Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?

It’s quite natural for us to feel the fear of going on stage and performing or speaking in front of a crowd. You become numb and either hesitate to speak or forget the tune or lyrics while performing. It mostly happens when you have not done it before or going on stage after a long gap.

It happened to me in my school and college days. If you are reading my blog you know I used to sing and play guitar in my college days. I felt the fear initially and I realised with time that practice off the stage is the key.

The more you practice, the better you will become. When you practice again and again in spite of Knowing that you have mastered it, it comes into your habit. And when something comes into your habit, it doesn’t require much of your brain to process it.

For example if you learnt to drive a car and you are driving it regularly then your brain has very little to do while driving. Your hands and legs move almost automatically on gear , steering, clutch, brake and accelerator since it is engrained in your habit or muscle memory.

This process also works on stage. Most of us feel stage fright and it mostly happens because our mind or brain plays games with us. It haunts us but if you have practiced hard enough your muscle memory (or habit) is more than enough to overcome stage fright.

So next time before you go on stage , make sure you have madly rehearsed your performance off stage.