The Butterflies Effect
Garth Shaner
The Butterfly Effect is well-known thanks to movies, books, and a wonderful speaker by the name of Andy Andrews. If you haven't gotten hooked on this professional noticer, I can only recommend with every fiber of my being that you Google him, or pick up one of his books and make time to devour it.
The Butterflies Effect is well-know to those who have gotten to the cusp of presenting, only to discover shakes and jitters, sweating, nausea, and other flu-like symptoms as you are about to take over the room.
However, you can overcome the Butterflies Effect and have a wonderful presentation. You simply have to change your perspective.
If someone gives you a horrible gift, it could be for any of a number of reasons. They don't know you very well, and thought you'd like this. They don't like you, but felt pressure to give you a gift. They are in a storm in life, focused on a crisis, but wanted to acknowledge the occasion because they value you.
The way you attribute their motive will impact your relationship. And, honestly, it will have a much bigger affect on your well-being than theirs. The choice of how to interpret the giving is up to you.
Back to our presentation...
Your body knows you are about to enter the arena, and that you need some energy to make it through. So, your internal systems rev up for the show. But you aren't using that energy yet, so it overflows in ways that might not be terribly comfortable.
The choice is yours. Do you interpret the butterflies in your stomach as a show-stopping illness? Or do you choose to make the butterflies fly in formation as you deliver your information, knowing that a speech without energy is like paint drying without the excitement?
There are may ways to deal with communication anxiety. Start with knowing that your body is trying to help. And take comfort in the fact that even the most polished presenters in the world will tell you they still get butterflies. And as those butterflies are flapping their wings, the effect they can have - and you can have - are limitless!