My friend, Brad Isaac just posted about 8 Proven Strategies For Defeating The Fear of Public Speaking and 4 Myths That Won’t. I especially like this one:

6. Picture a standing ovation - Ahhh the standing “O”. What a night you’ve had if you get an ovation. It’s enough to give you a big head if you are not careful. But go ahead and imagine yourself giving such a terrific performance people stand applauding. Take a mental bow. Go ahead you deserve it. By vividly imagining a striking performance, you can’t worry about falling on your face. All good presenters I’ve talked to picture themselves giving a great performance before they get on stage.

I earn a significant portion of my income from public speaking. When I started doing this, I also joined Toastmasters International. As I prepared and practiced my first “icebreaker” speech, I vividly imagined the audience giving me a standing ovation at the end.

When I actually delivered the speech, the club members clapped enthoustatically at the end. The club president, who was also serving as Toastmaster for the day, stood up and said, “I almost feel like I should give you a standing ovation–in fact, I think I just did!”

Stephen Covey says to, “Begin with the end in mind.” David Allen says to, “Envision wild success.” No matter how you word it, we can greatly increase both the quality of our work, and our motivation to complete it by having a clear vision of the end in mind.

What are you envisioning yourself doing and how well are you envisioning yourself doing it?