We've heard that golf is a mental game. But what about speaking? Public speaking still tops the list of all fears. What is fear? It's a belief, a thought, a perception. It's not tangible although you can see the signs of fear manifest in shaky knees or a sweaty brow.
When you're relaxed you speak better. When you're fearful, your body stiffens and your mind goes blank. That's a mental game. In the book, The Inner Game of Golf, author W. Timothy Gallwey talks about how the mind interferes with performance.
He created a formula to explain how this mental interference works:
P=p-i. The quality of your performance (P) is equal to your potential (p) minus the interference with the expression of that potential (i). In other words, Performance equals Self 2 (potential) minus Self 1 (mental interference).
Gallwey discovered that changing the negative self talk actually improved his golf game. It's the same with speaking.
Everybody has the potential to give an effective presentation. The reason it's not effective is because of negative thinking which causes us not to prepare, to nervously ramble on, and freeze up.
Fear is not real-it's imagined. It begins and ends in your mind.
You can take classes, get coached, and read books. But when you work on your mental game that's when you take your performance to the next level and give a Knockout Presentation!