Viv Groskop

and be doing some kind of ritual, whether it was pacing or a meditation app.

There are loads of really useful meditation apps that you can download and do two, three minute exercises.

Or you can just think to yourself, as you take a breath in, you count to four.

And as you breathe out, you count to six.

Four counts in.

six counts out, you can have a longer out-breath, and it will make you feel much more relaxed.

Anything that grounds you in your body and makes you more aware of your body than of your mind is the most useful thing because so often when we're nervous and we're afraid and we're under stress, we become completely obsessed with the racing thoughts in our minds and they seem like the most important thing.

And if we can really push our feet into the floor, even holding onto something can be really helpful, whether it's an object or just feeling, it sounds really weird, but feeling a cushion or anything that grounds you, reminds you of your body and using some breathing techniques alongside that.

It sounds so obvious, but I think so few people do it, which is a shame because if you just take two minutes out of your day to do this breathing exercise,

It just brings you back to the present moment and it's so useful.

Yeah, it's really interesting.

I hear that idea from a lot of people and I've experienced that myself.

I also hear the opposite from people that some people find they start really strong and then suddenly five minutes in,

the nerves start up and they think, oh, what am I doing here?

Oh, I can't remember what I've just said.

So this can work in a lot of different ways for different people.

I think what's really useful is to have certain moments of what I call signposting.

So signposting could be anything from a very strong start to a very strong finish.

And then in the middle, you're going to allow yourself a bit more leeway.

But for example, if you know you're going to be really nervous at the beginning and it takes you a while to warm up, then make sure that you are word perfect for the first two, three sentences that you're going to say, whatever it is that you're doing, if you're introducing somebody or giving a speech.