5 Negative Thoughts That Will Destroy Your Confidence On Stage

Without confidence and self esteem you cannot reach your true potential and realize your destiny. I spend a lot of time helping my executive speech coaching clients build up their confidence. It’s so important to believe in yourself, especially before a high-impact presentation or keynote speech. If you let those inner daemons win (and yes I have them too), it will shatter your confidence, your performance will suffer and so will your reputation. So here are five negative thoughts to avoid at all costs:

They’ll see how scared I am. Everyone experiences fear to some degree before they go on stage or stand up to give a presentation. It’s perfectly normal. But if you let it overwhelm you, then this negative thought will become your realty and they WILL SEE how scared you are. So delete this thought from your mind. It’s not your fear, but how you respond that’s important.

If you let those inner daemons win (and yes I have them too), it will shatter your confidence, your performance will suffer and so will your reputation. ~ Narges Nirumvala

I’m not good enough. I work with some pretty high flyers and I still hear this one all the time. There are times when we all feel inadequate depending on the situation and audience demographics. Perhaps you’re speaking to people who are much more educated than you, in a different industry or age group. Regardless, you are good enough. I could tell you till I’m blue in the face, but it won’t make a difference unless YOU believe it. 

I won’t be taken seriously. This is slight different from the negative thought above. ‘I’m not good enough’ puts the emphasis on you and the ‘I won’t be taken seriously’ puts the emphasis on everyone else. I hear this one a lot more from Millennials and professional women in male dominated industries. You deserve this moment in the spotlight. Don’t let your doubts and fears undermine the final outcome.

My best advice is to always strive for excellence and build world class communication skills so NO ONE will be able to ignore you. ~ Narges Nirumvala

I look fat/ugly/too young/too old.  We all have things we’re insecure about. For me it’s my grey roots (no you won’t be able to see them in my profile picture!). So I always make sure I get my hair done before a big keynote speech or workshop. For you it might be something else. What ever it is do something positive and productive about it – don’t ignore it because then it will become an issue. Accept it or deal with it and then forget it. 

They won’t understand my English. Many of my clients speak English as a second language and have a strong accent. It’s easy to become self conscious about that. I work with them on their pronunciation and grammar to improve their English while we work on their delivery and presentation skills. This one you can do something about. All it takes is time and practice.

There is only one way to build confidence in this or any area – take action. Overcome those inner daemons by silencing them with decision action to be the best version of yourself that you can become.