The Best Way To Avoid Stage Fright

August 31, 2012 6 Comments


Last Friday, I was in Monterey to perform a scene from “The Grapes of Wrath” at a Mumford & Sons tribute to Steinbeck.

In truth, I hadn’t officially acted for three years and I hadn’t been on stage in ten years. More frightening still was the fact that I would be a performing in a depression era American accent; an accent far different than my rough and ready kiwi (New Zealand) vernacular.

When we arrived in Monterey, I discovered that we would be performing in a packed house, a ginormous theatre that seated over 1000 people.

All the ingredients for stage fright were present, and I found myself wondering why on earth I had said yes to this freakin’ amazing opportunity.

What was my secret for avoiding stage fright and getting the job done?

Personally, I used a version of the nike saying, choosing to forget everything that is not relevant, the crowd, my inexperience and my kiwi accent… and I just bloody well did it without thinking too much!
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About GeoffTalbot: Geoff Talbot is the founder of this Creative Blog. He loves writing words that encourage creative people.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Lynne-Holder/615319833 Lynne Holder

    Geoff! I started getting butterflies in my stomach just reading this! You are a brave soul, for sure.

    My mentor and fashion photographer used to say to me, “Are you thinking again?” That was my prompt to get out of my head and “just do it.” That thinking stuff is really all ego driven, I believe.

    Do you have video of your performance? I’d love to see it!

    • http://sevensentences.com/ Geoff Talbot

      Hi Lynne… still waiting for the video… not sure if it will come. It was an incredible night though!

  • Phil Rood

    As someone who suffers from anxiety, I can tell you that there’s some sound advice in there. Whenever I am most anxious, most nervous and worried about something(which is usually something trivial and stupid), it’s because I’m over-thinking everything and taking it to its worst possible conclusion. Just Do It indeed!

    • http://sevensentences.com/ Geoff Talbot

      This was such a great and honest comment Phil!

  • Cheryl

    Yup! Quite right. We often think that if we ruminate on every angle of a scenario, we are simply preparing ourselves for the event. I, too, struggle with social anxiety and found myself spinning into deeper anxiety when “preparing” in my mind. I finally woke up and noticed my preparing was mostly negative and assuming the worst. No wonder it made me more anxious! It’s called catastrophic thinking. So, now, I only prepare on the things that actually need preparation (planning schedule etc.) and refuse to think on anything else about it and do exactly what you said… just do it! This has helped a lot. I have a big one coming up this Sept — speaking at a conference. Yikes! :D

    • http://sevensentences.com/ Geoff Talbot

      You will be fine Cheryl… I try to prepare by thinking as much as I can about the material but I try to avoid imagining the performance… works for me