Episode 152: Feeling Nervous? Use this Improv Technique to Help You Combat Nerves
It’s the tale as old as time: you’re about to speak in front of more folks than you’d like and the pit sweat is real. No sugarcoating here.
In this episode, Erin gives you an improv technique that’ll help you listen to your mind and your body before a big moment without overthinking it.
ICYMI – Your Post-Episode Homework: Take the quiz below to determine your wellness avatar type and download your Wellness Workbook, DBYOW (don’t bring your own wallet).
Show Links:
Want to book Erin to speak at your organization or large-scale event: Learn more here!
Send us a voice message here!
Did today’s episode resonate with you? Please leave us a review for a chance to win a self-care package from us!
Take the quiz to download your free Wellness Workbook!
Connect with Erin Diehl:
Connect with Erin Diehl:
Email Erin: info@learntoimproveit.com
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
“I love this podcast and I love Erin!!”
If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing this podcast! This helps Erin support more people – just like you – move toward the leader you want to be. Click here, click listen on Apple Podcasts, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with 5 stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let Erin know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to the podcast. That way you won’t miss any juicy episodes! Thanks in advance, improve it! Peeps :)
Episode 152 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Hi new friend. I'm Erin Diehl, business improv edutainer, failfluencer and keynote speaker who is ready to help you improve your it, it being the thing that makes you, you. So think of me as your keeping it real. Professional development bestie who is here to help you develop yourself into the best version of you possible so you can develop your team and lead with intentionality, transparency, and authenticity. Oh, and did I mention we're improving your IT through play? That's right. I'm an improvisational comedy expert who uses experiential learning to help you have your aha haha moment. Those are the moments when the light bulb goes off and you're laughing at the same time. So grab your chicken hat, your notebook, and your inner child because I'm gonna take you on a journey that is both fun and transformative. Welcome to the Improve It Podcast.
Erin (01:08):
improve it peeps. I am so excited that you are here today. Oh, mesh. So we are sticking with this theme of bravery for the month of March, and in that concept of bravery, I started thinking about things that were fair. And one thing that I know all of us go through when we are fearful are shaky nerves. You know those moments when you're like, oh my gosh, I have a huge presentation, or I have to have this conversation. And your body starts to shake. You start to have an out of body experience, you're in your head, not in your body, and you almost just go completely blank. That's what we're talking about here today, my friends. We've all been there. We've all had the shaky nerves. So if you're listening and you are agreeing with everything I just said and nodding your head like, Hmm, she's, is that me?
Erin (02:11):
Is this the Truman Show? Yes. Mm, don't worry. We've all been there. We all experience moments where we're nervous we're we have not had the thing that's about to take place happen to us before where we are not yet comfortable with the uncomfortable. And today I have got a quick and easy tip for ya to help you combat those nerves. If you're feeling nervous, just press play on this podcast, save it, come back to it because this tip and technique is going to rock y'all world. And if we wanna be brave, let's just really quick talk about this concept of bravery. We were born into this world without fear. Have you ever thought about that? We're getting real. We're we're getting philosophical here babes. We're getting deep. We were all born into this world where with no fear, with just love, and we learned fear along the way.
Erin (03:16):
Fear is associated with our ego. So when we have tips, tricks, tools in our toolkit to pull out and say, Hey, ego, peace out. I'm stepping in. Oh my gosh. We can combat those nerves. We can live a more peaceful existence. We can show up as our full self. We don't have to doubt ourselves when we step in front of people to conversate to present. So here's what I want you to do today. I want you to think about a time in your life when you have been extremely nervous. What comes to mind if I asked you, tell me about a time when you have been extremely nervous. What would you say? I want you to think about it for a minute. Press pause on the podcast, take a lap, draw a doodle. I don't know. Think about it for me because this tip and trick that I'm gonna teach you today is so awesome.
Erin (04:23):
You're gonna wanna go back in time and do this tip and trick in that period where you were so nervous. The good news is we can't time travel backwards, but we can't time travel four words. So you can use this the next time your nerdy nerves pop up. I thought about this question when I was putting together the show notes and a very specific event came to mind. The year was 2017. I was, but a young budding entrepreneur improve. It had been in existence about three years. We had a client list and some really awesome clients. We were based solely in Chicago at the time. So our entire client base was in Chicago. And I was asked to speak at an event called Disrupt hr. Now if you're in hr, you should 1000% go to these events. There are many cities all over the us.
Erin (05:24):
It is a really cool way to experience hr. It's not your typical HR conference people. It disrupts it. We get real, we get vulgar. It is sassy. I love it. However, the speakers are tasked with a very daunting task. And this is very disruptive. You are given five minutes to give a presentation where your slides change automatically. They're set to a timer every, I believe, 15 or 20 seconds. I should have, I should have done my homework on this one. But it's a crazy format. Nonetheless, your slides change automatically. So if you don't get out what you want to say on that slide, then your slide's gonna change. You're gonna get messed up. It's gonna go out of order. It's meant to disrupt presentations. So you can't over talk and it, it's meant to be quick and easy and there's multiple speakers that talk throughout the night.
Erin (06:25):
So you're seeing a variety of different people hearing about a variety of different topics. It's awesome. However, I was very used to doing my own presentations at that time period. I was used to my long format of two hour workshops and getting people up and moving and grooving and improv activities. I was not used to this concept. And I as a speaker, I am a speaker and facilitator, I had done very few straight presentations. Most of the work I did was facilitating workshops at that time. So in the audience is my husband, who is my best friend, but also will keep it rail. My former colleagues at my recruiting firm. So everyone I used to work with and then all about, I will say 30 clients that I had are mostly HR people. Were sitting in the audience as well. When I tell you that my armpits were sweaty, I'm talking about we had a full pool of sweat under the armpits.
Erin (07:28):
Michael Phelps could had a field day under these arms. It was gross. I was sitting there freaking out. Like I truly had never been so nervous in my entire life to top all this off. I was going last. Okay? So I had to sit there and listen to everybody else crush it cuz everyone was amazing <laugh>. And I'm sitting there thinking to myself, okay, okay, she's great, she's great, he's great, he's great. Here we go. Finally, it was my turn to go. And when I tell you the entire time I'm sitting there, I'm having an out of body experience. I don't even know where I am. I got, do you know that feeling when you're so nervous you get dizzy and you almost pass out? That's where I was. Then she steps on stage in a five inch heel and a leather jacket. By she, I mean me.
Erin (08:18):
And sometimes I talk in the third person. Yes, I did that. And so I'm standing on that stage and I slides start and I just completely lose where I'm at. I'm gonna pause right here. I'll get to the end in a minute. Cliffhanger in this moment, I wish I had this technique to fall back on in this moment. I wish that I had slowed down. I had come back into my body, that I had realized that I was okay, that I didn't let fear get the best of me. That I was peaceful in my own brain and had the knowall with all to know that I would be okay. I wish I would've taken up my phone and looking at funny pictures. I wish I had done a million other things than what I did, which was sit in my seat for that entire hour waiting to go and sweat profusely and freak out.
Erin (09:20):
So this tip and trick my friends that I'm gonna teach you is so amazing. It is derived from the improv stage. And the good news is you don't need a stage. You don't need a scene partner because the same partner is your mind. Now this is played in group settings, but you can also play it with yourself. So here's how it works. It's called Word. The next time the you are feeling the need to freak out, I want you to do this. I want you to silently say to yourself or out loud, if you're not in public, 1, 2, 3, on three, you clap. Okay? So let's all try this. 1, 2, 3. And what you are going to do is say a word that is representative of what you need in that very moment. So transporting myself back to this Disrupt HR event. If I were to have done this, I might have said, 1, 2, 3, cold water, <laugh>, 1, 2, 3, breathe.
Erin (10:33):
What that does, it allows you to just get to the point and the root of what you need without overthinking it, without judging it, without even placing any thought into what is it that I need? Maybe it's this, it's boom. I can't judge what's the first thing that comes to my mind. Then here's the second piece to this. Once you have your word, now you actually have to do it. So if I were to said drink cold water, I should have gotten up, got myself an ice cold glass. Cuz cold water actually calms the nervous system. Just another fun tip for you. So if you're ever nervous, put your hands under cold water, get a very cold glass cup, your hands around it. Or if you can't submerge your entire body, but that's for another day. So for me, that was what I needed in that moment.
Erin (11:25):
And I should have gotten up and and gotten that water, had a sip. Even that walk to get the water would've probably calmed my nerves, but I had no clue how to to get back into my own body. I just sat there in my head freaking out. So this is what I want you to do when you are nervous for the next presentation, for that conversation that you have to have with a team member for the performance review, for whatever it is that you've been festering about and letting your mind take control of. I want you to get back into your body by counting to three. 1, 2, 3. Say exactly what comes to your mind and then take action. One really good way to even think about doing this activity is to first ask the question, what do I need in this moment? So by just saying a word, it's not just any word at all.
Erin (12:20):
It's what do I need in this moment? 1, 2, 3, figure out what that word is. It could be a couple of words and mine was cold water, but word. We're trying to just keep it simple, that acronym, keep it simple, silly kiss, and then actually follow through. So this works because when you don't judge what you need and that moment you're giving yourself the gift of your presence, and this gift will lead you to exactly what your mind or your body needs the most. You feel me? Word. Okay. So literally this is again an activity that we do and a lot of our improv workshops, we have also put together this awesome play your way into Wellness workbook. It starts out as a quiz. We're gonna link to this in the show note where you can find out what type of wellness avatar that you are, and then depending on your avatar, we give you different activities, rituals, and energy boosters to help you incorporate wellness into your day today.
Erin (13:36):
So if you wanna show up and be more brave, get this wellness workbook. Just click on the link in our show notes. You can also go to our website. There will be a popup there that will help you. Just get it right there, right then, right there. So this workbook is about 22 pages. I'm just gonna tell you. It is basically a book and we're giving it away for free. And it's fantastic because it has so many of these tips and tricks here for you laid out. You can read them and throughout this podcast, I'm gonna keep trickling in these activities because they're so good and I can teach them to you here and reinforce them there. So get this workbook and try word the next time you are in your head and not present in your body. Now, I wanna go back to disrupt HR because in that moment if I had this tip and trick and tool, I would've gotten up.
Erin (14:35):
I would've gotten some cold water. I would've enjoyed the entire night more as the last person to go. That was the last thing I did. And you better believe when I was done, I got a glass of wine because I was so happy it was over. And to round out the story I did well. Was it my best? It was good. It was good. Did anybody think that I was the biggest loser? No, they did not. Was it an aite that I'll never forget because I was freaking out? Yes, it was. So this technique cannot be rewritten in the past, but it can write your future word. You hear me? So take this, apply this tip, apply this technique. The next time you are in the moment and you are freaking out, this will bring you back to your moment so you can make moments and memories for yourself and everyone around you. I'm so proud of you. You know what I'm gonna say? I just say it all the time. I want you to keep failing and keep improving because this world needs that very, very special it that only you can bring and you are bringing all the bravery this month. All right, I'll see you next time. Bye.
Erin (16:07):
Hey friend, did you enjoy today's show? If so, head on over to iTunes to rate and subscribe. So you never miss an episode. Now, did I mention that when you leave a five star review of the Improve It podcast, an actual team of humans does a happy dance? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. That's right. So leave a review for us on iTunes, screenshot it, and send me an email at info learn to improve it.com. I'll send you a personalized video back as a thank you. Thanks so much for listening. Improve It Peeps. I'll see you next Wednesday.