Controlling Nervousness

On many occasions I meet people who come up to me and express how nervous they are when meeting people and when conducting presentations.

Dear Friends, being nervous is NORMAL. That means if you are not nervous, you are not normal lah! :)) Seriously. Even I get nervous when I am conducting programs in front of crowds......it's just that I move so fast on stage that you hardly noticed how much I shake! ;)

Being nervous is God's way of telling you, "YOU STILL NEED ME!" :) You may be the best speaker in the world, but you can't do a thing without His Blessings, yes?

So accept the fact that being nervous is normal. Redha (Acceptance). Only after you accept that fact can you only move on to control it :)

The first step in controlling nervousness is to put it in your mind that the person or persons in front of you has two hands and two legs just like you (and anything less is still acceptable too!); so why be nervous? ;)

But if the person or persons in front of you has more than two hands and two legs, has a tail waving behind their backs, 4 heads with horns, I would suggest you run away in fear too!

So Number 1, the person in front of you is physically just like you. Even if he has a "Dato" or a "Dr." in front of his name, he still has two hands and two legs like you. So be cool :)

Now, if this person or persons in front of you were friends, would you still be just as nervous if you were facing strangers? Hardly.

So the second step is to make friends with your audience. If you are to do a presentation, minggle and make friends with members of your audience BEFORE you get up on stage to present. For one-to-one communications, take time to find anything in common between you and the peron you are speaking to before you indulge in any subject matter with him/her. I believe, when there is something in common between you and me, we easily get attracted to one another. I do not believe in opposites attract; we are not magnets, we are human beings! :)

For those of you who have been in my class before, SALAM MESRA is the way to go (and for those of you who've yet to be in my class, choose to be in my class lah!).

Now that you have accepted the fact that nervousness is normal, the person in front of you is just like you and that you are only talking to friends, you will be able to present yourself easily, yes? Of course you can :)

Remember, to be nervous or to be confident is a CHOICE. My Choice :) So choose to be confident lah ;)

Take care. Take Charge! Stop Bangau-ing ;)