Tips to articulate ideas under pressure |Episode 204|Conversations with Rakesh|

Namaskar, welcome to Conversations with Rakesh. Here's today's question: Rakesh sir, I work in a consulting outfit which has lots of meetings with top clients. My boss and his boss are also in these meetings. I get very stressed and find it difficult to articulate my thoughts, ideas, and respond. Any tips?

Wonderful question. This is called performance anxiety. What is performance anxiety? It is a term usually used when there is a high-stressful environment, coming from performances, sports, and these athletes and performers have to face millions of people and do their job. In the professional world, the world that you and I and many of us watching this video are part of, it happens there also. It need not be millions of people, but the stakes of these moments are as high as performances and sports events. Millions of rupees or dollars are on the line, your own career is on the line, and that's where we experience a fear, an anxiety that 'what if I do something wrong?' and 'what if I don't say this right?' and 'what if the person doesn't like my answers?' All of this creates a massive amount of self-doubt that completely shuts down our ability to do well at that moment. Performance anxiety can be devastating, and it's increasing day by day. We are now witnessing a momentous transition of our societies, and it is changing so fast. People like us are confused most of the time. We don't know what's the right answer, and in that environment, this VUCA environment, imagine you are part of this big meeting. Millions of dollars are at stake, your career, your boss is watching you, his boss is watching you, clients are there. You've prepared this brilliant presentation and a proposal, and you're supposed to now talk about it and they'll ask questions. Very stressful environment, and you are suffering with performance anxiety. Your self-doubt is very high, you also want to impress and do a good job. It's like when we were children, we were exposed to these viva exams and you have to come in front of the class and show the best talk of your life, and everybody will give you marks, and your promotions, your progress, and your incentives depend on these meetings. So it is a very stressful situation. I acknowledge it. You're suffering from performance anxiety which results in high self-doubt. So knowing this, be aware of it, that you have to deal with it. Let me give you some few tips. I'll give you four important tips that you can use in this stressful situation to overcome the self-doubt, to become a much more confident, good articulator and communicator, and move on. Remember, this doesn't mean that you'll get promoted and you'll win millions of dollars. It's impossible. But if you get your mind right that 'hey, I'm suffering from performance anxiety, let me do my best and get this moment in the right space so that I respond.' Your objective is to communicate, articulate, and convince the client. That's what you need to focus on. You're not supposed to impress people and get number one gold medal and get promotion. That will kill you, and that's where the stress is coming from. So get your mind right. You just have to communicate in that moment. In that performance anxiety, you have to get your thoughts, articulate them, speak something. So here are four tips for you to speak under pressure and overcome performance anxiety.

Tip number one: always start with the most important line that conveys your answer. So you are in the stressful situation. The client or the boss suddenly pops a question and you are stressed. It's a performance anxiety. Remember, you just have to focus on the question and respond. The first line should be the response to that question. This is a trick and technique great leaders do. Sometimes what happens is that we tend to over-explain, but this is not the time. You are under stress, it's a very stressful meeting. The client and the bosses are expecting some answers. You don't have the luxury of time, and they're testing your confidence, they're testing your knowledge. Millions of dollars are dependent on how you present your ideas that day. So remember, it's a communication problem. Your ability to think and respond is very critical. Your brain has to be sharp. So put all that energy in the first sentence of your answer. That should be the leading answer. So there's a question, the leading answer, the first line should be a response to that, very succinct, 15 words usually. If there's a question like 'Do you think this is what we are?' or 'Are you suggesting?', your response should be 'Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting.' That is a leading answer. So get your mind right, first sentence, put all your energy, get this sentence right, which is about 15 words. That is tip number one: begin with the leading answer.

The second tip: now that you have given out the leading answer, justify with two or three sentences. You have said it, 'Yes, this is exactly what we're trying to say.' Now justify with one or two logical proof, data, examples that support that this is the suggestion you're doing. So sentence one: leading answer which responds to the question of that situation. Sentence two: two or three lines that support what you have just now said. Don't confuse the listener, don't go here and there. Stick to the leading line. One or two or three lines that support why you said this. So you've said 'Yes, this is what I mean. Here's why. Here is an example.' I think you're done. This is what the client and your managers want to hear at that moment, and this conveys your grasp and articulation on the topic. Most of the time, the audiences are okay with that.

Tip number three: nonverbals. When you are speaking, remember it's a stressful situation, you're suffering from performance anxiety, but it's a very tense moment for the audience also. The audience is looking at you and they are judging you based on how you are behaving. So that's where there's a technique in your nonverbals, which is pauses. If you pause while responding, it demonstrates that you're thinking, your mind is processing, and you're confident. Your face has to be a little bit confident. This is something you need to practice. Tip one was leading answer, pause a little bit, one or two sentences. Tip number two with pauses and confidence. So the nonverbals play a very important role, which is my third tip: when you speak these three or four sentences, pause a little bit, slow down, and that conveys to the audience that 'hey, in this stressful situation, I think you're trying your best to articulate, and your words do connect with me, and I can see where this is going.' So nonverbals, most importantly pause, slow down. If you do that, a lot of confidence is projected on your listeners, and it works wonders.

And the last one, tip number four: meeting is over, come back in your own safe space and do a little bit of positive self-talk. The words could be 'Hey, I did nicely today. I think I responded very well.' Go into a room and do this programming to your mind. Now I'll tell you why this is important. Remember, you are suffering from performance anxiety which leads to high self-doubt. Your objective is that over time, this high self-doubt has to go down. This can only happen by two things. One, the world gives you a reward, which is rare. This is one thing I want all of you to remember: don't expect the world to give you gold medals all the time, 'Oh, you spoke amazing today.' Don't expect this. But the second thing you can do every day of your life is tell yourself 'I did very well today' with the utmost authenticity. Positive self-talk is very important in leadership studies these days because the world is hammering us with criticism, which reduces our confidence and self-doubt increases. So how do we deal with it? Positive self-talk. Come back after the meeting in your safe space, take a pen and paper, and write down what went well. That's positive assurance. If you do this, your brain, your neurons, and your synapses start to form, and you're able to deal with these things better. You short-circuit that rat hole of self-doubt and that abyss of criticism that you put your mind towards.

So let me repeat these four tips of how you can articulate your ideas under stressful situation. Tip number one: respond with the leading answer, one sentence. Tip number two: substantiate that leading sentence with two or three sentences that support why you said it, some example, some data. I think that's enough. Tip number three: pause and slow down while you're speaking these three sentences. Tip number four: after the meeting is over, come back to a safe space and do a little bit of positive self-talk because it improves your confidence, self-confidence reduces self-doubt, and you will be able to deal with this stressful environment much better next time in the next meeting. So on that note, follow these tips and ask me more questions in 2025. I'll be happy to take them. Keep them coming and stay safe.