Effortless English: Learn To Speak English Like a native

You Can’t Suppress Fear, You Can Only Transform It
The adrenaline response is powerful. Once it is triggered, it is almost impossible to
suppress. You can’t fight it. In fact, any attempt to suppress the fear will make it
worse.
For example, if your hands begin to shake before giving a speech, it is nearly
impossible to stop them. The same is true for a rapid heartbeat, shallow breathing,
muscle tension, etc. Once these reactions have started, they can’t be fought. The
adrenaline is already in your blood and your body will respond. If you try to fight
against the reactions, you’ll grow frustrated by your inability to change them. Your
fear will multiply as you realize you are not in control, and the symptoms will
worsen.
Once the adrenaline response is triggered, you have only one choice — channel
the energy into something positive. Remember the purpose of adrenaline — it
prepares you for flight or fight. This means you can use the same fear/flight
reactions to create courage and fighting spirit instead. This is how I transformed my
own fear of public speaking.
By using the energy instead of resisting it, you make yourself into a dynamic and
confident speaker. The physical responses of fear and excitement are nearly
identical. When you are excited your heartbeat increases, your breathing gets faster,
and your muscles tension increases. When extremely excited, you may sweat and
your hands may shake. In other words, your body reacts the same. So what makes
the difference between extreme fear and extreme excitement?
It is the thoughts and feelings you attach to the physical reactions that determine
whether you experience fear or excitement. By connecting positive experiences to
the physical sensations, you will train yourself to feel excited and powerful rather
than afraid.
How To Convert Fear Into Power
We will once again return to the technique of anchoring to program your brain for
public-speaking confidence.
The first step is to recreate, as best you can, the physical sensations of fear. You
want to get your heart beating faster. You want to increase your breathing. You want
to tighten your muscles. The easiest way to do this is to use the peak state exercise
you learned in the beginning of this book.

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Put on your favorite loud, high-energy music. As you listen to this music, begin
to jump and move your body. Little by little, jump higher and jump faster. Put a huge
smile on your face. Make strong powerful gestures with your arms. Shout aloud,
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Keep going until your heart is beating fast and you are breathing
heavily.
Turn off the music and, while still breathing heavily, begin to talk about your
topic. Talk about the main ideas. If you have already planned the speech, do the
whole thing. As you talk, move your body. Walk from one point of the room to
another. Use strong gestures to make your point. Continue to smile.
At first this will likely be difficult, as you’ll be out of breath. Your heart will be
beating fast and it may be difficult to think of your speech. It’s okay. Continue
smiling and do the best you can. When you finish, turn on the music again and
repeat the entire process.
Repeat this exercise at least four times a day. Each day, try to get your heart
beating even faster before you practice your speech.
This exercise accomplishes several things. First, you create a positive anchor. By
playing music you love and jumping and having fun, you generate strong positive
emotions. Feeling great, you then begin your speech. With repetition, these great
feelings become connected to the act of giving a speech. Eventually, just thinking
about doing a presentation will make you feel excited automatically.
This exercise also trains you to deal with the major symptoms of nervousness:
fast heartbeat, fast breathing, sweating, etc. Most people practice a speech when they
are feeling calm. Because they always practice in a calm emotional state, they are
unready for the flood of emotions that come just before the real speech. By
practicing with an elevated heart and breathing rate, you are training your mind to
expect these reactions and handle them. On the day of the speech, you won’t get
scared by these symptoms because they’ll be normal and familiar to you. Instead,
you’ll be used to channeling this physical energy into positive emotions and strong
actions.
This is the difference between training and practicing. Those who practice simply
review their speech. Those who train do their best to recreate the emotional and
physical conditions that will occur during the real speech. By training, you prepare
yourself fully and will be ready for anything.