By Doug Mollenhauer

Samantha, director of HR, sat at her desk reflecting on a presentation she would be making to the senior management team next week.

Like any well-educated and well-adjusted adult, she dreaded it. Not because she didn’t know her stuff. She did. Not because she hadn’t spoken credibly to this audience in the past. She had. She dreaded it because she knew she’d have to endure the usual unpleasantness of self-doubt, shallow breathing, quickened heart rate, sweaty palms and all the usual self-sabotaging symptoms she knew too well. The experience was neither affirming nor uplifting for her or for her audiences.

It’s Time
She recalled reading that there were only two people in the world that didn’t get nervous before presenting, and they both lived in Tibet. That made her laugh. And then it made her think. How ridiculous is that? There had to be a better way. We’ve split the atom, she thought. We’ve walked on the moon. We can do anything.

Sam knew one thing: this abject suffering had to end. Survival was for chumps. The time had come to thrive. She’d already developed a serviceable presentation skillset. The mechanics were there, but something was missing. She was there in body but not in spirit.

She resolved to change her mindset toward speaking once and for all. Change the way you look at things, said Wayne Dyer, that guy on PBS, and the things you look at change.

A Sense of Joy
The next week, Sam had to move forward on her presentation. Her first question was this: If I need to change my mindset about speaking, so I can thrive and not merely survive, what exactly should I change my mindset to?

She remembered something attributed to composer Richard Wagner: Joy is not in things; it is in us. Right, she thought. Joy is in me, and joy is good. It is at once an animating and powerfully grounding force. Communication, after all, is the outward expression of the inward self. What if I change my mindset from just-get-through-it to joy?

What if I brought a sense of calm and joy to every presentation? The lightness of joy might even overpower the dread, and send it scampering for the shadows. What’s more, she thought, I could bring joy to others. Joy didn’t have to be effervescent. It could be quiet and still, but solid and confident.

The Path Less Travelled
The day before the presentation Sam began rehearsing her talk. As she began to speak, she felt the old-familiar rush of nerves set in. Those previously established neural pathways formed by her threat-response to speaking were firing up. She knew they’d light up like a pinball machine the moment she awoke tomorrow.

So she decided to interrupt the pattern and shift her attention to forming a new neural pathway in her brain, which would in time form the new default path. Old association: presentation equals panic. New association: presentation equals presence and joy. She thought about things that brought her joy. Like her son’s sleepy warm face that she had kissed to wake him up that morning, his eyes still closed.

With these thoughts, she reset her default path to joy–good and positive energy imbued with empathy, courage and calm. She stood up again, and let the joy in her heart set the tone for her talk. She began a run-through. That night she let the new brain circuitry get another positive charge, and then another on her way into work the next day.

The Ghost of Presentations Past
The afternoon of the presentation, she felt the same surge of energy she’d felt in past presentations. But this time she didn’t fight it. She let it be. The feeling, she told herself, was fleeting, more mirage than monster. It was nothing more than a ghost of presentations past which would soon move on and haunt some other poor soul.

She greeted the audience arriving with a genuine smile and connected with her eyes. Life is a series of present moments, she thought. Just be in the joy of the present moment. Right now. This is about what my message means to them and where we’re heading as an organization. Notice them; forget yourself.

When she was ready to speak, she stood tall. She took a step toward the audience. She paused, got grounded, and let her presence and the joy inside lift her spirits. It was definitely a step in the right direction. One small step for man, one giant step for Samkind.

After the presentation, two or three colleagues commented on her presence. Seems her sense of joy was as contagious and compelling as it was convincing. She’d changed the mood of the room. She’d stepped out of the shadows and into the light. And from here, there’d be no turning back.

Doug Mollenhauer is founder of Manifesto Learning. He leads an in-company program called The Joy of Speaking that helps participants develop leadership presence. He can be reached at 604 688 4501 or at doug@manifestolearning.com for more information.