It’s September – my busy season for gigs. (Yay!)
I’m writing this from the road, where I have a number of gigs lined up back-to-back. Airport, Uber, hotel, event, Uber, airport, Uber, hotel, event… you get the idea.
In the last eight days, I've spoken in Chicago, Mississippi, DC, and Dallas!
Ah, yes, the life of a speaker is simultaneously exciting… and exhausting!
But it’s all good. Because my well-established pre-stage routine has been a tremendous help over the years.
This type of preparation is actually really common in high-level athletes. Michael Phelps is famous for eating something like six stacks of pancakes and downing a few cans of Red Bull before he hops in the pool to win his Olympic gold medals.
So, if you treat yourself like a professional athlete – by establishing a ritual before you take the stage – it’s a big piece of getting yourself into the right mindset to kill it during your speech.
Not Convinced?
Sure, it can be hard to set a routine when you’re on the road a ton and constantly waking up in new time zones. You’re sleeping in unfamiliar hotels, and your clothes are stuffed into your suitcase.
But consider this…
If you put in the effort to build a speaking day routine, you’ll use one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal to prepare yourself and be on stage.
Personally, my pre-stage routine takes four hours. (Yes, I have it timed out exactly and do it the same before every gig.)
As a matter of fact, I’ll go ahead and list the start of my routine here for your viewing pleasure.
A glimpse into my routine:
- Wake up four hours before my call time.
- Rehearse for two hours.
- Walk to Starbucks. (This is actually a really important part of my routine. I will explain why tomorrow.)
- Buy my latte and then walk back.
- During the walk, listen to my Spotify “pump up” playlist.
- Lay out my clothes.
- Check my tech pack.
- Review my agenda.
- Review my audience notes.
- Review acronyms the audience uses.
- Take a shower. (All that walking made me sweaty.)
- Check my props and note cards.
- Put my business cards in my suit.
- Listen to my pump playlist while I’m getting ready. (Dance! Yes, seriously. I’ll explain why tomorrow.)
That’s just the start of the routine, but you can start to see how precisely I plan everything out.
So, why do YOU need to build a routine like this one? Well, there are five main reasons. Let’s take a look…
Routine Reason #1: Boost Your Confidence
Establishing this kind of pre-speech ritual helps you feel more confident and in control. When you have this familiar set of actions that you’re performing before you take the stage, it reduces your anxiety overall.
It gives you the sense that you are prepared and in control of anything that could happen.
Routine Reason #2:
Enhance Your Focus
High-level athletes aren’t the only ones who need to have focus and mental preparedness going into a performance. Speakers need it too.
This routine and series of mental exercises can really help you clear your head so you’re in the right state of mind to effectively deliver your speech.
(If you’ve ever lost focus or become distracted mid-speech, you know exactly what I’m talking about.)
Routine Reason #3:
Optimize Your Physical Readiness
You’ll notice that my routine includes that walk to a nearby Starbucks. (Thankfully, almost every venue I visit seems to have one nearby.)
Maybe your version of physical preparation includes an actual set of warm-up exercises or just exercise in general. I’ve seen some speakers hitting the gym and clicking off the miles on a treadmill ,hours before they take to the stage.
Exercise, in general, helps you prepare your body for the demands of being a public speaker. It’s an exhausting job after all. So, including this in your pre-state routine ensures you’re physically ready to deliver your performance dynamically.
On the flip side, imagine trying to deliver your speech after waking up just half an hour before you take the stage… yawn! I don’t know how you can be physically ready for the energy you’re going to need to exude for a great performance.
Routine Reason #4:
Establish a Professional Self-Image
Sure, you want to look like a professional from the organizer’s perspective, but this point refers to how you think of yourself.
When you use a routine before your speech, it makes you feel like a professional. You remember that professional athletes have pre-game rituals similar to your pre-speech ritual. And that can help boost your confidence. (“Travis Kelce has nothing on me!”)
Your routine will help you show yourself that you view your role as a professional speaker very seriously. You’re showing yourself that you’re committed to delivering a high-quality experience.
Overall, it increases your credibility and positive impression of yourself, so you feel like you’re there as a professional.
Routine Reason #5:
Reduce Anxiety
And finally, this ritual will help you reduce your overall anxiety surrounding the constant travel and change of environments.
It’s not uncommon to feel out of sorts and disoriented when you’re doing a lot of traveling like this. Some people find themselves sleeping an extra hour because they are somewhere new, or they eat very strange foods, or they get off their normal exercise schedule.
These changes combine to make them anxious, especially before they step onto the stage for their speech.
So, to reduce that anxiety and feel in more control, you can establish a regular, well-practiced routine as part of your pre-speech preparation. It provides a calming ritual, alleviates those nerves, and helps you manage your anxiety.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think some nerves before a gig are a good thing. They help me know that I’m prepared to be on stage, but a routine helps me manage those nerves.
Ready to Create Your Own Routine?
I’d suggest that – starting with your very next gig – you start to establish your own pre-speech routine. Literally, put it into your calendar and block out the time for each of the things you’d like to accomplish in the hours leading up to your speech.
This will help you maximize your confidence and mental preparedness for the day.
If you’re a Premium Member, check out the second part of this article and we’ll talk through each of these five categories and brainstorm some specific actions you can add to your own routine.
Part two of this article covers:
- A pick-and-choose list of pre-speech activities you may want to add to your own routine,
- Three specific things you can do on the day of your gig to boost your confidence before you step on stage,
- Five ways to enhance your focus and mental preparedness – one of these is definitely going to affect those coffee plans you make for your gig’s morning schedule,
- More details on how to optimize your body for the speech so you can take the stage with the energy your speech and audience deserve,
- And a few more ideas about enhancing your professional self-image and reducing those last-minute nerves that like to creep into your mind.
Remember, the advice that got you here won’t get you there. It’s time for a massive move.
It’s time for a Monumental Shift.
Speaking in DC,
Andrew
