Why Presentation mistakes are a good thing!
public speaking perfection…?
I have many clients on my public speaking courses who want to give a completely flawless presentation, they want to “appear” confident (even though they don’t feel it), want everyone to like them, they also want to be funny, to sound intelligent, and they don’t want to be vulnerable and they can’t possibly make a mistake. Otherwise it will be a complete disaster, and their career will be ruined.
Does that sound too much to you? Would you expect to function that well if you were trying to aim for all of that?
Ironically the chase for perfection leads to us to feel overwhelmed, really anxious and will help you to mess up even better. That’s not helpful.
The quest for perfection is the wrong goal. A “no mistake” approach puts far too much pressure on you. Internal pressures we put on ourselves have the nasty effect of stimulating the fight-and-flight adrenaline response and then your brain freezes. Not good when you need to function normally.
Mistakes are not terrible
We are thinking about mistakes in the wrong way.
Big shopping brands know that if they make a mistake AND handle it well, they get more brand loyalty. They don’t want to make mistakes but they know they will, because humans are not perfect. So they develop policies around making mistakes. Last year I got £500 off Waitrose Supermarket because I broke a tooth on one of their cereals (they had put the wrong grain in the mix).They handled it well, with kindness and some dosh and I still shop at Waitrose. I trust them and I even eat the same cereal!
Mistakes can actually help
It’s the same with audiences, if you handle mistakes well, the audience will trust you more. They may not even notice your mistakes.. And if they trust you they are more likely to let what you are saying.
The audience wants a real human being not a robot. You need to practice the courage to be imperfect. It’s learning that bringing your authenticity is more than enough
Moving away from perfectionism
Brené Brown, is a famous Ted Speaker, Professor of Social work at Houston and self-described “recovering perfectionist. She has written “The gifts of imperfection” and talks about moving away from pefectionism to wholehearted living by:
Letting go of what people think by Cultivating authenticity
Letting go of Perfectionism - by Cultivating self-compassion
Letting go of Powerlessness - by Cultivating a resilient spirit
Letting go of Scarcity - by Cultivating Gratitude and joy
Letting go of the need for certainty - by Cultivating Trust
Letting go of comparison - by Cultivating Creativity
Letting go of Exhaustion - by Cultivating Play and Rest
Letting go of Anxiety as a lifestyle - by Cultivating Calm and Stillness
Letting go of self-doubt and supposed to - by Cultivating Meaningful Work
Letting go of being cool an “Always in Control - by Cultivating Laughter, Song and Dance
I would add two more
Letting go of what it means to be the centre of attention by cultivating the thoughts that no one is thinking about you anyway. You are special but not that important.
Letting go of your inner critic by cultivating mindfulness and kindness. We massively undermine ourselves by listening to a harsh inner voice way too much.
