Tip 218: Give yourself permission to fail
Many speakers make their nerves even worse by having unrealistic expectations about their performance. They feel that they must deliver a perfect, flawless performance each and every time. This makes their nerves even worse, which further dampens their performance. A self-fulfilling prophecy is set up in this way, which is bound to end in disappointment.
You are a human being and so you should give yourself permission to not give the perfect presentation! Relax a little and don't punish yourself over your performance. Give yourself permission to make mistakes. No one is perfect in real life. All you can do is rely on the preparation you have made so far, relax and hope for the best.
You are only human and nobody is perfect. Your audience mostly won’t notice your mistakes, as you are the only person who knows what you intend to say in your presentation, only you will notice if you deviate from this plan.
Furthermore, even an obvious mistake will seem much more important to you than it will to your audience. The best approach is just to carry on regardless, laughing it off if necessary. Think back to when you've seen others deal well with mistakes — what did they do?
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