T.J. Walker explains why nervousness makes you act fake in interviews and how to fix it: rehearse on video, do lots of interviews, and post short videos regularly to get comfortable in front of cameras.
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Welcome to the T.J. walker Success Channel. This is the place where I help you become more successful by learning how to boost your communication skills, your competency and your confidence. So you've got to go in front of the media, perhaps do a TV interview. How do you come across as authentic instead of someone who seems like they are playing a character of the business person or someone wearing a mask? Well, the key is you need to be comfortable and, and relaxed. Easy to say TJ but how do you really do that? You do it by rehearsing. Because most people never rehearse, they don't rehearse on video. So if you just go to some big TV studio, you go to CNBC or BBC and you're surrounded by bright lights and big cameras and some famous rich journalist interviewing you, the natural thing to do, it kind of tense up. Well, I guess we're very happy to report third quarter earnings where. And you seem to be character, almost a caricature of I'm the important business person or I'm trying to be this or that. It's because you're having an out of body experience. Because emotionally you're thinking, this is weird. How do I get out of here? This is strange. What am I doing here? You might not even be totally aware that you're feeling nervous. But that's what happens if you don't do a lot of interviews or if you've never done one, or if you haven't done one in the last year. What you need to do is familiarize yourself before the actual thing. You need to do rough drafts. You do rough drafts for writing memos and emails and then you improve it, refine it, spell check it, edit it before you hit send. You can do the same thing with your media appearances. The key is deciding you are going to be vulnerable. And by that I mean you're going to practice recording on video and you're going to look at yourself. And for a lot of people it's oh, dj, I don't want to look at myself, I don't like the way I look, I'm losing my hair, I'm getting a double chin, I don't like the sound of my own voice. If that's how you feel, just means you're human. Everybody feels that way. But it's crucial for you to rehearse and see how you're coming across. Because what happens to most people is they rehearse and all of a sudden they see that their voice is deeper and softer and they're trying to sound professional and they look at it, they realize, who is this clown? Who's he fooling? Nobody. It seems artificial. So you do it again and it's probably still 90% is bad, but it's a little less artificial because you're not quite as nervous the second time. Do it again. It's maybe 85% bad, but you made a 5% improvement. Can I ask you a personal favor? I'm trying to help more people just like you all around the globe improve their personal communication skills and to be more successful. If you hit the subscribe button, not only will I be able to help you, but that'll send a message to others around the world that this is a place for them. So please, as a small favor, hit subscribe. Every time you do it, the whole thing becomes less scary, less nerve wracking. It's therefore harder to stiffen up tensen tense up and be uncomfortable. Because with anything in life, the more times you do it, the easier it gets and the less uncomfortable it is. Because what makes something uncomfortable is doing something for the very first time. If you believe in paying success forward, then hit the share button. Now let's spread more confidence around the world. Driving a car at age 16, or whatever age you were was probably uncomfortable. If you've been driving a car every day for 10 years, you don't even have to think about it. You just hop in and go. You're thinking about other things. It's exactly the same thing with media appearances. Don't miss a beat on your journey to success. Tap the bell to receive notifications so you get constant updates for your own journey. If you just wait until the camera goes on and the reporter is putting a mic in your face or sitting next to you on the couch asking you the tough questions, you're going to act. You're going to act scared or you're going to act stiff, or you're going to act professional. You're going to do something that's going to seem a little phony and inauthentic and you're not going to like the results. It's not going to come across as well. Your thoughts matter. Please leave a comment below in the comment section or a question or a criticism or a complaint or praise. So, couple of solutions for you. Number one, I know you don't want to hear it, but you really need to. You need to rehearse on video. And these days you can do it with your cell phone. You don't even have to have anyone else around. Now you could do it with a colleague a friend, a family member. But you could just do it with yourself, again and again until you like how you're coming across, until you feel you're coming across as sincere and authentic. The second big tip I have for you is say yes to every media interview, even if it doesn't have the biggest, most important audience. Every media interview you do makes the one after that a little bit easier, a little bit less scary. You become more of a pro. You've heard the whole thing, that you need 10,000 hours to be a real expert. You don't have to do 10,000 interviews, but each one you do gives you more confidence, more muscle, network. The third tip, and if you do this, it really will solve all your problems, is speak regularly in front of a camera. You don't have to wait for CNBC or the BBC or Al Jazeera or anyone else to request a formal interview with you. Why don't you do this interview yourself every day on YouTube or TikTok or LinkedIn or other social media platforms? Share your expertise with the world, think of a question, hit record, and talk exactly as I'm doing right now. If you do that once a month, even, you're going to be so much more relaxed and authentic when you're doing traditional media interviews or podcast interviews. If you do it once a week, it's going to be almost impossible to be nervous or stiff or uncomfortable when you're doing other interviews. And if you make a video once a day, Even if it's 20 seconds long, then doing the big interviews in the big studios will be as easy as walking or breathing in and exhaling. You can relax and be yourself.
