The science of stage fright (and how to overcome it) - Mikael Cho

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Heart racing, palms sweating, labored breathing? No, you're not having a heart attack -- it's stage fright! If speaking in public makes you feel like you're fighting for your life, you're not alone. But the better you understand your body's reaction, the more likely you are to overcome it. Mikael Cho advises how to trick your brain and steal the show.

Lesson by Mikael Cho, animation by KAWPA Studioworks.

Hands sweaty,

heart racing,

stomach in knots.

You can't cry for help.

Not only is your throat too tight to breath,

but it'd be so embarrassing.

No, you aren't being stalked by a monster,

you're speaking in public,

a fate some deem worse than death.

See, when you're dead, you feel nothing;

at a podium, you feel stage fright.

But at some point we all have to communicate

in front of people,

so you have to try to overcome it.

To start, understand what stage fright is.

Humans, social animals that we are,

are wired to worry about reputation.

Public speaking can threaten it.

Before a speech, you fret,

"What if people think I'm awful

and I'm an idiot?"

That fear of being seen as an awful idiot

is a threat reaction

from a primitive part of your brain

that's very hard to control.

It's the fight or flight response,

a self-protective process seen in a range of animals,

most of which don't give speeches.

But we have a wise partner

in the study of freaking out.

Charles Darwin tested fight or flight

in the London zoo's snake exhibit.

He wrote in his diary,

"My willing and reason were powerless

against the imagination of a danger

which had never been experienced."

He concluded that his response

was an ancient response unaffected

by the nuances of modern civilization.

So, to your conscious modern mind,

it's a speech.

To the rest of your brain,

built up to code with the law of the jungle,

when you perceive the possible consequences

of blowing a speech,

it's time to run for your life

or fight to the death.

Your hypothalamus, common to all vertebrates,

triggers your pituitary gland to secrete

the hormone ACTH,

making your adrenal gland

shoot adrenalin to your blood.

Your neck and back tense up,

you slouch.

Your legs and hand shake

as your muscles prepare for attack.

You sweat.

Your blood pressure jumps.

Your digestion shuts down

to maximize the delivery of nutrients

and oxygen to muscles and vital organs,

so you get dry mouth, butterflies.

Your pupils dilate,

it's hard to read anything up close,

like your nose,

but long range is easy.

That's how stage fright works.

How do we fight it?

First, perspective.

This isn't all in your head.

It's a natural, hormonal, full-body reaction

by an autonomic nervous system on autopilot.

And genetics play a huge role in social anxiety.

John Lennon played live thousands of times.

Each time he vomited beforehand.

Some people are just wired

to feel more scared performing in public.

Since stage fright is natural and inevitable,

focus on what you can control.

Practice

a lot,

starting long before

in an environment similar to the real performance.

Practicing any task increases your familiarity

and reduces anxiety,

so when it's time to speak in public,

you're confident in yourself

and the task at hand.

Steve Jobs rehearses epic speeches

for hundreds of hours,

starting weeks in advance.

If you know what you're saying,

you'll feed off the crowd's energy,

instead of letting your hypothalamus

convince your body it's about to be lunch

for a pack of predators.