Use These 5 Tips to Help You Prepare for a Stressful Meeting, Presentation, or Interview

Any time there is a job interview, a big meeting, a performance review, or some other opportunity to present yourself, you'll want to put your best foot forward. But these big moments don't just happen successfully on their own. You need to take action to make them successful.

How do you make sure you are ready to execute at a high level? What do you do in the days leading up to, and even the final moments before, an event to give yourself a good shot at doing a great job? Use the 5 Ps.

1. Prepare

Invest your time into preparing for the event. Collect relevant resources, get ready to answer tough questions with confidence, create any materials or visuals you want to share, do your research on who you'll be talking to, etc.?

2. Pee

That's right, literally go to the bathroom! You need to relieve yourself so that later, needing to do so won't be a distraction for you. And while you're at it, make sure your hair and clothes are looking good, your zipper is up, you don’t have any food between your teeth, your shoes are tied, etc. This step may be simple, but it can help you avoid a major embarrassment in a moment when you want to show up focused and confident.?

3. Engage Your Physical Body

One of the best ways to get ready in the moments before you present yourself is to get your body active. You don't want to walk into a meeting or event feeling drowsy or lacking energy. Get your blood flowing! I like to do some push-ups or go for a walk, but you can get moving in any way you can think of that raises your energy without wearing you out.

4. Power Pose

One of the most widely watched TED Talks of all time is Amy Cuddy’s where she talks about the power of body language . Getting into a superhero pose with your hands on your hips or standing triumphantly with your hands raised in the air for a couple of minutes can decrease your stress level, and therefore increase your confidence going into a situation that is normally stressful for you. It may sound a bit weird, but I promise you it's worth trying. What do you have to lose?

5. Be Present?

Finally, take a few deep breaths and be fully present in the moment. Release your worry about what preparation you could have done that you didn't—that time has passed. Don't worry about what the final outcome will be, as that moment hasn't arrived yet. Be as present as you can be with yourself and the people you're talking to, seeking to connect with them as humans. If you are fully present and make a connection, you're actually much more likely to stay relaxed and focused and to make the most of the experience.

Take Intentional Action

To practice using the 5 Ps, in the next week or so, identify one event, meeting, presentation, interview, or conversation that feels particularly stressful and use the 5 Ps to prepare and execute it well.

Accelerate Your Progress

This newsletter is an adapted excerpt from my new book, The Intentional Engineer . It was written just for intentional engineers like you. Go grab your own copy today at: https://amzn.to/3u6bJF2 .?

The Audiobook is also available, so go grab your copy on Audible or Apple Books!

And if you want personalized coaching or training for you or your team/organization, just DM me or email me at [email protected] . I’d love to help!

And if you’re getting value out of this newsletter, make sure to like, comment, and share it with others!