So you have a presentation coming up and you’re feeling a bit nervous. Or you have a job interview and you’re really wanting this job. Where do you turn?
What do you do to present yourself well and to make a great impression? Just be yourself!
The worst advice ever!
Be yourself in high-stakes situations.
It’s common to receive the advice to “just be yourself” when you express nervousness about a job interview, meeting with your boss, or presentation.
Although it’s sweet that your friend thinks so highly of you, this advice doesn’t work. You can’t always be yourself in high-pressure situations, such as in front of a large audience, when you’re sitting across from someone who can control your future, or on a first date with someone you find adorable.
Thank you for your advice, but it’s not as simple as being yourself.
OMG, why can't I be myself in high-stakes situations?
I love to solve mysteries for people. That’s one of my favorite things. “Why can’t I be myself when I am standing in front of an audience?” Hmm. Mystery.Â
“Why can’t I find anything to say when I’m on a first date. I just talked my best friend’s ear off, not 20 minutes ago.” Ooh! Another mystery!Â
“Why do I draw a blank or talk so fast when I’m interviewing for a new job?” Mysteries abound!
Mystery solved
Your brain perceives high-stakes situations as a threat, and it puts your body into fight or flight. Your primitive brain shuts down your prefrontal cortex, closes up your throat, and gives you only two options: You can run or put up your dukes.Â
Those are two options, unfortunately not doable in these situations.
Speech Pathologist tip:
Don’t open up the toy cabinet for your 2-year-old and say, “have at it!”
Take out the play-doh and the firetruck and ask him which one he wants. It keeps his brain organized and still allows him to feel in control. It’s a win-win.
High-stakes situations.
As a result of fight or flight (FOF) you can’t think straight. Your prefrontal cortex, which is where your high-level cognitive processes take place. So when it shuts down during moments of stress, you can’t think straight.Â
So you don’t have to feel bad about yourself! It’s your brain doing it to you. All you have to do is help your brain see that interviews, first dates, and presentations are not life-threatening situations. Read on to find out how!
How to be yourself in high-stakes situations
We must combat fight-or-flight. Since human evolution takes millions of years, we don’t have time to wait for our bodies to catch up. We have to take action now.Â
- Learn relaxation exercises. (Mine are the best.) You’ll want to stop your shoulders from heading up to your ears. Release the tension in your face and mouth. In our society, we keep tons of tension in our muscles and most of us aren’t aware of it. You must learn to find that tension and eliminate it. And don’t delegate that role to your masseuse. She can’t be there at your next job interview.
 - Use abdominal breathing at all times. Not just in yoga class. Abdominal breathing means your stomach goes out when you breathe in and in when you breathe out. I teach you to do this in The Voice Spa.
 - Open up your throat. Keep your throat wide open. There’s a reason people say that someone is “choked up” or “feeling verklempt.” They can’t speak due to emotion. High emotion causes fight-or-flight, thereby closing up your throat. Ineffective in interviews, presentations, meetings, first dates, etc.
By opening your throat you not only reclaim access to your pre-frontal cortex so you think straight but it makes your voice sound confident and authoritative.Â
- Love your audience. We get nervous when we are worried about what other people think about us. “Do they think I’m dumb?!” “Am I a fraud?!”
It honestly doesn’t matter what they believe. And no, they don’t think you’re dumb! They want to benefit from what you have to say! Be concerned only with providing them with the information you have that can help them.
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9 Secret Steps to Influencing Others
Want to be more influential? We all want to communicate our most important messages in a way that encourages others to take action. Whether that action is voting for our candidate or picking up milk from the store, the words we use and how we speak play a huge role in getting the job done.
When you can "be yourself" in high-stakes situations is when you become sought-after.
This is going to take about 3 weeks if you do these exercises daily. It should take 10 minutes per session. Well worth it.
So the next time someone says, “Just be yourself!” you can solve mysteries for them. Tell them they’re not alone, that this happens to every human. Explain to them about their primitive brain and prefrontal cortex.
And if they have a 2-year-old, give them the toy trick. Tell them Ita Olsen told you. You’re welcome.
Ita, I’m blown away by your blog. I’ve found myself here many times just searching for solutions to my issues. I report to the CEO and I get a little nervous. He tries to rush me along. This is almost a new thing for me the last few year. You’re right. I’m in high-stakes situations, trying to perform like my normal, talented 🙂 self. It’s harder to do with teams to lead and high level execs to report to.
I took your voice spa online class and the relaxation exercises alone helped me tremendously.
I appreciate that, Mary Ann. Yes, being in your relaxed place is the foundation for being an incredible communicator.
A well written and easy to understand article! I have been also told, many times, ” just be yourself”. But, the frozen me is no use to my audience!
You address the issue directly. The situation is introduced immediately, the next paragraph is the reason and the last paragraph is an action plan. Perfect!
I have seen many articles on this particular issue and many of the authors become verbose and technical, and loses the reader quite easily.
Thank you. Well done, Ita!
Thank you so much, Manuja! Those words mean a lot to me! I’m here to help 🙂
I really appreciate your kind review, Manuja!
My mom always says that to me. I can’t be mad at her but I become infuriated inside 😀
Your solution makes more sense, thank you!
It’s well-meaning advice. Besides, your mom thinks your awesome!
Loving your audience is such a great tip! I catch myself in my own head wondering if people like me or think I’m dumb or not qualified. That’s self sabotage!
Sure is!
So true! I always hear people say Be Yourself. I never understood why I couldn’t be myself. This makes perfect sense. Thank you!
My pleasure, Ramesh!
I loose my train of thought when I realize people are actually paying attention to what I’m saying. Awesome to know that there are simple things I can do to help my body calm in high stakes situations.
That’s normal, losing your train of thought when people turn to listen to you. You feel on-the-spot. We have to learn to relax & breathe. Not just at that moment but as a habit. Taking my classes is the easiest way! The Voice Spa online course will change your life after the first lesson.
Oh interesting, I hadn’t considered anxiety as stemming from a fight-or-flight response. This made me think of Hitch, when he encourages the guys he’s coaching to be themselves, but to be their *best* selves (less sloppy, etc.). Love the physical exercises you listed, I think it’s easy to ignore the physical aspect of all of this, but it makes such a huge difference.
I had to look up Hitch–haha! It’s a movie. I’ll have to watch it!
Yes, if we ignore the physical we cannot succeed as communicators with presence and authority.
You are so generous! Thanks for all of the details and the how! I never see this It’s always push and sell. Or crazy boring, self-serving stories.
I will implement these tips!
I really appreciate your kind words, George! And I agree!
Yep imposter syndrome is very real! When i’m around my intelligent colleagues i always feel like a fraud. But you are right, i need to love my audience and change my focus from them to the information i want to provide.
It is so comforting to be able to be yourself. It is the key to confidence. But we always feel victim to the imposter syndrome and become something very fake. Your tips are very practical and simple. You are really giving a great service here. Thank you
Being yourself is very important. By knowing and being yourself, you are better able to acknowledge things that you do not know well enough. Sometimes there are situations where we lost ourself mainly in front of large audience or as u have mentioned in high stake situations but the tips you have given will be helpful though! I am gonna use this tips.
Awesome tips . I had a flight or fight response to particular person I wirk with because of their repuation , but after one partucular nasty episode I was like okay now this has to stop . You’ve dealt with worse personalities , so I stopped getting into my head and just breathe each time I had to communicate with them. I still have some freak outs everynow and then but I see improvements . I need to implement your relaxing tip and see what happens.