The Sweet Spot

THE SWEET SPOT

To be on the sweet spot one must be confident in behavior and style. Being confident is not necessarily easy but it is a skill that can be learned. It starts with understanding of whom you are and a belief of the value that you bring.

Awareness is the greatest percentage of the change, it comes with the clarity of your strength and opportunities always raise your confident level of direction in what you can work on. Communicating assertively will give you confidence, strength of your relationship with people. Helping you be more effective, through this you gain support and respect of others.

There are six steps to being at the sweet spot:

Admit it: Rather than spending energy and effort in hiding your fear on being on the spot (it brings the additional anxiety of being found out), you would be better off admitting it, embracing it and learning all you can. Also don’t forget looking for opportunities to practice.

Be present: We are only anxious of the future or about the past. Never about the present so if you focus on this very moment when you are on the spot while sharing your opinion in front of the audience’s rather than what they will think about you or how fast you can finish your thoughts and take a seat. In all this know that deep breathing helps you calm down.

Turn your internal dialogue into a conversation: When you are in your head, you feed your own fear when on the spot by imagining dozens of scenarios. What if I forget the main point I am trying to make?  What if my mouth is so dry I can’t speak? The more your abilities the more negative you get, the more you block your energy flow and what you put out there. Instead of having an internal monologue, talk to your audience, share some anxiety and let their empathy make you feel more comfortable with the situation. When you do not have to pretend, you can focus on what you really want to say. It is amazing what happens when you are honest. People naturally want to help. Let them.

Connect: When on the spot there is a common behavior of people fearing the audience. One being on the spot tends to talk faster and faster it leads to breathing shallowly which generates more anxiety but you lose clarity. An important thing that one should always maintain while on the spot is eye contact which leads to connecting with your audience.

Relax: There is no worst that can happen when you are on the spot since literally the worst has already happened previously.

Wow!! That is all what the sweet spot is all about.

By Muthuita Lucy