Emily Maitliss’ interview on The High Performance Podcast is a masterclass in how to handle pressure. Her secret?

I love that advice. It works equally well in presentation scenarios too…

Especially when we find ourselves working towards something where we’ve only got one chance to Make It Count. But it’s what you do in the loo that matters (not a sentence I ever thought I’d write!).

And in this 100-second clip, Emily reveals all…🍿

The Curse of Over Preparation

Emily’s level of preparation for this interview was extraordinary. And with that, comes risk.

When the pressure is on, it is so easy to tie ourselves in knots, lose perspective on the bigger picture and forget what we're doing it for in the first place.

Whenever I talk about the curse of over preparation on LinkedIn, I get a lot of stick from my peers, who believe that 'the more you prepare, the better your presentation will be.'

Now don't get me wrong, if I didn't believe presentation prep was important, I wouldn't have a job 😅. 

But over preparation exists.

And it is especially rife in meticulously high performers who lack an ego (often the most thoughtful and interesting speakers of all). I large number of you reading this, I suspect!

So when it next happens, there’s something to be said for ditching the script, locking yourself in the loo and reminding yourself WHO you’re doing it for.

It’s never about us.
It’s always about them.

There’s a lot of comfort to be found in that.

What Emily was doing in the loo (not a sentence I thought I’d ever write), was reconnecting with her purpose. That’s what she meant by ‘waiting for a single note.’

Her epiphany?

This is that what clarity sounds like 👆.

So the next time you find yourself falling into the over preparation trap, you could do a lot worse than trying coming up with your own version of this sentence.

If you’re giving a high stakes talk this week, go get ‘em! 💪

Alex