The 1 thing next level speakers do when nervous…
The 1 thing next level speakers do when nervous…
Mark Twain was one of the rare few who was as prolific in his public speaking as he was in his writing. But as competent as he was in standing before audiences, he too battled pre-speech anxiety. “There are two types of speakers,” Twain once admitted, “those who are nervous and those who are liars”.
Agreed.
Just because you are great at something doesn’t make the anxiety go away. NBA legend, Bill Russell, never lost an elimination game, and won eleven championships with the famed Boston Celtics. But before every game, there’s Russell bent over in some bathroom stall, puking his brains out. This became such a ritual, that if Russell didn’t dart for the bathroom, his teammates became nervous. Bill’s anxiety normally meant he was going to play well.
What’s the lesson here? As public speakers we’ve been taught to try to calm ourselves, but the latest research shows this is the wrong advice. In fact, Allison Shapira, who teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School, argues anxiety and calmness are too far apart. Instead, we should “reframe” our anxiety as excitement. So enough with the breathing exercises, right before you get up to speak, trying to get rid of your nerves. Why don’t we try the following:
Tell yourself anxiety is good because it means you care. Just as Bill Russell’s queasiness and pre-game routine communicated to his teammates the game meant something to him, so the rumblings we feel right before we are introduced is a good thing. Don’t talk yourself out of the anxiety, first remind yourself this means something to you. Some of my worst talks happened when I was too calm…I mean that. If you pressed me for a reason, I think it’s because I was too confident, or had picked a talk I’d given so many times before that I kind of mailed it in, and just didn’t care as much as I should have. So when I’m sitting on the front row, waiting to take the stage and I look at my knee bobbing up and down, and feel my heart beating a little faster, I tell myself, “Oh this is going to be good.”
Tell yourself the crowd is for you. People have way too many options today, so for them to make time and go through the inconveniences of driving to the venue, looking for a parking place, and finding a seat means they believe, before you even stand up, that what you have to say is going to help them. Come on, if they believed you were not worth their time, they would not come. Their presence signals they believe what you have to offer is valuable. So stop thinking the worst. They’re not assuming your failure, so why are you? Tell yourself the crowd is for you.
Tell yourself, “I’m excited to be here”. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a pastor in London back in the mid twentieth century. He said the problem with so many of us is we listen to ourselves instead of talking to ourselves. True that. So before you talk to the crowd, I want you to talk to yourself. Say, “I’m excited to be here.” Let that be one of the last things you say before you get the mic.
If you haven’t read John Mark Comer’s, Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise, drop everything and get it now. This book will be sure to make my top 10 for 2026.
I rarely give a heads up on my speaking calendar, but if you’re in the Chicago area, join me, my father, Dr. Tony Evans and his daughter Priscilla Shirer, as we speak next week at Moody Founder’s week on the subject of legacy. Go here to find out more.
