Jog Your Jitters Out Before You Lead the Room

Feeling anxious before leading the room? Jog in place to calm your nerves and sharpen your focus.

I get nervous every time that I am about to stand in front of a room to lead a training session. A lot of it has to with being more on the introverted side, not liking to be the focus of attention, and most importantly, the fear of looking professionally incompetent.

Over the years I have come across a multitude of different ways to calm those pre-leading the room nerves. Everything from box breathing, to visualization, to positive affirmations.

As I am a very physical person - what I have found works best for me is to move my body before the session to help mitigate my stress response which is kicking into high-gear. I do this by spending 10 -15 minutes doing light physical exercise.

I look for a unoccupied space and do "speed walks" from one side to the other, or find a staircase and do some climbing.. Or do some slow and controlled burpees to essentially exercise out the stress and nervousness.