71–80 of 138 posts
I am so glad to hear it’s not just me. I have recently been doing some meditation to help me with this.
I can relate to the anxiety before something like that which often then disappears when you start. I feel similarly before technical interviews and it’s really unpleasant, the fear holds you back from doing things you’d otherwise want to do. It’s hard to evaluate sometimes or be honest with yourself if you’re making a decision based on what you want or if it’s a rationalization to avoid the fear. I often suspect a lo…
This is true of a lot of things. It also appears in athletics. Most competitors get very anxious. (Even Mike Tyson in his prime!) but once you’re in the zone, the anxiety goes away. We are all nervous in job interviews. The best ones flow once they start.
In precision shooting, any anxiety absolutely destroys your scores. When your heartbeat alone is enough to drop points directly, anxiety is brutal.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if a lot of top precision shooters were on beta blockers.
I dropped out of my PhD because I could not stand the pressure of having to do talks regularly. Even though I was pretty decent at it (I was told my delivery was fine and clarity was superb), and sometimes felt good ("powerful" for lack of a better word) while on stage, I would worry for months before every presentation, then basically get physically sick for weeks before, and take some weeks more to recover. Then on…
I ask because it seems like many of us still need to give presentations even outside of academia.
Hopefully, you're in a position where it's no longer affecting your health.
Also, was it the size of the audience? For example, are you comfortable presenting to a smallish group (e.g., In grad school, I used to memorize my talks (complete with pauses, "ums...", "uhhs...", etc.). I did this because I was paranoid that I would forget specific details. It took a while, but eventually I got comfortable with making presentation errors. I think my presentations got better as a result, too.
Personally I loved the opportunity I got to pre-record a talk and then allow the conference organisers to premiere it on YouTube[1]. It works incredibly well and enables speakers to answer questions live while the talk is played. I hope more conferences adopt this.
1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxLL3km21Aw&list=PLxLdEZg8DR...
> It’s not always been this way. When I was a kid at school I felt none of the fear of public speaking that others talked about. I enjoyed being on stage, and with my loud voice and plenty of confidence, I felt good about being there. That continued to be true once I entered the world of work, and my comfort on-stage did much to boost my career. But over time, this changed. I am very curious about this dynamic, and w…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah - I think it's a normal human experience, but there's a spectrum of intensity. It becomes a problem when it starts limiting you from doing what you want to do. Bobby Fischer was also terrified before chess matches, Elon Musk says he's terrified of things failing all the time. I think bravery/courage it's not so much not being afraid, but being afraid and coming up with strategies to push through anyway. For spor…
I think people who really experience no nervousness or anxiety before doing something with a risk of failure either don't care at all, or are just bullshitters (in the Harry Frankfurt definition). It's likely that they are somewhere on the sociopathic spectrum.
Oh, and by the way, I'm not a sociopath :)
But the preparation, I hate it so much. Sitting in front of that empty window and trying to come up with something that makes sense, then refactoring it multiple times. Practicing, identifying stumbling points, fixing them... I put it off as long as I can, but not how I put off some programming work if it's boring, instead I put it off because of how dreadful it feels. This is somewhat of a vicious cycle, because there's only so much on-stage adrenaline and maybe resulting improvisation power can do: To have a good talk, you have to have a good preparation, but if you put it off because it is so anxiety-inducing, the fear that you are not prepared enough as a result is even more anxiety-inducing.
Martin - if you're here, and would want to continue speaking were it not for the physical problems you face - perhaps you should give beta blockers a shot? Side effects are uncommon, risks are low, addictive potential is low, so doctors are generally willing to prescribe them if the patient requests it. It sounds like you're just experiencing stage fright. Many professional performers get this way, and beta blockers…
I have tried beta blockers and they really just get rid of the thumping heart sensation but you're still sweating and terrified. I have had some good success with taking full B complex and D vitamins before speaking though.