“Every competition I’m quite nervous,” shares Nathan Chen on The Today Show a few minutes after his Gold Medal Ceremony.

Nathan’s comment mirrors all of our ‘gold-medal’ clients – every leader we’ve worked with on presentation skills across time.

You say, “I get nervous.”

My response: “Let’s get the nerves to work for you and not against you. This extra adrenalin is a good thing.”

Nathan Chen’s quotes on how to get your butterflies to fly in formation or at least do a soaring quadruple flip-triple toe combination jump – 

• “The music helps me get into the program and then I have fun.”
• “I’ve certainly learned the most from my mistakes.”
• “With this second chance I learned to trust in myself and to trust the others on my team who’ve given me great advice.”
• “Enjoy every moment.”
• “A lot of experience training.”
•  “I stay calm by just breathing, have fun, be present.”

Take-aways on channeling the fear of public speaking – 

• Listen to good music.
• Stay present.
• Practice.
• Have fun.
• Breathe.
• Trust in yourself.
• Pick a good team & then listen to them.
• Gain perspective.

Not every speech will lead to a standing ovation or a million-dollar sale. Nathan Chen’s 2018 Olympic experience was his worst moment, but, he says, “in many ways, it was the best.”

Realizing “There’s more to life than skating” helped Chen to focus. Chen explains, “You kind of dramatize things and are like, ‘Oh, man, it’s the end of the world if things don’t go well,’ but really, no, the world continues to turn and things will go back to normal.”

Nathan learned perspective – and so can you.

Happy speaking/skating.

Author: Karen Cortell Reisman is Founder of Speak For Yourself®, a communication consulting firm, and the author of 2 books on how to communicate. She lives in Dallas, Texas and her favorite number is 22. So she’s having fun, breathing, staying present and enjoying authoring this blog on 2.22.22.

Did you know we offer a free 20-minute communication consultation?

Source: thanks @nespressoqueen for this blog’s inspiration.

© 2022 Karen Cortell Reisman, All rights reserved

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