12The Stress Factor
“Stress can sabotage our ability to influence.”
—René Rodriguez
All the methods, techniques, sequences, scripts, and values in this book don't matter if you can't access them when you are stressed. Let that sink in for a minute.
Part of Our Daily Lives
It is easy to lead when times are good. It is easy to get people to agree if they already agree with you. But to spark an idea in the mind of the opposition, to have the emotional discipline to not react in the face of hostility, and to find your best strategic response requires advanced skills that are rooted in understanding the role stress plays in our lives day-to-day.
Even after thousands of speeches, the best speakers will admit to being nervous before presentations. That's OK. Nerves are the mind and body's way of letting us know something is important.
But stress hinders your ability to perform at your best and therefore sabotages your ability to influence. Top sports performers, speakers, and sales professionals all learn to manage their stress so it doesn't interfere with their performance. Personally, after thousands of presentations, I still feel the nerves, pressure, and stress of performing at my best. The difference now is that I have learned not only to manage the stress but also to use it to focus. I learned a long time ago that the nerves will never go away, and you really don't want them to.
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