Coaching practices for How to Handle Public Speaking Anxiety

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Handle Public Speaking Anxiety, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• The hardest moments are the joins and the exits
• Right before I walk into the presentation I’m jittery and small, and I want a quiet minute on my own to physically settle into feeling steady and grounded, so all the prep I did actually shows up instead of getting swallowed by nerves.
• The anxiety hits in the middle of a meeting or while I’m standing in line, and I can’t exactly close my eyes and name what I smell in front of everyone
• There’s a big thing coming up
• The voice in my head when I’m anxious is brutal

Practices that may help

1. Build scripts for situation entry and transitions
   Prepare simple, natural openers and transitions so you’re not improvising from scratch under pressure.
   Overcoming Shyness: Philip Zimbardo’s Framework
2. Set your posture before high-stakes moments
   Take a private moment to settle into a confident posture before a presentation or hard talk.
   Posture and Confidence, Honestly Explained
3. Use a 30-second micro-grounding version for public settings
   In public or meetings, a single-sense version — three named things you can see — takes 30 seconds and shows nothing.
   The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique
4. Apply EFT to specific performance anxiety triggers
   EFT has the strongest self-guided evidence for test anxiety, public speaking, and sports performance stress.
   EFT Tapping: What It Is, How to Do It, and What the Evidence Shows
5. Balanced, compassionate self-talk
   Talk to yourself as you would to a friend — accurate and kind, not harsh or falsely cheery.
   The Anxiety Toolkit, Made Practical
6. Use paradoxical intention for performance anxiety
   Before a performance, commit to performing as badly as possible — notice what happens to the anxiety.
   Logotherapy: Paradoxical Intention
7. Cope-ahead planning for high-stakes interactions
   Rehearse a difficult conversation in detail — mentally and verbally — before it happens.
   DBT Interpersonal Effectiveness: Getting What You Need Without Destroying the Relationship
8. Rehearse the response before you need it
   Learn and practice the four steps in low-stakes moments so they are available under pressure.
   The DARE Response to Anxiety, Made Practical
9. Write about your worries before a high-stakes performance
   Offload performance anxiety by writing it out in full immediately before the event.
   Choking Under Pressure, Made Practical
10. Prepare coping self-talk in advance
    Script what you will say to yourself at the trigger, during the peak, and afterward — before you need it.
    Stress Inoculation Training

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