![\"nervous\"](\"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/nervous-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>I used to get nervous, really nervous, before a class.\u00a0 Sweaty palms, sweaty underarms, sweaty…well, you get the idea.\u00a0 It has been said that people fear talking in front of people more than death.\u00a0 That means the person in the casket is better\u00a0off \u00a0than the person giving the eulogy.<\/p>\nEarly in my training career someone gave me some excellent advice.\u00a0 They told me I needed to create my “rocky ritual.”\u00a0 The rocky ritual is the ritual you engage in before you get into the ring.\u00a0 It is how you prepare for your training session which in turn reduces your nervousness.\u00a0 Mohamed Ali said “The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road long before I dance under the lights.”\u00a0 <\/em>There is truth in these words for the classroom trainer as well.\u00a0 It is what happens before the class that makes the difference when you are in front of the class.\u00a0\u00a0 Here are some hints you might consider in\u00a0designing your rocky ritual:<\/p>\n\n- Read and read and read<\/strong>.\u00a0 The more you read, the more stories you remember, the more you know about the topic you are teaching, the better able\u00a0you are to adapt\u00a0when things happen in the classroom.\u00a0 When you have a smaller class\u00a0than you were expecting, \u00a0you may complete activities sooner than expected.\u00a0 Having some stories to tell or some activities you can\u00a0“pull out of the hat” allows you to\u00a0be flexible\u00a0and\u00a0makes you feel more confident.<\/li>\n
- Study and prepare<\/strong>.\u00a0 It takes 5-10 hours to prepare to teach every hour of class\u00a0unless you have a lot of experience with the\u00a0content.\u00a0 Set aside time before the class\u00a0to review the content, take notes, and create your teaching outline.\u00a0 Don’t wait until the last-minute.\u00a0 Prepare, prepare, prepare.<\/li>\n
- Stop preparing<\/strong>.\u00a0 The day before you are in front of the class review your content.\u00a0 Set aside time to retire early and once you have finished your last review, put it away.\u00a0 Get a good nights sleep to be prepared for the challenge of teaching the next day.<\/li>\n
- Meals<\/strong> – Have a light meal the night before with minimal caffeine to ensure\u00a0you sleep well.\u00a0 Wake up early and have a high protein\u00a0breakfast before you head to class.\u00a0 Grab some snacks you can nibble on during breaks to keep you from “grumbling” from nerves and hunger (protein bars work well).\u00a0 A banana is a natural beta blocker and is a natural way to control nervousness.\u00a0 Drink plenty of water and the water you drink in the classroom should be just cooler than room temperature (water too cold affects the vocal cords).<\/li>\n
- Get there early<\/strong>.\u00a0 Set up the class the night before if possible and arrive an hour before the class begins if possible.\u00a0 Set up music, test video equipment and do a final walk-through to make sure everything works before the first participant arrives.<\/li>\n
- Complete a mirror check<\/strong>.\u00a0 Stand in front of a mirror and check your overall appearance.\u00a0 Look for coffee on your shirt, an unzipped fly, anything hanging out of your nose.\u00a0 I taught the morning of my first class with my fly unzipped.\u00a0 Complete a self check before getting in front of the class.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Preparation is the key to not only appearing cool, calm and collected in front of a class; \u00a0It is the key to being <\/strong>cool, calm and collected when facilitating a training.<\/p>\nAny ideas for improving a “Rocky Ritual?”\u00a0 Send them to poortrainer@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I used to get nervous, really nervous, before a class. Sweaty palms, sweaty underarms, sweaty…well, you get the idea. It has been said that people fear talking in front of people more than death. That means the person in the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[45,46,44],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":615,"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557\/revisions\/615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"nervous\"](\"http:\/\/www.poortrainer.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/nervous.jpg\")
<\/a>I used to get nervous, really nervous, before a class.\u00a0 Sweaty palms, sweaty underarms, sweaty…well, you get the idea.\u00a0 It has been said that people fear talking in front of people more than death.\u00a0 That means the person in the casket is better\u00a0off \u00a0than the person giving the eulogy.<\/p>\n