Speak With Confidence Through Visualization

Visualization is a great tool to help you boost your confidence in business speaking. And I'm using the term "visualize" very loosely. Some of us are more kinesthetic or auditory than we are visual. That doesn't matter. You can use this tool anyway. More on that in just a minute...

First, I want to tell you why this visualizing is so important. Especially if you're uncomfortable speaking up, it's easy to focus on your fears. What you think will go wrong. What went wrong last time. All that stuff.

However, focusing on imagining success can be much more useful. Here are 3 reasons why:

1. You're actually training yourself while you're envisioning speaking confidently. High-level athletes have been doing this for years. Your subconscious is registering your imagining as real experience. The experience that you imagine is actually being recorded in your brain as a successful speaking engagement that you've had. How cool is that!?!
2. It feels good. And this benefits your body-mind on many levels. When you picture yourself as a confident speaker, your brain loves it! It fires off several beneficial neurochemicals. Ones that relax you, others that energize, and still more that give you a feeling of happiness and mood elevation. At the same time, you're creating new neural pathways in your brain that associate those good feelings with you being a great speaker. Double benefit!
3. When you get specific with your imaginings, you can get specific with what your concerns are and how to address them. Now you have a place to start from for taking care of your challenges. For example: What seemed like a general, insurmountable fear of the event might just be a concern about finding time to rehearse. When you visualize your successful speaking gig, those details come to the surface so you can deal with them.

How To Do It
First, set a kitchen timer for 5 minutes. No big deal and no big chunk of time out of your day. Then try one of these methods, depending on which clicks best for you:

• If you're more visual: Create a mind movie of you talking in a totally relaxed manner. Fill in all the details - what you're wearing, who you're talking with, the enthusiastic look on your face, the positive reactions of your audience. Play your movie from start to finish, complete with sound. Don't forget the massive applause!
• If you're more auditory: Have an imaginary phone conversation out loud. Make it with your closest confidante, telling all the details of the amazing talk you just gave. Get excited. Start with, "Are you sitting down?...." and take it from there.
• If you're more word-oriented: Sit at your computer and shut your eyes. Now just start typing a thorough description of how you look and sound while you're doing this fabulous job at speaking. Type about how you feel and how others are reacting. Don't worry about typos. It's unimportant for this exercise. Keeping your eyes closed is essential to keeping your imagination flowing.

Try this technique to help build your own confidence about speaking.