Communication for Influence 2023

12

Creating the Optimal Mindset

The most experienced and skilled presenters still need to manage their mind. To be able to adapt to an audience and the unexpected, perform despite high pressure stakes or context, think strategically while on the spot and influence through messaging takes a calm and settled mind.

Even the most experienced presenters feel stress. This is a normal reaction to a high- pressure context.

For high pressure experiences the latest research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology and mindset coaching converges on how you can effectively manage the moment.

Here are the three common threads – 1. Focus on the purpose of your presentation and what it means for you. Believing in the value and meaning of what you do is the key to managing discomfort 2. Cultivate mindfulness. Be in your moment without distraction. This will enable you to intuit, adapt and respond – in other words, ‘think on your feet’ 3. Move into your observing self or ‘self-as-context’. This is a technique that uses your shift into the meta to disassociate from discomfort

TWO Ways to cultivate mindfulness

1. Notice five things you see. Rather than getting caught up in feelings or thought patterns that might seem overwhelming, try to tune in visually – what’s here, outside your head? 2. Shift your awareness to four things that you can feel. Draw your focus gently away from internal processes and start to notice sounds that you might not otherwise have paid attention to. As you step more and more into a mindful state, we can become more detached from a negative thought or painful emotion. 3. Notice three things you can hear; then 4. Two things you can smell 5. Focus on one thing you’re able to taste at this precise moment in time.

As you gently draw this mini-exercise to a close, try to remember how this mindful state feels whenever you feel yourself over-identifying with a thought or emotion.

Breathe Like a Navy SEAL Box Breathing is the easiest and quickest way to calm an anxious mind. It works. Use it.

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Hear about it from a SAS soldier

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