Ever get stage fright? I've gotten that before-the fear of putting myself out there for society to judge. Maybe you've even experienced anxiety in talking one-on-one.
I still get butterflies before I walk out to a presentation, but I've learned a thing or two along the way to get those butterflies to fly in formation. I've used this for everything from one-on-one conversations to these speaking to thousands of people at once.
Every time I walk into a room to speak, I imagine that everyone in the room is my best friend—I just haven’t met them yet. And that’s how I treat them: like my closest friends.
This picture is of me speaking to 2,000 students. (Can you see me in the pic?) One reason other people get nervous before speaking—especially to a big group like this—is that they focus on themselves, hoping that the audience will approve of them.
You don’t hang out with your best friends and worry whether they’ll approve of you, do you? No. Of course not. You’re friends, so you treat them as your friends. It’s the same with your audiences. People really do respond in kind to how YOU treat them!
You’ll be surprised how many new friends you will make when you adopt this mentality. If you focus on impressing people or getting them to like you, you’ll bomb.
Instead, treat them like your best friends from the start, and watch that become reality.
I make friends all over the country. I encourage you to do the same.