere with your performance,
SO let's use the catchall phrase "PERFORMANCE RELUCTANCE."
You may be able to do the required task, such as making a presentation at work, but you detest and hate doing it, and you waste a lot of time and energy forcing yourself to do it.
On a Performance Reluctance SCALE of
1-to-10, if you are at a "10", you would refuse do the required
performance, even if it ultimately meant not getting a job promotion.
If you are at a "1" on the scale, you not only enjoy doing the
performance, you actually look forward to the excitement and joy of
communicating with your audience.
Whatever term you use
for Performance Reluctance, if you ever experience it, you know you
don't want it. You don't want to feel incompetent, defeated, miserable, desperate, fearful.
In national polls asking "What is your greatest fear?", the
fear of dying and the fear of flying come in second and third. FEAR OF
PUBLIC SPEAKING comes in first.
PERFORMANCE RELUCTANCE is the
enemy. It keeps people from enjoying their lives to their fullest
capabilities. It causes people to avoid situations that could help
their career, such as making a speech or going to a net-working party,.
It keeps people from reaching out to someone in need or to someone they
would like to get to know. It keeps people from being expressive and
having FUN.
During 40+ years of teaching acting and business
skills, I've learned that a calm exterior of new students does not
necessarily mean the person actually feels calm. Often they say
they barely had the courage to come to the first
class.
Whenever I experience Performance Reluctance for a few
seconds, I consciously apply technique to dispel the reluctance and I'm able to concentrate on the task at hand. You can
easily do the same.
One key way of thinking about this problem is to
look at what might cause Performance Reluctance.
I say that the
upcoming performance causes you to automatically replay NEGATIVE VISUAL
AND VERBAL IMAGES in your head.
You might be so used to having the
negative images and voices firing off that you are not consciously
aware of them. But the sound of your grade school classmates laughing
at you, or the picture of colleagues whispering about you behind your
back, even if you aren't consciously aware of them, can cause your
heart to pound, your hands to sweat, your face to blush, your stomach
to turn, your breathing to become shallow, etc. You feel fear, and it's
terrible.
It's also unnecessary. The general strategy is to
replace your negative images with positive ones, and the easiest way to
do this is to DO SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES that will cause you to think thoughts
about accomplishIing the constructive action you have just decided
to undertake.
Then your energy is focused in a rewarding direction.
Good luck.
Ted Sarantos
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708-848-1100 Or
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