“I’m now able to give a talk in public, but I’m still nervous. I guess I won’t ever get over it.” The speaker was a woman in one of my seminars, and the topic was introversion and public speaking. Her assumption was that because she was an introvert, nervousness was always there, ready to undermine her performance and her confidence, and she would never be free of that awful feeling.

1. Introvert Nervousness – Friend or Foe?
“I’m now able to give a talk in public, but I’m still
nervous. I guess I won’t ever get over it.” The speaker
was a woman in one of my seminars, and the topic was
introversion and public speaking. Her assumption was
that because she was an introvert, nervousness was
always there, ready to undermine her performance and
her confidence, and she would never be free of that awful
feeling.
After she spoke, I reflected that, years ago, I returned
to dance after taking a few years off to go to college. At my initial return performance, I was
overwhelmed by fear that I would fail miserably and embarrassingly. As my partner and I got into
the opening pose just before the curtain went up, I was dismayed to find that his hand, which I was
holding, was shaking badly. Just before the curtain rose, he said to me quickly, “Remember, this is
energy. Use it!”
The performance was brilliant.
Good – really good – performers have always known that the little thrill of anxiety they experience
before a performance actually enhances what they do; to be completely calm is to become a little
dull. That nervousness can produce a number of positive changes, including increased mental
clarity, energy, and enthusiasm.
Recent research by Crum and Salovey (2013)* disclosed that the belief that stress is debilitating will
undermine performance, confidence, and health, too.
So would simply switching that mindset to one that tells you that nervousness will enhance
your performance make all the difference in the world? Not necessarily, because first it is
important to rehearse your performance thoroughly, so thoroughly that you have a set of well-learned
skills on which to fall back; think of it as being on a kind of automatic pilot.
Then, as the performance unrolls, you can hear that little voice inside saying, “I think I can. I
KNOW I can.”
Repeatedly performing the same skills under stress while believing in the performance-enhancing
value of stress leads to better performance, increased confidence, and a greater overall sense of
well-being.
And, by the way, nervousness over public speaking or any other kind of performance is not the
exclusive experience of introverts; extroverts can feel it, too. Introverts sometimes fall into the trap
of believing what they hear so much from society, that introversion is a kind of defect.
No, pretty much everyone has the same experiences when it comes to something like public
speaking. The same rules apply: learn, practice, tell yourself nervousness is an advantage –
and grow.

2. *Crum, A., Salovey, P. & Achor, S. (2013). Rethinking Stress: The Role of Mindsets in
Determining the Stress Response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Lynette Crane is a Minneapolis-based speaker, writer, and coach. She has more than 30 years'
experience in the field of stress and time management and personal growth. Her latest book is The
Confident Introvert, written to help introverts overcome the stress of living in a culture that
idealizes extroversion, so that they can thrive, and not just survive.Visit her website at
http://www.creativelifechanges.com/ to see more in-depth articles and to view her programs.